North Central States’ Lawmakers Endorse Yahaya Bello For President

Brief respite appeared to have come the way of the under pressure Chairman of the Caretaker Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee of the All Progressives Congress, Mai Mala Buni, who has been given a vote of confidence by state lawmakers’ in the North Central zone of the country.

The legislators also endorsed the Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, as their candidate for President in 2023.

The lawmakers justified their endorsement based on the fact that Bello was the only person that has shown interest in the position from the zone, describing him as courageous.

These developments came during a One-Day extraordinary meeting of the APC States Legislatures from the six states of the North Central Zone, held in Abuja on Thursday.

The lawmakers made the two declarations with a unanimous yes as contained in a statement made available to THE WHISTLER.

They urged Bello to continue to pursue his ambition, saying he remained the only person that the zone could rally around “for it to be counted in the power equation of the country.”

For Buni, they stressed that the Caretaker and Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee needed the support and cooperation of all parties faithful to reposition the party for better performance and victory in the 2023 polls.

Convened by the immediate past Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Mr Ahmed Marafa, the extraordinary meeting discussed the political future of the zone with respect to what he called the power equation in the country.

Marafa urged members from the six states of the zone to see the reason why all well-meaning men and women must come together and agitate for a fair share for the zone.

Also speaking, the Speaker of the Kogi State House of Assembly, Mr Matthew Kolawole, whose governor got the endorsement and was quoted to have initiated the meeting over one year ago, commended the lawmakers for their quick response to the meeting, noting that it would go a long way to show their genuine efforts to look after the welfare of their people.

He said since 1960, the zone had been marginalised and neglected in the democratically elected leadership map of the country despite the human resources in the area.

Kolawole said it was time for all and sundry, irrespective of party affiliations, to rise up and join hands to agitate for a north-central presidency come 2023.

In a communique passed at the end of their one-day roundtable, the legislators appealed to all party faithfuls at all levels to give their support and cooperation to Buni to complete the good works that had led many people into the party since he assumed office.

They also called on all the leaders in North-Central to continue to pursue the North-Central presidency without prejudice to their personal aspiration, pointing out that the number one position in the country would be more beneficial to the zone and the nation at large.

The vote of confidence passed on Buni will be seen as a masterstroke at a time the governors under the ruling APC have been divided with a large number against his continuing stay as acting chairman of the party.

They allege that the crises at the states and the national levels could derail any plan by the APC to retain power while Buni has been accused of running a one-man show.

Bello on the other hand is serving out his second tenure as governor and has often being accused of poor leadership, providing little progress to be talked about.