Growing up, my father was my best friend. He had this beautiful Raleigh bicycle which I frequently rode with him to his cocoa store, farm and church. The most exciting aspect of these rides was the many interesting Bible stories and his experiences in India and Burma during the second World War which often formed the objects of our discussion.
As a Baptist Deacon, twice in a day- morning and evening – he always led us in reading the Bible and prayers. So there were so many Biblical stories to discuss.
Apart from Jesus Christ, King David who was described as a man after God’s own heart, was the most adored personality in the Bible by my dad. Despite his many sins, God loved David and neutralised all his enemies, including his own son. Because of God’s love for him, he overlooked many of the excesses of his son, King Solomon.
Even when he divided the Kingdom of Israel as a result of the bad counsel that Rehoboam the son of Solomon took, the lineage of David still held on to Jerusalem, the city of David and the bastion of Zionism.
But the morning we studied how Rehoboam was wrongly counseled by his youthful friends, my father’s message that morning was we must always move away from bed friends, seek the wise counsels of elders and God’s.
In my twenty nine years in the academy, I have seen many aborting their destiny because of disrespect for constituted authority, senior colleagues and elders. In fact, one was disgracefully removed as a head of department because of gross acts of insolence and lack of his respect for his seniors. Another one, a lady, was incited to confront the entire system and she ended up in disgrace. This is usually the price of receiving bad counsel, arrogance and wilful disrespect for the words of the elders.
How is this my ‘epistle’ related to the denunciation of Governor Yahya Bello by the Ohinoyi, the Paramount Ruler of Ebira Land? Obviously, there are many parallels between Rehoboam and Yahya Bello.
Rehoboam became the King of Israel without any effort. The same was Bello who became Governor of Kogi State by happenstance. The sudden death of Prince Abubakar Audu paved the way for him to become Governor. Like Rehoboam, Bello failed to restrain himself and allowed the appertenaunces of power get to his head, creating crisis and controversy even when there is none.
In the past four years I had blasted Yahya Bello four times. But today, I am not about to do that again. Bello is a very young man who allows himself to be misled by the wrong people. He is just 44 years old. Rather, I would like to advise him to concentrate strictly on the job of the governance of Kogi State and avoid controversies at all costs.
There are two issues that Bello would have handled with tact in his dealings with his paramount ruler. The first is the issue of the sick Chief Imam of Okene who was too ill to continue as Chief Imam. What would it have caused Bello to reach an agreement with Ohinoyi on this matter? Nothing. Rather, he chose to go against the wise counsel of this traditional ruler, who even happens to be his cousin by asking weak and feeble Chief Imam to continue to serve. Now that the man is dead, he is trying to appoint the new Chief Imam, an issue that is reserved to the Paramount Ruler. What is his business with the appointment of a Chief Imam of Okene ? A whole Governor!
This is how Bello always generates controversies unnecessarily and ultimately landing himself in trouble.
What was his business in trying to remove Dino Melaye as the Senator of Kogi West? Again, did he need to proscribe ASSU when he did in the Kogi State University ? All these were totally unnecessary. Did he need to to become a protégé of the President in order to govern well? Of course not.
Certainly, Bello is getting some bad counsels that are complicating matters for him. Let him move away from these his bad advisers and start mending fences with his perceived enemies, starting with the Ohinoyi, his traditional and spiritual father. But the question is: will Bello be humble enough to do this? Time will tell.
– Prof. Toba Alabi.
tobalabi@yahoo.com
