Reactions have continued to pour in after governor of Kaduna State, Nasir El-rufai, knelt down to beg Kogi people to forgive and vote for incumbent governor Yahaya Bello on Thursday.
While addressing a crowd at the All Progressives Congress rally in Lokoja, El-rufai who said that Bello had made mistakes and offended Kogi people, pleaded that Kogi people should forgive and give him (Bello) a second chance to redeem himself in his second term.
The Kaduna State governor went ahead to attribute some of Bello’s mistakes to his youth.
He said, “Many people say Yahaya Bello is young; that he has fought many people. For every one that the governor has offended, I’m asking all of you to forgive him. He is young; he is supposed to make mistakes. When you are young, you make mistakes but you learn from them.
“On his behalf, I’m kneeling down, to beg all of you to forgive Yahaya Bello if he has offended you. He cares about the people of Kogi State. He cares about this state. He has brought progress to this state; he has brought young people and women into government…
However, El-rufai’s action has continued to receive knocks from Nigerians, many of whom took to the Social Media on Friday to express their disappointment.
Chief among those that reacted was a former of Gombe State, Hassan Ibrahim Dankwanbo, who wondered at the justification of el-Rufai’s action.
“How do you beg for forgiveness for a governor owing 30 months salaries and who cannot point to one project in 4yrs?” Hassan Ibrahim Dankwambo, former Gombe State governor tweeted.
Also reacting, the co-convener of the Bring Back Our Girl Organisation, Aisha Yesufu, used the opportunity to poke fun at Governor el-rufai’s rather short stature. “When it comes to kneeling, Nasir el Rufai has huge advantage so no big deal for him! she tweeted.
Another twitter user, @Tutsy22 said @elrufai is begging Kogi people to help re-elect a failure Yahaya Bello who is owing 39 months’ salary arrears. How does one political party produce so many rectums? How does @OfficialAPCNg pull it off?
“Kaduna State Governor, @elrufai today knelt down to beg the people of kogi State to forgive Yahaya Bello for his wrong doings. They know he failed but want to reinforce failure. Why? @YemieFash also tweeted.
“Finally, APC agrees that Yahaya Bello failed woefully. Thank you El-rufai, but next time, make sure you’re kneeling down to beg him to pay salaries and not for the suffering people of the state to reinforce nonsense”, @henryshield tweeted.
@CJ_Ubaka, wrote, “While everyone is calling on Kogi people to forgive Yahaya Bello for not paying salaries, can we take a moment to ask them what happened to the money meant for the payment? Isn’t this the kind of criminal offence that should deserve the #DeathPenalty by hanging?”
“They are begging Kogi people to allow Yahaya Bello to continue to owe them salaries and keep them in abject poverty. The devil himself must be amazed by the level of wickedness of humans against each other, @Intergrity56 tweeted.
“YAHAYA BELLO performed far better than the PDP–El rufai. Okay, why are you now begging on his behalf? FORGIVE him for what? Since he has performed let’s vote for our right choice in peace then…” @iam_jay_d said.
@uruegi said, “So all this people begging Kogi people, know about the failures of Yahaya Bello, yet want to return him as Governor? Who did this to us abeg?
“Before elections, Aisha Buhari took pictures inside keke, after election, they have banned keke from Abuja roads. Now Aisha is begging Kogi people to forgive Yahaya Bello and vote for him. E no concern me, @obi_Nwosu tweeted.
@EngrNtem said, “If you like lie down or better still cry the people of Kogi State have rejected not only Yahaya Bello but the deceitful and desperate APC. So go home and see how you can clean your mess in Kaduna. You can’t deceive God’s children anymore.”