Dear Governor Yahaya Bello,
One of the major undoing of your administration was your decision to sideline, declare war and engage those who pitched their tent, supported and worked tirelessly for the victory of the APC in the Nov 21st 2015 gubernatorial election in Kogi state in an unnecessary and meaningless battle. Even though you became the utmost beneficiary of the political ingenuity, exploits and hard work of the former APC executives and loyal party members in the state, it became however surprising the reason why you choose to treat them with so much disdain, hatred and animosity.
According to some people, you were still angry and finds it difficult to forgive and forget the fact that many of the party men voted and worked against you at the primary election that resulted into your being defeated by late Prince Abubakar Audu by a wide margin, while others are of the opinion that the roles played by some APC bigwigs soon after the death of Prince Audu in ensuring that the party picks Hon. Abiodun Faleke over you to inherit the votes and victory of the party actually created a lot of bad blood between you and some members of the party.
Your fracas with one of your major supporters and political backbone, Senator Dino Melaye was an unnecessary political own-goal that you scored against yourself earlier in this administration. The use of state power and security agencies to harass, intimidate arrest and unlawfully detain party men, perceived enemies, constructive critics and those with dissenting views featured prominently. The media attack from many of your aides, attack ‘dogs’ and hailers against some elders of the APC who constructively criticized your leadership style and advised you on the need to change tactics and put measures in place to enhance a better performance and success of your government, were unprecedented in the history of politics in Kogi state.
Predictably, many of us who admonished and advised you on the need to give peace a chance and reconcile with all party men, and call your attack ‘dogs’ to order were labeled as enemies of government and some of us were even threatened and marked out to be silenced by any necessary means, as all entreaties and appeals for reconciliation fell on deaf ears. Just when we thought you were beginning to do things rightly by openly reconciling with the likes of Natasha Akpoti, the political animosity we witnessed in the just concluded general election were agents of the state government and security agencies were used to intimidate and harass opposition figures is nothing to write home about and leaves much to be desired.
Your Excellency sir, it is therefore amusing that after you had rebuffed and rejected pleas to make peace even within your tribesmen in Ebiraland and with opinion leaders of thought, you are suddenly interested in reconciliation and running from pillar to post when defeat is already staring at you on the face.
Sadly, this late and sudden crave for peace with a few party men when the gubernatorial election is barely a couple of months away may not be enough to redeem and atone for all your misdeeds and many atrocities, as the hailers, sycophants, ‘illiterate’ aides and attack ‘dogs’ which you deliberately choose to surround yourself with may have badly damaged your image beyond redemption.
Dear Governor Yahaya Bello, I wonder what the people around you are telling you at the moment, but your reconciliation with a few APC men at this point in time is not only meaningless, but won’t be enough to salvage your already battered image. Like I have always maintained, it is not too late for things to be done rightly and to correct the wrongs of the past.
The people you should be reconciling with at this crucial point in time are the entire Kogites who felt betrayed and let down by the failure of your government to put in place basic infrastructure and dividends of democracy since the past three and half years, and the civil servants who were subjected to unnecessary torture, torment and suffering as a result of an unending screening exercise that wasn’t adequately planned, and the failure of your government to come out ‘clean’ with facts and figures in harmony with the labour unions claims as regards the exact amount of salaries owed workers in the state.
Your Excellency, this is the time to open the books and dialogue with workers, embrace critics, run an open door policy and engage traditional rulers to help you make peace and reconciliation across the divide possible. Identifying and doing away with sycophants, praise singers, hailers and some of your aides who have contributed nothing tangible to this government other than make more enemies for you by making unnecessary troubles and using security agencies to harass people on your behave won’t be a bad idea at this point in time. It is not too late to go back to the drawing board to make amends in order to avoid and avert your impending defeat on Nov 16th. Let common sense prevail, sir.
– Hussain Obaro writes from Lokoja, Kogi state.
