‘Don’t distract me’ — Yahaya Bello replies those tipping him for presidency
Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, says he does not want to be distracted by the race for the 2023 presidential election.
In November, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information, had said the governor was under pressure to contest the 2023 presidential race.
“The people are calling on him to run for president but he has not come out clearly to tell us whether he is accepting that clarion call or not,” he told TheCable over the phone.
“All over the six zones, we are having a lot of people calling on him to come and run. If you look at the people calling on him, it cuts across all parties and is not just an APC thing. He is a unifier. He is very capable and qualified, he perfectly fits into that bracket of what Nigeria wants.”
Subsequently, the Kogi house of assembly asked the governor to either run for the presidency or vice-presidency in 2023.
But speaking in Makurdi, Benue state capital, at a security and economic summit of the North-Central Governors’ Forum Bello said 2023 is in the hands of God.
According to Onogwu Muhammed, Bello’s chief press secretary, the governor said he is focused on delivering his mandate of developing Kogi.
He said though, the call is becoming stronger after the just concluded local government areas elections where all the vice chairmen of the 21 local government areas in the state are all women and at least three female councillors from each of the local government areas.
“Nigerians across all divide are calling on the Governor to run for the presidency in 2023 but His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello is totally focused and committed to delivering the mandate given to him by the people of Kogi State to run for the second term,” Muhammad said.
“By January 27, 2021, he will be one year in office, that is for the second term, so he has a lot to do and he has a lot of time to spend with the people of Kogi State to deliver the dividends of democracy to them.”
He said the 2023 polls should not be put on the front burner of issues that would overheat the polity.
While calling for support to deliver on his mandate, Bello said he is focused on improving security, Kogi’s economy and youth employment.
Bello, who is currently serving his second term in office, became one of Nigeria’s youngest governors at the age of 40 in 2015.
I simply ask, “Yahaya Bello” or is he joking, to be president, of who? with whose head, his, Buhari’s, like a cow who dreamed wearing a suit and tire only to find itself on a butchers table.