2023: ‘Pairing of Governor Yahaya Bello and FFK as candidate and running mate untrue’

Nigerians and supporters of the Kogi Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, have been urged to disregard images making the rounds casting the governor and newly-defected member of the All Progressives Congress, Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, as plotting a joint ticket ahead of the 2023 presidential race.

Mr. John Mayaki, a Chieftain of the APC offered the clarification on Saturday with a statement that said the Kogi Governor has yet to make the choice of a running mate even as he continues his pursuit to emerge as the successor to President Muhammadu Buhari.

He was reacting to viral images portraying Governor Bello and Chief Femi Fani-Kayode as President and Vice-President respectively, with the explicit suggestion that both political actors are nursing a joint ambition to run on a single ticket on the platform of the APC for the 2023 elections.

This has led to widespread insinuations that the purported ambition may have motivated the former Aviation Minister’s recent return to the All Progressives Congress.

However, Mr. Mayaki dismissed the insinuations. According to him, “the talks of running mates are hasty at this stage. Only those seeking to unnecessarily heat the polity and force either concessions or costly disassociations out of leading aspirants such as Governor Yahaya Bello are designing and presenting the fictional pairings to Nigerians.”

“There is little to hide in the matter; when Governor Bello decides on a running mate, it will be announced to the world publicly, not clandestinely communicated through graphic designs spread by undisclosed sources,” he said.