‘Don’t Distract Me’ — Yahaya Bello Replies Those Tipping Him For Presidency

Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi state, says he does not want to be distracted by the race for the 2023 presidential election.

In November, Kingsley Fanwo, Kogi commissioner for information, had said the governor was under pressure to  contest the 2023 presidential race.

“The people are calling on him to run for president but he has not come out clearly to tell us whether he is accepting that clarion call or not,” he told TheCable over the phone.

“All over the six zones, we are having a lot of people calling on him to come and run. If you look at the people calling on him, it cuts across all parties and is not just an APC thing. He is a unifier. He is very capable and qualified, he perfectly fits into that bracket of what Nigeria wants.”

Subsequently, the Kogi house of assembly asked the governor to either run for the presidency or vice-presidency in 2023.

But speaking in Makurdi, Benue state capital, at a security and economic summit of the North-Central Governors’ Forum Bello said 2023 is in the hands of God.

Channels TV quoted him to have said he is focused on delivering his mandate of rebuilding Kogi.

He said the 2023 polls should not be put on the front burner of issues that would overheat the polity.

While calling for support to deliver on his mandate, Bello said he is focused on improving security, Kogi’s economy and youth employment.

But there are insinuations that he has a hand in the “pressure” to make him run.

Bello, who is currently serving his second term in office, became one of Nigeria’s youngest governors at the age of 40 in 2015.