“Those whose kernels were cracked by benevolent spirits should not forget to be humble” – Chinua Achebe.
Whatever one’s politics, one would agree it is time Kogi changed direction. The governorship election in Kogi State holds on the 16th November, 2019 and many of the electorate have yet to know what the specifics of the manifestos of any of the political parties are.
Maybe, it is never about issues anyway, yet it is because of people’s issues that politics and government are instituted in the first place. Regrettably, what has gained prominence rather is the pent up apprehension about the elections.
The common question people ask lately is what mayhem would be unleashed should Governor Bello’s antics fail and he loses at the polls as he evidently should? This question is rife in the sense that this government and its party have a towering capacity for indiscriminate violence.
The gory story of the last election is a testament to this fact. Except for a fraction of the few hired to prosecure Governor Bello’s re-election, even in his camp, you would hear Kogi people say among themselves in hush tones, ‘Bello Must Go’!
That a progressive minded individual like Mallam Nasir el-Rufai would not be ashamed identifying with Governor Yahaya Bello, other than the camaraderie of partisan politics, is rather shocking as no person of fair conscience who is witness to the brand and scale of misgovernance under Bello for almost four years now would vote or canvass his candidacy.
The only message for El-Rufai is to find the time to go round Lokoja or any other town then decide if Kogi was his life, should Yahaya Bello continue to govern it? If yes, he should keep his commitment to championing his re-election.
Yahaya’s winning the coming election is the most unlikely outcome given the pervasive pain and enlightened sentiment against Bello, Edward Onoja and by extension, the APC. As the rumour of plans to postpone the election unfolds, Adams Oshiomhole should be quick to remind them that no one can postpone Christmas.
The events that brought Governor Bello to office in Kogi State were not only unprecedented but also they aptly aroused national interests by the electoral lacuna thrown up. The circumstances were deemed divine and he, lucky. However, the seemingly divine and lucky mandate is now seen by nearly all observers to have been grossly defiled by the governor.
Controversies of complex dimensions had trailed Bello’s ‘appointment’ in 2016 as would-be governor because the substantive candidate of the APC had died suddenly in the crunch time of the conclusion of the election.
Given the sheer benevolence of providence on Yahaya Bello, the natural trust of the people that the ‘messiah’ had finally come was not far fetched or out of place as it was as should have been, ordinarily. However, the susceptibility of men like Bello to inanities rather than the significance of an opportunity must have been what made Alexandre of Monte Carlo to write “And now… farewell to kindness, humanity and gratitude. I have substituted myself for providence in rewarding the good; may the God of vengeance now yield me His place to punish the wicked.”
It seemed a time for Bello to take his pound of flesh because nothing else could justify the havoc wrecked on the state and its people this much.
No sooner had Bello ascended the seat of power than his very nature became revealed for all to see yet, this revelation was not the problem in and of itself but the bad omen it portended for the future that Kogi have now come to be in regrets of.
Earliest of Governor Bello’s achievements in office were the creation and touting of inexhaustible list of nicknames such as “Divine Governor”, “White Lion”, “Youngest Governor”, “God Sent”, “God’s Own Governor”, “Most Handsome Governor” and so on. Need it be mentioned that he quickly added a new wife to his ‘kitty’. Also, he sought to further restrict people’s access to government by building 6 more gates to the government house; a gates-building project the governor has, traditionally, yet to complete in four years.
Governor Bello’s first infrastructure project is infrastructure demolition having embarked on demolishing the roundabouts in Lokoja because he deemed them archaic only to rebuild more despicable ones. Now to the revenue house, even a prodigal son knowing that the state’s wealth, though huge to the eye, is glaringly inadequate, would not build a hotel-like revenue house for an economically subsistent state.
And contrary to the reasoning of the governor that it is a ‘befitting’ edifice, Kogi people actually think it smacks of a large scale irresponsibility and a jaundiced sense of priorities. Being in power doesn’t change who you are, Michelle Obama said, it reveals who you are.
He and Senator Dino Melaye’s rivalry makes one to wonder what kind of men have leadership thrusted on them in Kogi.
Under this governor, the most inhuman, protracted and biased workers screening exercise in Nigeria was commissioned and never to end. This formed the basis upon which many were denied wages and benefits because they were tagged ‘ghost workers’ as is if there could be ‘ghost citizens’. Over this period of Bello’s torment, many have died, many others have left school, business or town completely. Had the actions been honest and grounded on firm principles, the governor would not have hurriedly rescinded all decisions, discarded the scheme and re-admit every employee back into their rightful places of assignment in the twilight of an election.
This governor, despite receiving the highest volume of subventions and accruals ever, has not only the littlest to show in terms of capital projects but also owes the highest debts to state workers. Other than the wasteful Revenue Building project and the already moribund Ejiba Rice Mill, nothing countable he can count as physical project. Roads such as the Ganaja- Ganaja Village, Zone8, Zango-Barracks, Post Office-New Market-Felele and virtually every other roads except one, the Zone8 Roundabouts- GTBank Junction, which was constructed hurriedly in the twilight of another failed government under Capt. Idris Wada.
How would he ever hear the cries over dilapidated roads in the rural Kogi when all these more important roads have been neglected.
Like his estranged Deputy, Simon Achuba said, “there is nothing to justify the resources received by this government in the last four years’. Schools have closed for much longer time during his time than ever. Greater Lokoja Water Scheme has been at its lowest ebb. Many businesses have closed shop due to either lack of sales or state-backed criminal extortion by hoodlums of KGIRS whose joy is taxing life out of businesses.
This is a mafia government whose true genius is pooling wool over the public eye. This government pays as low as 10% of a worker’s salary and go on to address the world that it has been up to date with payments of salaries. In other words, sharing one worker’s pay to ten workers and claim it is whole and fair pay.
While it is so hard to stomach the misfortunes that the occasion of Bello’s governorship in Kogi State has brought, it is much more regrettable that it might take a whole new generation to heal the moral wounds it has inflicted on the youth’s sense of value for character and knowledge. Never had zero premium been placed on learnedness and decency as it currently is in Kogi.
The list of who is who in Kogi today leaves out noble men and burgeons with names of thugs and stack illiterates. They are in very high places as LGA Administrators, DGs of government bureaus, Special Advisers, Commissioners. Children now believe the future belongs to those who shun education and civility. How and how soon does a society get to undo a systemic internalisation of warped ideals entrenched by government among its youth. Much longer after Bello is gone, the effects of his damage to the moral faculty of society would yet linger on.
Bello’s desperation has heightened to a threshold already and he dangles the most bizarre of inducements to the electorate but as in the words of Sam Omatseye, “the scent of money is making Bello a saint, suddenly. But the people have a chance to show whether democracy will this time canonise bad governance.”
Kogi people must not forget the travail and holocaust of the last 45months. This time or later, Bello would be gone. The better time is now before it gets past the point of no return. This time, this election, Bello Must Go!
– Eyiokoto Ajanaku, the coordinator of All Kogi Alliance, wrote from Odo-Eri, Yagba-West LGA, Kogi State.
