By Tina George, Minna
The Kogi State House of Assembly has begun consultations with state assemblies for the 2023 preaidential ambition of Kogi governor, Yahaya Bello.
The Speaker, Mr Mathew Kolawole who was in Niger to seek the support of his colleagues, said Niger was the sixth state they were visiting, including Bauchi, Plateau, Gombe, Ebonyi and Imo state.
According to him, it is the turn for the north-central zone to produce a president and that Yahaya Bello is the right candidate for the job.
Kolawole who sought the endorsement of the Niger assembly for Bello, said it is only fair for the zones that had not had a shot at either the presidency or vice presidency.
“The bold step is necessary because the north-central have never benefited from the high power since democracy began in Nigeria.
“The South West, South-South have produced a president each while in the north, the North West and North East have had their fair share of producing the president and the vice president. Only the north-central and south-east that have been left out.
“We are not looking at the zone like north and south, we are looking at all the zones in Nigeria and we are saying that the north-central and the south-east are left out and this time, it should be their turn to produce the position of the President and Vice President,” he said.
He said that Bello’s candidature was supported in the state because “he is the youngest governor among the governors in Nigeria and he has the capacity and wisdom to lead this country.”
Kolawole added that Kogi assembly has endorsed the governor and were now going around the country to seek the endorsement of their colleagues over the presidential ambition of the governor.
“We are going round to talk to our colleagues because we believe that when we have the endorsement of the House of Assembly members, we have the endorsement of the grassroots.”
Members of the Niger assembly gave their endorsement.
The Speaker, Abdullahi Wuse who spoke on behalf of his colleagues, said that it is only right for them to support their own.
Wuse said that the project is a worthy one and will be beneficial to the north-central zone and Nigeria in general.
He stressed on the need for all House of Assemblies in the north-central zone to come together and speak with one voice towards ensuring that the project is realizable.
“The Niger State House of Assembly has endorsed the candidacy of Yahaya Bello for 2023 Presidency. It is proper for us at the north-central to come together to canvass for this purpose. We need to give this project our necessary support.
“For us in the north-central, we need someone from the zone for the presidency and since Yahaya Bello has come up, he has our support and our endorsement.”
