Nasir el-Rufai, governor of Kaduna, has revealed why Yahaya Bello, Kogi governor, stormed out of a meeting of northern governors of the All Progressives Congress (APC) with President Muhammadu Buhari.
A viral video on Monday had shown a livid Bello leaving a building where the meeting was believed to be taking place.
Speaking at a media briefing on Monday after the governors concluded their meeting with Buhari, El-Rufai said Bello “excused himself” from the meeting.
El-Rufai said 13 of the 19 APC governors from the north agreed that the party’s presidential ticket be zoned to the south.
The Kaduna governor, however, said Bello, who is an APC presidential hopeful, decided not to attend the meeting because he’s not in support of his colleagues decision on zoning the presidential ticket to the south.
“The governor of Kogi state chose to excuse himself from meeting with Mr. President because he believes that he does not agree with our position,” el-Rufai said.
“There are 14 APC governors out of the 19 northern states. Thirteen of us are on one page on this subject and we all came to see the president. But the governor of Kogi state excused himself, and it is within his democratic rights to excuse himself.”
Meanwhile, in his remarks, Atiku Bagudu, chairman of the progressive governors’ forum (PGF), said it will be in the interest of peace to zone the presidential ticket to the south.