A youth group has given Yahaya Bello, the Kogi State governor, a 14-day ultimatum to accept its call on him to contest the 2023 presidential election.
The group threatened that it would mobilize Nigerians to occupy the streets if the governor delays to accept its request.
Members of the group under the aegis of GYB2PYB, marched to the Kogi State Liaison Office in Abuja on Friday, where they presented letter of their request to the governor.
Speaking on their behalf, the national coordinator of the group, Oladele John Nihi, said their call was necessitated by what he referred to as the “exemplary leadership of the governor in Kogi State.”
Describing their action as patriotic to the country, Nihi said his group wanted Nigeria to “have a feel of what kogites are currently enjoying.”
He said: “Our intention initially was to shut down this liaison office and to occupy it for the next 14 days until the government accept our request to him to run. “
“The Nigerian youths have put their resources and manpower together and with over 15 million of them signing signatures to ask Governor Yayaya Bello of Kogi State to contest the presidency come 2023.
“We believe that as youth leaders,we owe our nation this duty,to make sure that in 2023,we do not just have a president but the president that is youth minded. We want to have the president that is youth and women sensitive,”.
The group’s call on the governor, he explained was the result of efforts its members had put together in the last three weeks to that effect.
He explained that already, the group had acquired a national office for its operations, appealing to the governor to heed their call, saying Nigerians needed his sterling leadership quality.
“We felt that it is right time for Nigerians to have a feel of what Kogi State is currently having. We are aware that Kogi State today is the government of the youths, by the youths and for the youths.
“We are aware that Kogi State today,has over 90 percent of its appointees from the youth group, both men and women. We are aware that in Kogi State today,all the 21 Vice chairmen are all women. We are also aware that in Kogi State today, all the 21 council leaders are women. We are also aware that all the secretaries to the council chairmen in Kogi State today,are youth council coordinators.
“And we have discovered that if Yahaya Bello,the Executive Governor of Kogi State is doing all these wonderful things in Kogi State,Nigeria deserves to have a feel of what kogites are currently enjoying.
“It is on this note that the Nigerian youths, through the GYB2PYB Youths Support Group is submitting a letter of call to run for presidency come 2023,to His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
“We are here to call on him to contest for the presidency come 2023 and we are promising him that aside urging him to contest, as you are aware, over 75 percent population and even the voting strength of Nigeria are young people
“We are assuring him of our maximum support throughout the electioneering campaigns. We will sensitise and canvass our colleagues across the 36 states and 774 local government areas for him and also making sure that we vote massively for him come February, 2023 and at the same time,protect our votes to make sure that our votes count.
“We want to give him a 14-day ultimatum to give us a positive response else the Nigerian youths are ready to shut down this nation.
“We are sure the governor would not want to witness a repeat of protest similar to the #EndSARs protests that happened in this country in October, last year.
“So we are giving him a 14-day ultimatum to accept to run so that we can begin our movement and mobilisation for him come 2023,” he further said.
The Special Adviser to the governor on Intergovernmental Affair, Medina Anako, who received the letter on Bello’s behalf, promised speedy delivery to him, assuring that the group ‘s request would be answered with the time given.
She said: ”This is one of the hundreds of calls for him to run for presidency in 2023. We have received all from women and different groups from across Nigeria, calling him to come and run for presidency in 2023,it’s a clarion call. Of course,nobody will call him if he hasn’t seen his exemplary leadership that he has put in place in Kogi State.
“Governor Yahaya Bello is a youth. I am a woman working with him, his ADC is a woman. I’m sure no governor has ever appointed any woman as ADC but Governor Yahaya Bello did that given his belief that anything a man can do,a woman can do it too.
“The present SSG of Kogi State is a woman,the Head of Service of Kogi State is a woman. I don’t think there is anybody in his government that is above 50 years. We even have somebody in the council that is still in the university but he’s intelligent, he’s smart. That is exemplary leadership.
“We don’t need to use god fatherism,he doesn’t believe in god fatherism. When he became the governor of Kogi State,he didn’t have god father. He believed in himself, has a vision and he has followed that vision through.”
