The director-general of Yahaya Bello’s campaign group, Hafsat Abiola-Costello, says she stands with the Kogi State governor in the race for APC presidential ticket and not South-West aspirants because he is “intelligent”.

“This is me, a Yoruba, supporting someone from North-Central. There is no progress without demands. I lost both my 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,” she said.

Ms Abiola-Costello said this on Monday while addressing journalists in Lagos ahead of the APC presidential primaries slated for May 30 and 31, in Abuja.

Daughter of late MKO Abiola, winner of the 1993 presidential election, Ms Abiola-Costello said she chose Mr Bello because she had seen in him a true commitment to the country’s progress.

She said that with the ongoing work in the campaign, she was very sure that her principal would be victorious at the primaries, notwithstanding the political stamina of some others in the race.

On economy, she noted that statistics from the World Bank on states’ accountability rating in Nigeria indicated that Kogi ranked top among other states in the country.

“This is a man who met a debt profile of about N135 billion in Kogi when he assumed office in 2016 but had been able to reduce it to about N70 billion. This is in addition to his huge investments in education, agriculture, security and infrastructural developments,” she said.

The director-general said in terms of insecurity, the governor had been able to bring down the 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.

(NAN)