Leading presidential aspirant on the platform of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State, on Saturday declared that as a champion, he is prepared and determined to defeat other champions in the race.
Bello told journalists at the Day-Two of the 2nd GYB Annual seminar for Nigeria’s Political and Crime Correspondents as well as Editors that he is in the race to win the party presidential primary and the 2023 election thus, he is not entertaining any fear whatsoever over the aspiration of one of the founding fathers of the APC, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu and others.
The presidential hopeful said that while Tinubu remained a respected member of the APC like President Muhammadu Buhari and Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, who are desirous of seeing their project, the APC succeed, however, said that the office of the President requires one with both mental and physical energy to need the demands of Nigerians.
In his words; “The office of the President demands real energy from its occupier because it is not a place for anyone to sit or sleep but energy to work. I trust myself and my capacity. So, I say a capital NO! I don’t fear big names in the race.
“I believe in my record and I can do what I’m going to do and I believe in capacity to deliver. I respect the founding fathers. From President Muhammadu Buhari, leader of our party down to Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, these founding fathers of our party.
“But you can never have a building without a foundation. At the same time, that building will never be completed without building on top of the foundation. A beautiful building will start from the foundation. They have started profoundly. They will be looking out for that young man who has the capacity to build on what they have laid.
“I know that there are other champions in the room. If you want to be a champion, get ready to beat the champions. I am a champion and ready to beat other champions. And I believe that I will defeat the champions to be the champion of APC.
“Politics generally is a game of numbers of which democracy is about representative majority as far as the politics or democracy is concerned. I represent the majority of the Nigerian youths and also women and that was why when I was saddled with the responsibility to draw in people into the Party, the APC chose me to lead or chair the committee. The committee brought in over 41 million members to the party. So, we have that record.
“Of course, the party saw the founding fathers when they tasked us to do the job of bringing in people to the party. So, we the builders of the party, Nigerians found it very interesting and they decided to heed to our advice and today, we have equally seen the performance of the man that was leading or championing the tribes and the performance of APC led by President Muhammadu Buhari,” Governor Bello said.
