The upcoming elections in 2023 have thrown up various permutations regarding the potential candidates vying for the Presidency, with the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Tinubu, amongst the names being touted.
This elicited a response from Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State who detailed why Tinubu should not succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.
According to Bello in an interview with Daily Trust on Sunday, the leader of the APC would be convinced to support a young aspirant to succeed Buhari.
“Senator Tinubu is one of our leaders and I respect him so much. He has played a very significant role in Nigeria’s democracy and has built a lot of people. He has paid his dues, and with all respect as a son to him, my simple advice is that it is time for him to allow his children to take over the mantle of leadership.
” And let us do it to the glory of God and his admiration. He should see that those children he raised are now doing well. Let him see how we would manage this country in his lifetime.
“He has a right to contest, nobody is questioning that. I always urge everybody to respect him for the roles he has played in this country’s democracy. He is a man of integrity, to be candid,” the governor said.
Bello also spoke about the possibility of Tinubu breaking ranks with the APC if he fails to secure the party’s ticket.
“You don’t build a house and destroy it. I don’t think Tinubu would do that. I think he has grown past that. He is an elder statesman who will not say that the country should be destroyed in his lifetime, not even after his demise.
“So I don’t see him doing that. I don’t see that happening at all. I can speak for him, that at an appropriate time he will throw his weight behind a Nigerian youth to take over the leadership of this country while he would be behind the scene giving support as an elder statesman and one of the leaders of this party.”
