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2023 Presidency: ‘Bello’s aspiration transcends party politics, zoning sentiment’

By Seye Olumide  
27 March 2022   |   2:54 am
As preparations for the 2023 general elections take shape on the platforms of the two major political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party

Yahaya Bello

As preparations for the 2023 general elections take shape on the platforms of the two major political parties, the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), fans of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, have urged political stakeholders not to make the mistake of electing President Muhammadu Buhari’s successor on sentiments of ethnicity and zoning.
 
Although there are debates over the issue of zoning in the ruling APC, where Bello and his adherents belong, those who believe in the Kogi State Governor’s capacity to lead the country, say his “presidential ambition transcends zoning, which some powers-that-be have been trying to play up against the interest of the country.”

  
To Bello’s supporters, which is spread across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria and particularly among women and youth folks, the serious challenges facing the country at present require radical leadership skills, which the governor of Kogi has demonstrated he possesses.
 
Although some personalities like the National Leader of ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, Senator Rochas Okorocha, Senator Orji Uzor Kalu and others from the South have expressed interest in contesting the presidency on the platform of the ruling party, Bello’s supporters believe that the Kogi governor is among the few from North Central, whose capacity to redeem Nigeria outweighs the sentiment of zoning.
 
While gladiators on the platform of APC are saying Buhari’s successor must come from the South to balance the unwritten zoning agreement, there is also a division between Southwest and Southeast zones on whose turn it is to produce the president.
 
The Igbo point to the fact that Yoruba has had their turn between 1999 to 2007 when former President Olusegun Obasanjo ruled for eight years, and that Professor Yemi Osinbajo, the incumbent vice president, is spending two terms in office. Therefore, the Southwest cannot produce another president in 2023. But the Yoruba argue that Southeast has lesser input in the making of APC and therefore cannot reap where it did not plant.
 
The Northeast and North Central are also clamouring to produce the president, claiming the zones are yet to produce president since Nigeria returned to democratic rule in 1999.
  
Even on the platform of opposition PDP, zoning sentiment is also tearing the party apart. Some PDP stakeholders are saying the last PDP president, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, an Ijaw man, is from the South, therefore the party’s next ticket should automatically move to the North.
 
Taking a cursory look at the arguments on zoning, proponents of Governor Bello’s 2023 presidential ambition, say the idea of zoning to determine the nation’s number one job is setting Nigeria backwards from identifying its best to govern the country.
 
Bello, a staunch stalwart of APC, believes in building on the achievements already recorded in the last few years under President Buhari. This explains why his supporters consider him as the best to take the country out of the woods.
 
Despite the fact that his party has zoned the national chairmanship position to North Central, which looks like a barrier to his aspiration, Bello adherents remain optimistic that providence and his track records in terms of performances in Kogi will boost his chance to secure the APC ticket.
   
Taking a look at how Bello has successfully blended the different ethnic nationalities in Kogi together, where we have Yoruba, Igala, Fulani, Igbo and others to form a working cabinet, his proponents say he will replicate this to the benefit of Nigeria, if given the opportunity at the national levels understudied Bello’s administration in the last six years said, “Many Nigerians are lamenting over the economic and political upheavals in the country. None of these challenges can be resolved if insecurity is not tackled.

“Bello is much more capable to replicate the magic of Kogi State, which is more or less a confluence state where all ethnic nationals in Nigeria are well represented if elected president. We have never heard of any ethnic uprising since Bello emerged governor in 2015.”
 
The Kogi State, Chief of Staff, Abdulkareem Asuku and the state Commissioner for Information and Communication, Kingsley Fanwo, recently said on different occasions that Kogi, under Governor Bello, is a state where ethnic rivalry is alien to the citizens.
 
This indeed is what Nigeria must conquer if it hopes to thrive. Call Governor Bello a Yoruba, Ibo, Hausa or Fulani or rather refer to him as Alhaji or Pastor Yahaya, his disposition in governance in the last seven years never betrayed any sentiment towards any of these directions.

   
Bello has been commended by Nigerians who believe that he has the capacity to lead the nation as President having performed well as Governor in his state for over six years now.
 
He is also perceived to have implemented people-oriented programmes in the areas of education, healthcare, security, agriculture, youth development, women development, and employment, amongst others. These strides have earned him accolades all over the country and beyond.
 
Recently, President of the Senate, Ahmad Lawan, chose no other accolade to describe Bello other than saying the Kogi governor is the ‘Shield of the ruling APC’. Those who interpreted the statement agreed that the upheavals in the ruling party at present could only be saved from the darts of the opposition in 2023 by the shield, which Bello represents.
 
Beyond Lawan, women groups across the country are also yearning for Bello’s presidency in 2023 because of their belief that he will “ensure good governance that will positively affect them and their children.”
 
Christian and Muslim faithful across the country are also not relenting in their quest for a Bello Presidency. Although Kogi looks like a Muslim dominated state, that is far from being the situation. There have never been time issues of religious crisis have been heard under Bello’s government, where there is an equal number of both Muslims and Christians working peacefully for the development and growth of the state.
   
Many people are of the opinion that Yahaya Bello has done better than his colleagues, especially in terms of security, employment and youth development.
 
As explained by an APC member in Lagos State, Dr. Gani Olateju, “Kogi is the only APC state without a faction, and this is due to the political sagacity and ingenuity of the hard-working governor.”

 
 

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