Gov Yahaya Bello: The Call for a Transformative President »

By Solace Omolaiye O.

There have been rising call accross Nigeria for Governor Yahaya Bello to throw his hat in the race of presidential election come 2023. It has been an heterogeneous call from young and old, from the North and South, men and women but some few still wonder how Gov Yahaya Bello became a leading candidate everyone is rooting for to become president come 2023.

The call for Governor Yahaya Bello has become imperative due to his outstanding leadership qualities as he is exhibiting currently as governor of Kogi state.

In a time when Nigeria is facing serious challenges, leaders who work for justice and equity for all people are necessary.
Nigeria is in quest for a Transformative President, someone who can combine integrity, accountability with innovative ideas to drive the nation socio-economical development.

As seen in Kogi state, Gov Yahaya Bello has been able to use pragmatic approaches in solving social challenges like disunity among the three major ethnic groups of Kogi state, with the EBIGO mantra, every Kogite see themselves as one, having all hands on deck for the state Transformation. Unity as bedrock of development has ushered in tremendous development in the state with several collaborative efforts in tackling age-long existing challenges like insecurity, poor infrastructure etc.

Transformative leaders know how to manage change effectively. They listen, guide, and motivate others. They use change as a tool to leverage innovative thinking and to inspire lasting positive reforms. Today in Kogi state, Gov Yahaya Bello has employed the strategy of listening to the need of the people, forming a cohesive leader to followers relationship, guiding his cabinets and motivating every other arms of leadership in giving their best to the development of the state. Gov Yahaya Bello has also leveraged on innovative thinking and inspire lots of positive reforms in the state which we can see in civil service reforms, educational reforms health reforms and infrastructural reforms such as the Ganaja flyover,
Buhari Civic center of over 15,000 sitting capacity, CUSTECH in Okene,
Okene referral hospital/Teaching hospital,
Revenue house Lokoja,
Lokoja electrification and street lighting,
Two teaching hospitals,
Seven specialist hospital,
Over two hundred classrooms for primary schools,
Model science secondary school schools built, Township road networks at Ankpa, Okene, Kabba, Lokoja, 55km Anyigba to Idah highway, Ibane-Ette-Oppo-Ogugu road, to mention but for few.

Most importantly as a transformer, Gov Yahaya Bello has use his skills to support equity, inclusivity, and fairness to ensure the well-being of all.

Using the tools of communication, consensus building, negotiation, collective action, and other skills of diplomacy, Gov Yahaya Bello has navigate Transformative change sensitively and effectively.

In the wake of the unfulfilled promises prior to the emergence of Gov Yahaya Bello in Kogi state, we find an antidote, a curative effect helping us become more whole and more capable of answering the most difficult responsibilities of the present day in Kogi state.

The leadership and practice employed by Gov Yahaya Bello in liberatory and transformative life comes to the fore in our call for youthful president, to reshapen that which has failed to enliven the best in the human community, Transformative Leadership in Action that reaches into the heart of humanity not only to strengthen our collective heart, but to lead us forward and upward into a new dawn in which we are more closely embodied to the prophetic essence Martin Luther King Jr. spoke so deeply of: that the content of our character would make us capable of transcending the chaos of the times.

The engendering challenges of the nation calls for a Transformative President, and most Nigerians have seen this quality in Gov Yahaya Bello and the call for his president is being intensified for the good of the Nation.

Solace Omolaiye O.