A Coalition of former political office holders (CoPOH) in Kogi State has regrouped to rally support for presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and other candidates of the party ahead of the 2023 general election.
The politicians from Kogi said the decision to pull their resources in support of the APC standard bearer was motivated by their findings that Tinubu has the capacity to pull Nigeria out of the political, social and economic morass it is currently enmeshed in.
The coalition is made up of seasoned professionals and politicians who have served at the highest level of governance in Kogi State.
Members of the coalition’s Board of Trustees (BoT) include a former governor of the state and former Speaker, Abdullahi Bello; former minister of State for Labour, Prof Ocheni Stephen, and a former commissioner for Information, Dr Tom Ohikere.
Chairman of the coalition and former Kogi State commissioner for Works, Hon Engr Sadiq Abdulmumuni, said at a press conference on Tuesday in Abuja that Tinubu is the best bet to lead Nigeria in 2023.
According to Abdulmumuni, the former governor of Lagos and his running mate, Sen Kashim Shettima, are equipped with the requisite experience to serve Nigerians and get the country out of intensive care.
On how they intend to sell APC’S muslim-muslim ticket in the North Central, a zone that is made up of majority of Christians in the North, he argued that what was important is to deliver the dividends of democracy to the people.
He said, “We have to reset the country out of three major cracks lines – ethnicity, religion and class. When you look at it, poverty doesn’t know whether you are a Muslim or a Christian. Insecurity doesn’t know Muslim or Christian. All the indices that is hitting us on the face in the country today has nothing to do with whether you are a Muslim or Christian. The country is in a state of coma; the country is on intensive care.
“Who can bring us out of this problem is what matters because whether you are a Muslim or a Christian, the two religions are recognised by the both Muslim and Christians. We are a people of book; we serve one God. What is important is how to use our position for our people to get what they want.
“Bola Ahmed Tinubu has all his credentials to show how he met lagos State, his eight years in Lagos State, how he has transformed Lagos State, and the masterplan he established, which up till today is working for Lagos State. Today, Lagos State has one of the largest economy in the whole of Africa, thanks to our principal, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. We think this should be the determining factor in choosing who rules us and not religion”.
On whether the coalition has the support of Kogis State governor, Yahaya Bello, especially when did not step down for Tinubu at the presidential primary, Abdulmumuni said the governor is 100 percent behind them.
His words: “We have his 100 percent support. North Central is not a spare part to North. It is part of the North, and North Central has never been allowed to vye for the office of the president in this country. So, he (Bello) gave us the pride and made sure that at least for the first time in the history of this country, there is someone from North Central who came out to aspire to be president of this country.
“Whatever happens after is nothing. For him to venture into that contest is a good thing for us in the North Central and it is a good thing for us in Kogi State. Since then you can remember he donated his campaign office to APC and to Bola Ahmed Tinubu for his presidential campaign. So, that shows he is with us 100 percent. As we go along the line, you will be seeing him coming up to make sure that Kogi is delivered to APC 100 percent.”
On the structure of the group and how they intend achieving their goals, Abdulmumuni pointed out that the fact that Kigi is a central state that links nine other states, the state and the North Central plays a major role in determining who wins the election in the zone.
He said, “We have tried to collate together all appointees, starting from Abubakar Audu who was the first executive governor of Kogi State since the creation of the state in the present democratic dispensation up to his Excellency, Yahaya Bello, the present governor of Kogi State. These people are grassroots mobilisers in the 21 local government areas of the state.
“We also have people from wards to polling units and we intend to make sure we generate not less than 200 votes from each polling units up to the ward and local government levels. If you aggregate all these votes together, it means you are not going to have less than a million votes for his Excellency, Ahmed Bola Tinubu, in the forthcoming election.”
