Deepening Democracy, No Anointed Aspirant in Niger State: The Exemplary Way of Abubakar Sani Bello.

By Abdullberqy U Ebbo

As the whole nation goes agog ahead of the 2023 general elections, political stakeholders are looking to secure their foot in new administrations by forging alliances. While these are all of different ideologies and diverse identities, they all have a thing in common: none of them wants to support a losing side.

But there is no knowing what side is the winning one. But there are indicators. For example, one can guess considering where the support of the Governor of the ruling party lies. In niger state however, it’s a futile effort trying to guess where the Governor belongs because, in truth, he belongs to everybody and belongs to nobody.

In a number of states across the country many Governors have anointed their chosen candidates, and all party members have been advised to work for the emergence of the chosen one in the primary and general elections.

In Niger State, however, Governor Abu Sani Bello has refused to disrupt the level playing ground by anointing anybody, this is unprecedented in the history of our democracy, the Governor has remained neutral insisting that the will of the people must be allowed to excel. He maintained that, Nigerlites must be allowed to choose for themselves and the process of ensuring that cannot and should not be disrupted. Governor Abu Sani Bello will not impose anyone on the people of Niger state. A move that’s earning him love from political analysts and indeed Nigerlites.

For Governor Bello, this has been a consistent behavior since he appeared in the political scene. His Excellency has never frustrated the democratic process by denying actors a level playing field nor the people their preferred choice. If anyone followed past elections in niger state under the supervision of Governor Abu Sani Bello, he or she should know the Governor is not in the business of imposing anyone on people. The last local government council elections clearly demonstrated that, no single Council Chairman or Councillor was anointed by the Governor. His choice is always the peoples’ choice.

There are examples too many to mention where the Governor has maintained neutrality to ensure a level playing field. And as we are ready to go into the primaries, it appears Governor Abu Sani Bello would stay true to his resolve and further deepen the democratic process of the APC in Niger State by setting a beautiful example of how a leader should be.

Cc: Lalasticlala, mynd44