In an exclusive interview with Abu Musawa, a former sole administrator of Ankpa local government and Senior Special Assistant to the Governor of Kogi state on youths and women mobilization, Hon Mohammed Ibrahim (Ayuba Nana), bares his mind of the next president of Nigeria, the expected Yahaya Bello presidency, zoning controversy and why it is unnecessary at this time.
Excerpts:
We learnt on good authority that Governor Yahaya Bello has concluded arrangement to declare for the presidency on Saturday. How true is this?.
Yes. It is true. The best man to lead Nigeria and give it a new direction is Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello. The governor of Kogi state is declaring for the presidency. Make no mistake about this, the proponent of a new type of politics and the game changer in many developmental issues confronting this country is indeed going to be the next President of the most populous black country in the world. This I assure you. You can take to the bank.
Why do you think Yahaya Bello is the best man to be president in 2023 among the litany of aspirants vying for the presidency in 2023?.
I want to tell you with all sense of responsibility that Yahaya Bello is ingrained with the required leadership resources and credentials that would best that of the many aspirants you see jostling for the job of the President of Nigeria. If you can see vividly, there are many today among the litany of aspirants you described as jostling for the job, many among them are pretenders. Yahaya Bello is the best material around at this time to change the narrative of our country.
Recently, the APC said it is considering zoning of the Presidency to the southern part of the country. Don’t you think this is going to be the albatross of the Bello 2023 project?
Many also in this country are of the view that at this point in time in our developmental journey, Nigeria required the best to take it to greater heights. Make no mistake about this, we are living in the 21st century and we need to always face reality when we are talking about leadership recruitment process, especially when we consider peer reviewing our country with that of the developed world. Our peers in the world have left us far behind because of our primordial and archaic considerations of leadership to lead our country. I don’t for once care about where the President of my country comes from as long as we have the best man to do the job. I am not vouching for Yahaya Bello simply because I believe he is from Kogi State, but because I believe he is the best man around to do the job. I believe, and many do, that zoning of the Presidency should be totally discarded in 2023 completely. Nobody should be barred totally from pursuing his or her political aspirations in the name of zoning as doing so is completely sacrificing merit and competency as it is unconstitutional and denying the country of the best at this critical journey of development.
But many still argue that it has its advantages and one of it is the unity of the country.
I also believe that the lack of unity or the the perceived absence of it is not caused by the lack of zoning in the country. The discontentment you see in the country today is not because the President is not from a particular segment of this country but it is because of our leadership selection methods that has been tried and it failed. No political party that is well schooled in democratic ethos would subscribe to supporting in view of the present realities we found ourselves to the constriction of the democratic space and advocate or propose a conscious denial of the democratic rights of any Nigerian. I don’t believe that in the long run APC would subscribe to this.
As an APC member what do you think is the line of action the party should tow on this zoning issue?.
My candid and patriotic view is that the party should allow the Nigerian or party men to decide who they want at every stage of the democratic processes to represent the party in elections and not the obviously hired voices of a nebulous few. No matter the decibels of noises from any greedy quarters, the party should stand its ground in advocating the best as good for the country. Our best men should always represent the party and it is a simple logic. Secondly, the law of the country remains the law and the right to choose who leads the country is the weapon of the voters. The road to 2023 certainly should not and cannot be constructed outside this constitutional requirements and guidelines.
Why is Yahaya Bello contesting for the presidency of Nigeria come 2023?
Yahaya Bello is a proponent and disciple of a new type of politics dispensation as I mentioned earlier. This is a young man that has paid his dues to the country, be it in the political and democratic space of our country. I believe Kogi State is a mini Nigeria. If a young man like Yahaya Bello, fearless, transparently bold and builder of strong institutions rather than strong men, can clear the Augean stable and give the state a new direction for growth and development, then as a replicater he is coming to replicate this at the federal level and i think as the best he will.
