Tinubu/Shettima 2023: Kogi governor’s appointment as Youth Coordinator is victory assured – Barr. Okezie-Okafor

As reactions continue to trail the appointment of Kogi State governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the National Youth Coordinator of Tinubu/Shettima Presidential Campaign Council, the Director General of Research and Development in the State has described the appointment as the best choice for victory.

It’s recalled that Bello of Kogi State has been appointed National Youth Coordinator in the Tinubu/Shettima presidential campaign council. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is a former governor of Lagos State and a former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 General Elections. He chose former Borno governor and Senator, Kashim Shettima as his running mate.

In the letter of appointment sighted by our correspondent and personally signed by him, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu said the appointment was in recognition of Governor Bello’s ‘impressive political achievements and exemplary leadership’. Tinubu thanked Bello for joining his campaign council and expressed confidence that the governor will help the team to drive ‘an effective, message-driven campaign’ that will ensure victory for the APC in 2023.

We have also seen a copy of Yahaya Bello’s letter of acceptance in which he poured encomiums on Tinubu, noting that Asiwaju was one leader whose achievements in ‘transformational leadership and good governance’ are indisputable as was his capacity to replicate after he wins the Presidency in 2023. He noted that they shared a like passion for a secure, united and prosperous Nigeria and promised to deploy his full energies and lawful resources for the victory of the Tinubu/Shettima ticket, and that of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the 2023 General Elections.

It will be recalled that Yahaya Bello was one of the aspirants who contested for the APC ticket at the party’s presidential primaries where he placed 5th behind Tinubu. Shortly after the primaries, Tinubu visited Bello who congratulated him on his ‘well-deserved victory’ and assured him of his full support. Bello who transferred his political structures to Tinubu for the success of the APC at the meeting also handed over his huge, fully furnished, presidential campaign headquarters located along the busy Aminu Kano Crescent of Abuja’s Wuse II district to him.

Speaking to us on Governor Bello’s fitness for the job, Barr. Moses Okezie-Okafor who is the Director-General, Research and Development in Kogi State insisted that no one is more qualified to man the post entrusted to Yahaya Bello by Tinubu.

‘Asiwaju said in his letter that he wanted Governor Bello to help him drive ‘an effective, message-driven campaign’ targeted at the youth, and that is what the Governor brings to the table.’ He said that Bello, who ran a colorful and impactful presidential campaign, was judged by pundits to have drawn one of the most comprehensive roadmaps for national development in the run up to party primaries, so he knows what’s what.

In addition he pointed out that Yahaya Bello’s youthfulness is a clincher for the role. ‘You are talking of a sitting Governor who identifies with the 2 largest groups comprising at least 92% of registered voters for 2023 going by INEC data, those between 18-34 and 35-49 years of age. His Excellency was below 40 when he first assumed office, is way below 50 now and is still the youngest Governor in Nigeria today. Also his records in office, especially in youth inclusion and empowerment are well known and appreciated.’

Barr. Okezie-Okafor who was the Director, Research and Strategy, in the Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organization observed that Yahaya Bello’s proven successes in his mandate as the Governor of Kogi State was the starting point for his success in the present assignment, noting that Nigerians now have a deep-rooted aversion for politicians who come to them with rosy plans for a future they have failed to demonstrate in their past or present positions of trust.

‘So, our leader Tinubu displayed his legendary astuteness in his choice of Yahaya Bello for this role. Now, he has an emissary in my principal who will be going to Nigerian youths as one of them, obviously, but also as an effective politician and charismatic leader who is walking the talk powerfully in his current duty post.’

He said Yahaya Bello’s achievements span all the areas in which Nigerian youths are yearning for more starting with the provision of critical infrastructure and utilities across all sectors which are so humongous they have now become impossible to deny, even by his most rabid detractors.

”He has managed the vast diversity of Kogi State in a manner people want to see in Nigeria. He has appointed more youth and women into top offices in this 4th Republic, including persons with disabilities, with a proportional mix of tribes and religions. He has ensured security of his state at a most trying time in that area nationally. Even the vexatious disruptions to the tertiary education calendar affecting many youths today has been resolved long ago in Kogi State.’

‘These are all areas Nigerian youths want to hear from someone who has earned the street credibility for them’, Barr. Okezie-Okafor added. ‘Yahaya Bello will be a salesman for Asiwaju Tinubu who has no body odour or other failings of his own to detract from the marketability of his product.’

Okezie-Okafor also said that in addition to his direct efforts in good governance, Yahaya Bello has proven himself to be a leader that the nation and the APC has turned to time and time again when tensions needed to be doused among the youth, recalling Governor Bello’s peacemaking roles during the #EndSARS protests and in brokering peace when aggrieved northern youths imposed a food embargo on the south due to the killing of some northerners in parts of the south. He also referred to the great success of Governor Yahaya Bello when he chaired the APC’s Women and Youth Mobilisation and Sensitisation Committee in 2020 which brought in millions of youths into the folds of the governing party.

On his own part, the Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Chief Edward Onoja simply noted that his boss does not take assignments lightly and that having accepted to work in this capacity, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC should expect nothing but runaway success from his boss, emphasizing that Yahaya Bello has handled a similar role successfully for the APC before.

‘In 2014/2015, Yahaya Bello singlehandedly funded the Kogi Youth Arise Group as a duly registered Category A support group for the Buhari/Osinbajo Presidential Campaign and they not only helped to galvanize a resounding win in Kogi State for the APC’s flag-bearers then, but contributed substantially to the new ruling party’s takeover of the state from the PDP a few months later which brought him into office as Governor. Today, Yahaya Bello is a two term Governor, the representative and face of the youth in government and a much stronger force in politics. He has always worked well with his primary demography, the youth. You can take my word for it that he will repeat the feat with even more outstanding results for Tinubu/Shettima.’