Kogi State Governor Yahaya Bello said no one should be discriminated against or barred, by the reasons of tribe and age, from vying for any political office during the 2023 elections.
Bello made this known through his Special Adviser on Youths and Students Affairs Jubril Ogundare at a three-day retreat of young Nigerian Parliamentarians on Monday in Lagos.
“A nation must be equitable and allow everyone to thrive on his own merits. Tribe, religion, class, age, gender or physical ability must not be used to discriminate against or marginalise anyone and civics must encourage cooperation and integration as a cardinal tenet of citizenship,” he said.
“We have to start substituting the place of residence for the state of origin and finding ways to immediately and brutally punish corruption in private and public spheres.”
The governor, who has been nursing a presidential ambition, said the youths no longer had an excuse not to take the lead in the 2023 election.
He noted that the ballot should witness more young Nigerians vying for elective positions because they had been legally empowered by the ‘Not Too Young To Run Act’ signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari in 2018.
There have been contentions over who gets what and which region is eligible to contest for president as the 2023 election beckons.
The ICIR had reported how the southern part of Nigeria, through its elected governors and socio-cultural associations, had argued and contended severally that it was the region’s turn to produce the next president for the country.
However, the political elites and governors of the northern region, which include Yahaya Bello, who had on several occasions and fora kicked against zoning, said it was unconstitutional for the South to insist it must produce the next Nigeria’s president.
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