Being The Text Of A Speech Delivered By Distinguished Senator Jonathan Silas Zwingina, National Coordinator, Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organization and Chairman National Campaign Council, at the Public Declaration of His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Bello’s Presidential Aspiration On Saturday April 2nd, 2022 At The Eagles Square, Abuja.
Protocols
Permit me to commence my speech by quoting a man with a distinguished career in the British Army, Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, who defined leadership as
“The capacity and the will to rally men and women to a common purpose and the character which inspires confidence”.
Today in Nigeria, there is evidence that hope can inspire. And, when the word ‘hope’ is mentioned in connection with politics, it invokes a personal déjà vu of emotions in me having been part, as matter of fact, an integral part of a hope project some three decades ago. Here I am again in another hope assignment – from Hope ’93 to Hope ’23. Even today Hope remains relevant to our national discourse.
Nigerians hope for a country they can be proud of which has been the main focus of the administration. Above all, Nigerians across generations, hope for the next leader who can further inspire hope and continue the good works undertaken by President Muhammadu Buhari. I am happy to inform this esteemed august gathering and all Nigerians that the leadership search for the continuation of President Buhari’s positive legacies has been found in Yahaya Adoza Bello.
In the current executive governor of Kogi state many compatriots and I have found a leadership continuity we desire. Yahaya Bello is young, but he offers far more than just his youthfulness. From my findings and interactions about him and those who have known him for a considerable length of time, Yahaya Bello is a highly detribalized leader with no trace of religious discrimination.
It is on record that he runs his government today in Kogi state with appointees from all the zones of this country. At least 45 of his political appointees are indigenes from other states and geopolitical Zones of the country. How he has managed to do that without provoking powerful political interests into contriving riotous chaos in the state remains something of a miracle to me and many keen watchers of Nigeria’s politics. In other states and with another governor, it could have led to intractable internal crisis of unimaginable proportions.
Nigeria needs such leadership at the moment.
As a Muslim governor, he made it a priority project to build a Christian Chapel in the government house even before completing the Mosque there. That speaks volumes about his religious tolerance and accommodation.
Nigeria needs such leadership at the moment.
In July last year, a letter of commendation by The World Bank through its Regional Director, Shubham Chaudhry, was sent to His Excellency Governor Yahaya Bello for doing what nobody expected a Nigerian governor, or any Nigerian politician for that matter, to do. The World Bank hailed him officially for refunding US$4.63million surplus funds under the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management project (NEWMAP). The World Bank even acknowledged that the action made it possible to extend similar projects to other States facing deficit of funds. That’s called integrity and incorruptibility.
Nigeria needs such leadership at this moment.
Before assuming office as Nigeria’s youngest governor on January 27, 2016, Kogi state had been held hostage by extremely violent criminal gangs and the previous administrations in the state didn’t have an answer to their free criminal reigns. Within months of becoming governor, His Excellency made sure that the criminal gangs were run out of town, their massive armouries of deadly weapons confiscated and destroyed while the government ensured that all material proceeds of crime in the state were eliminated. In most of those operations, even though a civilian with no military training, the governor personally took command of execution through weeks and months of sleepless nights and restless days. He totally uprooted criminality from Kogi State that nobody thought was possible prior to his coming. But for that singular act of brave leadership action, Kogi State would have become a kidnapping and insurgency center of the nation today. But he fixed it.
Nigeria needs such leadership at this moment.
There are other achievements in the areas of unprecedented infrastructural development, education, health, national peace-building interventions and many more. Politicians will tell you what they intend to do, statesmen showcase what they have achieved. I have just given you a preview of what Yahaya Bello has achieved in office as governor in the last six years and I have the confidence that he will do more as president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria if and when elected.
History has shown that as nations mutate so are the challenges they are confronted with and so are their needs for the genre of leadership fit for different realities. The realities of today’s Nigeria is that there are gaping gaps to bridge as an essential component of nation building processes which require unique leadership capabilities and creative vision to fix. That is the purpose for Nigeria at the moment that requires leadership to fulfill and hope as the fuel of national rebirth and creative development that makes nations the big players in the international arena. Nigeria has the potential to join the club of global economic super powers and that’s only possible by electing the right leadership fit for the moment.
It is in this regard that we have identified Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello as the fit-for-purpose president for Nigeria who has the capacity, the competency, the vision and the passion to re-engineer Nigeria in the right direction.
In the transformation of nations and transition from arrested development into the realm of socioeconomic elevation, leadership is the crucial element that avails society cogent redirection for sustainable development. If Singapore and the United Arab Emirates could do it, we also can and we shall. I have an abiding confidence that His Excellency, Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello, will deliver on these historic necessities desperately required by our beloved Nigeria to move forward in security, peace, prosperity, development and harmony. He will bridge all the gaps, restore hope and get the country moving on the right course.
Once again I welcome you all.
