Former Kogi State Deputy Governor, Edward Onoja, has claimed that former governor Yahaya Bello promised to hand him power after his tenure but pulled out of the arrangement on the eve of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship primaries.
He disclosed this in an interview on the MIC ON Podcast released on Saturday,
He recalled that during his time as Bello’s Chief of Staff and later as deputy governor, his former boss consistently urged him to prepare to succeed him.
“For four years before 2023, he (Yahaya Bello) was the one who called me and said, ‘You will succeed me, get prepared.’ And of course, I planned, I worked, and when it was time, he gave all of us the opportunity to contest,” Onoja said.
He said Bello eventually threw his weight behind the current governor, Usman Ododo.
“At the end of the day, his heart and his choice were with the current governor, His Excellency, Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo,” Onoja stated.
Onoja added that Bello informed him of the change only a day before the party primary, a decision he accepted even though it left him disappointed.
“When he broke the news to me a day before the primaries, I told him, ‘You are the boss, you are over me, what you see is what I see, so let’s go get the job done, but I hope you are not making a mistake.’ There were no issues, and then we went to the field and did our best for our candidate,” Onoja added.
He maintained that despite the setback, he stayed loyal to the APC and worked for Ododo’s victory in the November 2023 governorship election.