Presidency 2023: Victor Umeh slams Gov Yahaya Bello

A former Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, slammed Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State over zoning of the president in Nigeria. Umeh, a former senator, cautioned Bello that zoning of the president is an arrangement between north and south, and not related to geopolitical zones.

Governor Bello, like Governor Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State, had argued that the 2023 presidential ticket should be zoned to the north central, contesting that the zone has not produced president of the country.

Umeh slammed Governor Bello, cautioning that “Nigerians must learn to stop bending narratives that fit their personal agenda and should seek to make decisions that would unite the nation in this critical period of uncertainty.” He maintained that the north/south dichotomy is the basis of power rotation, making a case for the south after the eight years of President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023.

Governor Umahi, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC), had on defection berated the PDP for not considering the southeast for the president since 1999. Umahi and several other Igbo leaders, including the Ohanaeze Ndigbo, have been agitating for the president to be rotated to the southeast in 2023.