2023 Presidency: We’re not interested in zoning — Southwest women
By Akintunde Jacobs, Akure
Ahead of the 2023 Presidential election, a group of women, on Wednesday stormed Akure, the Ondo state capital to shoe their support for the aspiration of Kogi State Governor, Yahaya Bello.
The women in their numbers also rejected zoning of presidency to a particular zone, saying that anyone who had the interest of Nigeria at heart would not be drumming the beats of zoning.
Recall that Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state and Chairman of the Southwest Governors Forum on Tuesday disclosed that it was the turn of the Southern part of the country to produce the next President.
According to Akeredolu, it would be disingenuous for anyone to argue against rotation at this period.
But the women, who defied the heavy rain, on Wednesday morning, however, said the people should pray to God to give the country the best leader at this crucial point in history.
They were armed with placards with inscriptions such as, “Yahaya Bello, the best man for the job,” “We’re not interested in zoning, this is one Nigeria,” and “Yahaya Bello, hero of women inclusion,” among others.
According to them, “regardless of what political oppressors might have fed the public,” it is an incontrovertible fact that Governor Bello had the capacity to build on President Muhammadu Buhari’s successes and tackle all challenges confronting Nigeria, headlong.
The women cut across different key sectors and professions such as Banking, Media, Nollywood, medical practice, including frontline entrepreneurs, market leaders, engineers and religious groups, among others.
The leader of the Southwest market movement for Yahaya Bello, National Vice President, Iyaloja of Nigeria, Princess Nike Aroloye, said the women of Nigeria were already looking beyond the primaries of the two parties.
“We already see the ticket with Yahaya Bello. Once he gets it, we are marching straight to Aso Rock. All my market women are ready to support him. We will go everywhere for this cause. He has said we are important. We will give him the reward,” she told journalists during the rally.
Nollywood actress, Rose Odika, who led other Southwest female stars to the rally said, “I have said it before, and I will repeat it here. Yahaya Bello is the one we will support. From all he has done for women and for his state in general, he is the one to beat. We will only support those who support us.
“It has never happened before in the history of Nigeria for a leading presidential candidate to appoint a woman as the Director-General of his campaign.”
Responding, DG of the Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, said the dreams of her father for a better Nigeria for Nigerian women would be actualised with a Yahaya Bello presidency.
“I am so happy that Nigerian women have decided, for once, to take their destinies in their hands by supporting that one Governor that has given them so much voice and has made the world to see how women can turn stone into bread in a troubled economy. He will do the same for Nigeria.
“Seeing this huge honest crowd, I am confident that Yahaya Bello’s good deeds, belief in women, and giant strides in a women-filled government, have earned him the trust of Nigerian women. And I assure you, he will never forsake you. He has demonstrated this loudly in Kogi State,” she noted.
