Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State

Richard Elesho/ Lokoja

Kogi State Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello has claimed that his administration’s ability to curb insecurity in Kogi State and massive youth empowerment are some of the reasons for the ongoing calls that he should join the 2023 presidential race.

He noted that the call is becoming stronger after the just concluded local government elections where all the vice chairpersons of the 21 LGAs in the state were all women with at least three female councillors also emerging from each of the local government areas.

Bello said this on Monday through his Chief Press Secretary, Onogwu Muhammed at the ongoing security and economic summit of the Northcentral Governors Forum in Makurdi, the Benue State capital.

“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.

The Governor, however urged those calling on him to vie for the Presidency to desist from putting 2023 on the front burner and heating up the the polity.

He said he doesn’t  want to be distracted from his current assignment, which he described as developing Kogi State

“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,” Mohammed said.

He, therefore, called for support to deliver his second term mandate of rebuilding Kogi State.

The News reports that few months into his second tenure Bello’s campaign posters for the 2023 Presidential election appeared in public.

The Governor denied knowing anything about the posters. Recently members of the Kogi House of Assembly unanimously endorsed the Governor for the Presidency in 2023. The call has been attracting widespread comments.