Youths from Nigeria’s 19 northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) have inaugurated a political pressure group that would work for the realisation of the presidential ambition of Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi.
Known as the Yahaya Bello Network (YBN), the group said it would be supporting the governor to emerge the nation’s next president in 2023.
The YBN said Nigerian youths wanted one of them as the nation’s next leader.
At the inauguration on Wednesday in Kaduna, YBN spokesman, Bello Mohammed, said gone were the days when Nigerians talked of politics of region and ethnicity.
“We are supporting Gov. Bello not only because he is our own from the north, but because he is young, vibrant and energetic and has what it takes to lead Nigeria to the promised land.
“There are agitations everywhere, but it is not constitutional as politics is a game of number and Yahaya Bello is a man of quality. Nigeria’s presidency is something that has to do with quality and has nothing to do with your religion or background,“ Mohammed said.
The inauguration of the YBN comes barely 72 hours after the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) declared that the region would retain power beyond 2023 as it has the voter population to win the presidential election in 2023.
Inaugurating the executives and ambassadors of YBN, Mohammed described the call by the southern governors for power to return to the South as unconstitutional and uncalled for, insisting that politics is a game of numbers.
He said the leadership of his group would embark on a tour of the 19 northern states to canvass support for the candidature of Bello as Nigeria’s next president.
The Special Adviser on Youth and Student Affairs to the Governor, Ahmed Jibril, said it was a good development that Nigerian youths were now coming on board to identify with a youth like them and seek his election to the exalted position of Nigerian President.
On the agitation for power shift to the South, Jibril said it was part of democracy.
“Everybody has the right to call for what he wants and it is his opinion.
“If people have seen the youth in Gov. Bello, if they have seen a leader and a unifier of the country in him, then he shall be the President by the grace of God because man proposes but God has the final say,’’ Jibril said.
YBN Secretary-General Salisu Mohammed inaugurated the executives and ambassadors of the group, including notable Kannywood actors and actresses.
He called on them to go and spread the message to others in their respective states.
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