Nigeria: North-West APC Legislators Endorse Kogi Governor Bello for President in 2023

The All Progressives Congress (APC) State Assembly Legislators from the north-west zone have passed a vote of confidence on President Muhammadu Buhari and the Governor Mai Mala Buni-led APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee (CECPC) for its positively aggressive repositioning of the party.

The state legislators also passed a vote of confidence on Buhari for what they described as the president’s sterling and cohesive leadership, urging him not to relent in ensuring that he leaves Nigeria in 2023 a better place

In addition, they also endorsed Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State as president in 2023.
Their endorsement was communicated in a communiqué issued after the extraordinary meeting of the forum, which had in attendance former House of Assembly Members of the North West Zone.

It was read by the former Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Mr. Ahmed Marafa, in Abuja yesterday.
The north-west legislators also urged the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee to zone the party’s presidency to the north.

Marafa said that the north west legislators agreed to support their colleagues in the north-central for the 2023 Presidency, saying the zone had been deprived of the Number One Position since Nigeria’s independence in 1960.
The communique stated: “We resolved: that the State Assembly Legislators of the North West zone endorse and state their unalloyed and unshaken support for the aspiration of the Young and ebullient Governor of Kogi State, Governor Bello, who has, against all odds, decided to take the bull by the horn, by aspiring to the Office of the President of Nigeria come 2023.

“The members thank him for leading the clarion call for the Presidency of Nigeria to come to the North Central Zone and urge him to have no fear or doubt in his race for the exalted office as members of the North West Zone are solidly behind him.

“The meeting also agreed to call on the leadership of our great party, APC, to zone the presidency to the Northern Region of the country.

“This is because the North will rule for 10 years at the end of President Buhari’s tenure, while the Southern region has ruled for 14 years,” the Legislators said.

Earlier in his remarks, Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Matthew Kolawole, galvanised the incumbent and former State lawmakers’ support for Bello’s presidential aspiration.

Kolawole described Bello as a young dynamic and energetic individual with capacity to manage Nigeria diversity, who would also fit into the demand for a young president in 2023.

A member of the Sokoto State House of Assembly, Hon. Alhaji Maidawa (Sagari Constituency) said that the Sokoto State lawmakers and their supporters were in full support of Bello’s presidential ambition.

Maidawa described Bello’s presidential ambition and the meeting as a new beginning for Nigeria.

Hon. Aliyu Lawal, representing Kaduna Central, Kaduna House of Assembly, described Bello as a bridge-builder and young promising Nigerian who had the capacity to tackle Nigeria’s problems.

“I believe that not only the North will support Bello’s ambition but the other zones of the country,” Lawal said.

On his part, a member of the Zamafara State House of Assembly, Hon. Yusuf Alhassan, said it was logical for the North West, which had at different times, produced the President, to support the North Central in 2023.

Deji Elumoye in Abuja

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