2016, 2017 and 2018 were the most unlikely years in the history of Emperor Yahaya Bello’s marauding rulership. If these years were avoidable, Kogites would have skipped them.
Why? Because, these were the years that suffering and death became a reward for work done in Kogi state.
Civil servants deliberately opted for suicide mission as an alternative to hunger and starvation threw at them by the government of the day, having pledged to be faithful, loyal and honest, to serve fatherland with all their strengths.
It in deed gripped, what we saw were beyond the mere utterances of the mouth. Patriotic citizens were pushed to the paths of disloyalty.
Yet, without food and water, they worked, a lot slumped and died. Others could not manage existing ailment, so, they gave up and breathed their lasts. Respected citizens became beggars overnight. Lecturers left our universities in search of food, secondary school teachers left the classroom for farm, and our hospitals were deserted as starved professionals either died or flew to safety.
However, in the raging scenes of the horrible experience, our governor turned deaf ears. He hung on the larky rope of fetching-out ghost workers to punish civil servants, sending many to early graves and making children orphaned, wives widowed, and relatives subjected to perpetual mourning. It was terrible, so terrible that the national assembly members begged for arms on their behalf.
How Mr. Edward Soje, a level 16 officer committed suicide in Lokoja been unable to offset medical bill for his wife who put to bed with a set of male triplets, or how Dr. Chukwudibe Rosemary of Kogi state specialist Hospital, and the host of others lose their lives is still fresh in our memories.
As if it wasn’t enough, in 2018, GYB traded peace and security with his acceptance of an obnoxious bill which solicit cattle ranching for herders in the country. It was the arrival of the terrorists in guise of fulani herdsmen that led to the massacre of about 32 persons in Dekina and Omala Local Governments.
And, while other states distanced themselves from the bill considering its jeopardising tendencies, particularly on the security architecture, Bello explored the bill as an opportunity to sell his pyrrhic presidential ambition to his adopted grandfather in Aso Rock.
As at today, Kogi is haven to all manner of terrorism. From kidnapping, robbery, killing to cultism, our fear is no longer the road accidents, it is about the uncertainty in reaching our destinations. The highways had been taken over by killers.
Unfortunately, one watches a cladded mouth-agape laced with absolute incredulity, the manners in which Bello hoodwinked the media into reporting the opposite as it detours sanity. It is practically impossible to understand the plight of Kogites until you are in the state.
For the record, among the governors Kogi produced since the return of democracy, GYB accessed funds the most. Yet, there is no reasonably tarred road, portable water or other basic amenities any where in the state.
At most, governance was polarized along ethnic and religious inclinations. From Paris club refund, FAAC, oil derivatives, Internally Generated Revenue IGR, Loans and Ecological funds, billions of Naira is unaccounted for, and the ongoing quizzing of the governor’s family members by the EFCC is a testament of the fact.
One therefore wonders why some Kogites act blindly to the red flag. Before you vote Yahaya Bello’s APC candidates, remember the ordeals of civil servants in Kogi state.
Moreover, the party’s candidates were selected in contrast with democratic precepts. From their antecedents, they are bereft of ideas. None of them speaks to issues of necessity. Instead, they either antagonizes or bench-warming. At best, they are selected to protect the governor’s corrupt empires. They don’t have our interests at heart, even those who do are not allowed via fair and credible polls. Only one man decides who gets what, his name is Yahaya Bello the enfant terrible in the Lugard House. He holds the people in contempt and he is aloof to the recognized manners in which public affair is managed.
Take for instance, the three senators from the state did not get the mandate to re-contest except the most incompetent among them, I mean the one who shamelessly justified the killing of Mrs. Salome Abu the PDP women leader, and even help perpetrators evade justice. Almost four years in the Senate, no substantial bill to his credit, but he is known for antagonising credible bills such as electronic transmission of election results.
There are other anointed candidates who confessed on National TV that they are going to the law making chambers to learn how things are done. As if the plenary floor is some sort of learning grounds, none of them took cognisance of the fact that, Nigeria’s problem is fundamental, and it boils down to the absence of sound laws and other duties required of a Lawmaker. They are not banking on the people to get voted. They simply believe the lord of Lugard house can give them the seat. Well, the people had jettisoned them and they are strategizing to kill, maim, snatch ballot boxes and declare themselves winner as usual.
Thank God for the recent changes in our electoral system and currencies. Although, it is inflictive, vote buyers would be out of stock. And that has relinquished every candidates to popularity test.
Before you vote Yahaya Bello’s APC candidates, remember the parameter on which they were presented for votes, it devoid public notions. Today, Kogi’s debt profile is high and it will tell much on the next governor of the state. A sane mind should therefore ask; why should the state pay for what it did not enjoy? We had a state assembly that was without opposition but existed at the whims and caprices of the governor who declares amount to be borrowed with just a phone call and he gets express approval. You may also want to ask; since inception of Bello’s administration, when was the last time the state assembly deliberated on the spree of the governor’s loan requisitions or other matters of Legislative importance?
The governor is still in office but corruptions under his watch had attracted the prying eyes of the EFCC. As we speak, his nephew has been grilled, the first lady is on the run and about 14 properties linked to the governor and his family members will be forfeited according to the court judgement recently delivered. Only God knows what it would be when immunity is lifted and the governor is due for questioning. But then, this should be a lesson for pro-Bellos. If it is not about the people, it is not worth it.
The recent court judgement makes it the second time Kogi state forfeits huge amounts of money to Federal Government— the N20 billion sterling bank fixed deposit and now, 14 properties worth millions of Naira.
To be honest, I do not know what the governor and his co thieves are driving at. Aside the desperate quest to protect his ill gotten empire, if it’s about been a statesman, those whose antecedents are riddled with character flaws and amorality are not worth it.
As a matter of fact, it is only in Africa that a corrupt person presents himself for election or even become a force of reckoning in decision making. If not, in country like China, a corrupt person is often killed, in Japan, he kills himself. In Europe, they will jail him.
Those lending ears to the cacophony of Bello’s rhythm-less sound needs to understand that, Kogi under his administration is blinking. Therefore, before you vote Yahaya Bello’s APC candidates, remember he has questions to answer with the EFCC and every affirmations Mars the process.
See you after election.
– John Paul
