2023 Presidency: Arewa Youth Group Berates Sagay Over Comment on Yahaya Bello
- Itse Sagay, the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), has been advised to allow a popular view to prevail on the 2023 presidency
- The advice was given in Kaduna on Thursday, July 1, by the national president of the Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF), Yerima Shettima
- AYCF noted that Prof. Sagay was wrong for saying that the governor of Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, is not competent to run for the presidency in 2023
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Kaduna, Kaduna - The Arewa Youth Consultative Forum (AYCF) has taken a swipe on a presidential aide, Prof. Itse Sagay, for rejecting the widely-reported 2023 presidential ambition of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state.
Legit.ng's regional reporter in Kaduna, Nasir Dambatta, reports that the group stated that Sagay, who is the chairman of the Presidential Advisory Committee Against Corruption (PACAC), goofed real-time on Governor Bello.
Source: Facebook
The national president of the group, Alhaji Yerima Shettima, while reacting to Sagay's claim that the Bello has no records to show to warrant his nursing presidential ambition, said the constitutional lawyer was economical with the truth.
He said:
"I am not holding brief for the young Kogi governor because I know he is capable of defending himself any day, but I'm exercising my freedom of expression as a stakeholder of the Nigerian project. But I think it's quite unfair to make pretentious comments about Kogi state, which is the most peaceful state in the north today."
The AYCF president also said that the world in general and Nigeria, in particular, has come a long way to pay much attention to ideas being propagated by Sagay, adding that both age and dynamic political thinking may not be in his favor at this stage of his lifetime.
Yahaya Bello has the right to contest for president in 2023
Yerima noted that the global trend on the democratic scene has been in favour of mentoring energetic and new breed of leaders while the old ones take to advisory roles based on their wisdom as elders and not the direct drivers of the democratic system.
The AYCF leader said it was wrong for Prof. Sagay to"indulge in subtle condemnation of young and upcoming new generation of Nigeria's political class."
Speaking on Sagay's claim that Bello cannot run for the presidency in 2023 because it would be the south's turn, Yerima said competent Nigerians can contest regardless of where they come from.
He said:
"All Nigerians, including the people of Kogi state think their governor will be contesting in 2023 based on competence and not because he is southerner or northerner unless Sagay thinks we are not practicing democracy but a turn-by-turn political system, which does not even exist in any system of civil governance in today's world.
"The professor should respect the processes of electing a leader under a democratic system and perish the thought of undemocratic turn-by-turn contraption."
Yerima, however, advised Sagay to visit a popular database known as "Kogipedia" and see a "blow-by-blow account of all the achievements of the incumbent administration in the areas of health, education, security and infrastructure, before jumping to conclusions.
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Governor Yahaya Bello says Nigeria needs youthful energy to progress
Meanwhile, Legit.ng had previously reported that Governor Yahaya Bello declared that Nigeria needs the energy and blood of its young population to make progress.
It was reported that Bello commented while delivering his speech as the guest speaker at a book launch in Abuja on Tuesday, June 22.
The Kogi state chief executive who was represented by his deputy, Chief Edward Onoja, noted that it is time for young Nigerians to take up leadership positions in the country.
Source: Legit.ng
