By Abayomi Adeshida, Abuja

The Governor Yahaya Bello candidacy in the 2023 general elections has been described as a soft sell by the Kogi State House of Assembly due to the youthfulness of the governor and his advantageous position due to the fact that the North Central Region of the country has never produced a President for Nigeria.

These assertions were made in Abuja over the weekend by the Deputy Speaker, Kogi State House of Assembly who fielded questions from reporters after he bagged an anti-corruption award by he Mitchelle Youth Initiative For Sustainable Development (MYISD) at the Conference Hall of the National Human Rights Commission in Maitama.

After he received he=is plaque and appreciated the organisers of the award, in a few remarks, journalists asked him a few questions bothering on anti-corruption, the alignment of political forces for the 2023 forthcoming general elections as well as why the Kogi Assembly passed a resolution to urge the State Governor, Alhaji Yahya Bello to run for the Presidency.

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In his response, “we have looked at everything and concluded that with him, Nigerian would problems will all be solved,

“Why we are so convinced is that before today in Kogi State, security had been a major challenge, he had been able to tackle the security issues and was awarded by the Nigerian Police Force as the Best Security Conscious Governor in Nigeria.

“Look at the bigger picture of the country, security is a major challenge, and his experience would go in a long way to help the country in that area.

“If you want to talk about the involvement of youths in governance, come to Kogi State. I am in my early forties, I am the Deputy Speaker, one of the youngest Deputy S[eakers in the country.

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“Youth inclusiveness in governance has been his priority right from the inception of his administration; today, the youths are holding positions in governance in the State.

“Across the twenty-one local government councils in the State there are children of nobody, they are youths, they are there running the government at that level.

“Women had been relegated, women were being used as victims of rape, but today, the governor looked at their plight and decided to ease their plight.

“He now adopted the Beijing declaration that gives thirty-five per cent of offices to women in Kogi State.

“Twenty-one Vice Chairmen in all our Local Government Councils are women; these are leaders in the Councils in their own rights. We also have Council Leaders among whom we have twenty-one women.

“There are two hundred and thirty-four Councillors who are women voted into offices in Kogi State after the recently concluded Local Government elections in the State. They all received one form, of support or the other from the Governor while they were aspiring to contest for the seats.

“The most senior civil servant in the State is a woman; as well as the aide de camp to the governor who is a woman.

“The Secretary to the State Government in Kogi State is a woman; you will agree that with all these, the governor is setting the pace for the woman to have the opportunity to also contribute to the rapid development of the state.

“In Kogi State, the Secretary to all the Local Government Councils are youths, this has a significant impact on the inclusiveness of the youths in running of the State.

“So, we can see that he is a bridge-builder that is responding to the divine calling of bringing people together everywhere he finds himself holding positions of authority.

“He is one of the Muslim governors that built a chapel in the government house to encourage religious tolerance among the people in the state.

“For over twenty years, there was nothing like a Christian presence in the Kogi State government house, but today, the governor has built a chapel to demonstrate the need to accommodate people of all religions, faith and creed in the State.

“We are supporting him to go and run for the Presidency because we have seen what he has done in the State and we believe that once he gets there, he will make sure he unifies this country and bring this country together and he will make sure that this country would work for the common good of al.

“Yahya Bello is a man that has demonstrated Leadership. and a leader that has confronted the problems that are similar to those facing this nation in Kogi State and he has been able to find solutions to them.

“Just recently, the COVID-19 pandemic came up and across the thirty-six states of Nigeria, it is only Kogi that stood up to say this pandemic has much more to it than meets the eyes.

“He never believed in it, he never looked at the political implications; rather, he considered the welfare of his people and he stood by the people.

“Today across the globe, people have started seeing the reason with him and what he stood for.

“He is a unifier. In his country today, we are having the problems of insecurity, religious challenges and different sentiments tearing us apart, but in Kogi State, we have a unifier, a bridge-builder and a security-conscious governor.

“We do not need to only look at the aged people with grey hair when we are finding solutions to our problems, but among the younger generation are people who are doing perfectly well in their States who can also help to build the nation.

“The North Central Geopolitical zone is a region that has never produced the President of this great country.

“If we want to be fair, we would realise that it is just fair to consider the region now that we have a capable hand in this youthful and useful governor that God has given us in Kogi State and we are also presenting to the entire country for national service.

“And with such a man who has demonstrated his leadership qualities, if he takes the shot at the Presidency, he would come out victorious and be the pride of not only the North Central but he would attend to the yearnings and problems of all the sectors in the country.

Vanguard News Nigeria