MKO Abiola’s Daughter Speaks – Why I Support Yahaya Bello, Accept Campaign Director Role

The Director-General of the Yahaya Bello Presidential Campaign Organisation, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, has said the governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, has the qualities of the kind of leader Nigeria needs this time, which is why she is backing him to clinch the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress.

She added that Bello is truly committed to the progress of the country.

Abiola-Costello expressed optimism that her principal would be victorious at the APC primaries regardless of the political stamina of other aspirants in the race.

While praising her principal over his economic achievement in Kogi State, the director-general noted that statistics from the World Bank on states’ accountability rating in Nigeria indicates that Kogi ranks top among other states in the country.

Abiola-Costello, daughter of the winner of the 1993 presidential election, late Chief MKO Abiola, said this on Monday while addressing journalists in Lagos ahead of the primaries slated for May 30 and 31, in Abuja.

She said, “This is a man who met a debt profile of about N135bn in Kogi State when he assumed office in 2016 but has been able to reduce it to about N70bn. This is in addition to his huge investments in education, agriculture, security and infrastructural developments. The World Bank accountability ranking of states in Nigeria evaluated Kogi as second in 2017, first in 2018 and 2019.

“The draft report for 2021 shows that Kogi scored 100 per cent in all the areas and from indications, the state will maintain the first position in 2021, judging from the draft report that was released just yesterday.

“I am proud of GYB because of his development record in Kogi State. This is a governor that is always looking for progress and the development of the lives of his people. This is me, a Yoruba, supporting someone from the North Central.

“There is no progress without demands; I lost both parents, though unfortunately because Nigerians believed in them. I’ve been working with GYB for a while and I have seen that he has the courage and intelligence to deliver Nigeria.”

In terms of insecurity, she said the governor had been able to reduce crime rates to the barest minimum, adding that through a well-crafted management system, he had united all the groups in the multi-ethnic state.