Kogi state governor and one of the presidential aspirants of the All progressive congress (APC) Alhaji Yahaya Bello, has decried the agitation for zoning ahead of ruling party’s presidential primary election, saying zoning has not helped Nigeria since 1960.
The governor, however, asked Nigerians to place priority on competence, capacity and political will to develop the Natio.
Speaking at an interactive session with newsmen Tuesday in Abuja, governor Yahaya Bello, who spoke through his Commissioner of Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, said Nigerians would be denied purposeful leadership if the principle of power rotation is adhered to ahead of the 2023 poll.
Fanwo said it behooves on the electorates to place the interest of the country ahead of ethnic and religious sentiments.
According to him: “The governor said and I am going to quote him now. I was born in the North-central, I was born an Ebira man. I did not choose to be an Ebira. I did not choose to be a northerner. That should not determine criteria for hiring leaders.
“Assuming you are taken to a hospital and they say you need to be operated upon. You are not going to ask the admin secretary that the person who is supposed to treat you is whether he is a Hausa man or he is from a particular ethnic group.
“You would rather ask for a competent medical doctor to attend to you. Whether he is Hausa, Ibo or Nupe it doesn’t matter. What matters is is he competent to attend to me.
“Now the driver that would take you from here to Onitsha, what you should be interested in is whether he he a good driver and not whether he is a Hausa man or any other tribe.
“So when we use sentiment to reduce the race for the presidency to where he or she comes from, it doesn’t help the country, it doesn’t help Nigerians.
“In 2023, it is going to change. The zoning would be to competence, capacity and patriotism. That is where we are zoning it to. Whether the person is a northern, an Igbo or Yoruba it doesn’t matter anymore. We have been zoning since 1960, are we better off?
“So that is the way to go and that is what we have come out to challenge. That is what Yahaya Bello is doing before we can talk of development. We are ready for the battle ahead.”
Bello assured that he would surely replicate the developmental strides recorded, coupled with the security of lives and properties in Kogi state if elected as President of the country in the 2023 poll.
