When I published an article titled “I Wish Governor Yahaya Bello Quick Recovery From His Slumber” the governor was just a little above one year in office and a lot of you were angry. The angry folks kept calling me that, why must I publish such article as an Ebira man and from the same local government with Yahaya Bello. I did that because God has given me the wisdom to see that this government will not put smile on the faces of Kogites. But today, a lot of them are thanking me.
It is no longer news that for a long time in Kogi state, workers in the public sector have suffered a lot in the hands of Governor Yahaya Bello who have simply refused to pay them the salaries as at when due.
Yahaya Bello is a professional debtor, right from the time he came into Kogi politics. Yahaya Bello is still owing all the people who worked for him in the 2015 primary election till date. He confused them to vote for him by giving them a fake promise note. What a professional debtor.
It is crystal clear that Yahaya Bello is not capable of handling a financial matter despite the fact that he is a Chartered Accountant. A chartered accountant has become a cheater accountant. You can only fix a financial problem only if you are able to fix yourself.
Governor Bello is only capable of fighting Barrister Natasha, a woman who is trying to revive Ajaokuta steel company. A woman who stand for the interest of Kogites. A woman who deserve automatic tickets. But Bello, the professional debtor, is not capable of fighting the germane issues in Kogi state. He is not capable of putting joy in the face of the civil servants but capable of borrowing funds. Some debts are fun when you are acquiring them, but none are fun when you about retiring them.
Governor Bello was busy spending the state money on unnecessary things; buying Toyota Venza cars and Ford jeeps for masquerades without realizing how such funds can pay many workers unpaid salaries.
Running helter skelter now to Villa will not solve the problem because it is too late for that. Kindly pay all the salary arrears you owe because failure to pay a worker his salary is one that is bound to have profound effect on the state.
It is widely known that the civil servants are the brain-box of government. Being the brain- box of government, if they are not paid their salaries, it will increase the level of corruption in the civil service because the civil servants would want to find a way of generating income for themselves in order to take care of their families.
If Governor Yahaya Bello can budget for the upkeep of his political appointees and the operation of political structures and budget for the masquerades, then I do not see why payment of workers salary should attract lesser attention.
Some of the appointees under Governor Yahaya Bello have become over-night billionaires (I heard someone say a two times Senator can not be as rich as them), while the civil servants are dying of hunger. Governor Yahaya Bello has turned Kogi civil servants and especially his own Clan, Ahabe clan, to beggars – begging from one office to the other, from neighbours, family and friends to feed their children. You cannot tell a child who sees the effects of his parents not being paid to vote for you and to be patriotic. In fact, non payment of salary encourages criminality and Yahaya Bello himself is a criminal because nobody is as corrupt as a Governor who does not pay salary. A lot of children were unable to write WAEC since the beginning of this Yahaya Bello government due to non payment of salary. Even in the tertiary institutions in Kogi state, the students are schooling with hunger and a lot of them were unable to pay school fees. Nothing like busary for the students. So, how can you canvass these students to vote for you?
If workers are not paid, they will be unable to take care of basic issues such as rent, food, and healthcare. His children will not only starve, they will also, in all probability, be sent home from school thereby bringing untold emotional suffering to the family.
I believe Yahaya Bello studied Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of need. The first need of human being is the need to survive which is more important than others. If the people of Kogi state can not have their basic needs to survive then we need a better alternative to replace Yahaya Bello this 2019.
We the youth of Ebira land we are in support of what the Ohinoyi, HRH Alh Ado Ibrahim said; that Yahaya Bello has lost the support of Ebira people. But the fact is that it not only Ebira people’s support. he also lost the support of the entire Kogites.
We the Ebira youth were set to disgrace him and his candidates in the last Senate, House of Reps and House of Assembly primary election but the information got to him then he claimed that the delegates are illiterates who can not write nor read then he imposed candidates on us. But now, let’s see how he will impose himself this time.
There is no tangible achievement to point to in Ebira land, but they will only show Eika road and the road to his house. They will show you Agassa round about and the renovated central Mosque. Please, is this an achievement? Is this what Anebira deserve? Don’t we deserve to have a University of Science and Technology? Don’t we deserve to have companies as a means of employment. Don’t we deserve to have our Ajaokuta steel company back and working for the betterment of the state? Instead of even having your University in Ebira land or in Kogi state. you rather prefer Benue state just because of your guilty conscience and the fear of unknown.
I am challenging Yahaya Bello to publish his achievements and its cost. Let’s see how much it is worth compared to the money he received since he came on board as Governor. Failure to do so means he has some cockroaches in his cupboard.
It is time for us to find a better alternative to replace Yahaya Bello to move this state forward not backwards.
– Abdulmumin Ahmed
08062737273
