On May 6, 2016 this government will celebrate one hundred days in Office, yet the story has remained the same since January 27, 2016 when political power changed hands. Maybe it would have been a better story, if things had simply just remained unchanged and not got worse.
Meanwhile, I do not expect that AYB or GYB; as he is fondly called would, in the fashion of most politicians from this side of the world, roll out the drums in celebration of what you could call a milestone.Yahaya Bello is one without the time or space for political showmanship and I can foretell that broaching such a pastime could be fatal to the career of anyone who so dares. An air of disenchantment currently envelopes the land and the people desire nothing more than a speedy flicker of hope.
Of course, the foregoing is debatable, depending on whom you ask. But one incontestable fact is that Kogites have not had it as bad in so many areas of their lives as it has been for a quantum part of the last 100 days.
Note however, that this is not to pass a vote of no confidence in the administration. It is only that while some achievements like redeeming Kogi’s erstwhile distasteful image, as spokespersons for the administration are wont to say to us, are intangible, others are blighted by negligence or lack of attention to detail on the part of government.
Sadly, this reign of agony is coming against the backdrop of high profile expectations of new direction that appear to have crash-landed under the weight of needless political shenanigans and intra-party bloodletting. Within the same party called the APC, an occasion of political gridlock which has also generated in unwarranted display of legistlative recklessness & flagrant disregard for the supremacy of law leading to the removal of the state assembly Speaker, Hon. Momoh Jimoh-Lawal.
On the economic front of the state, some analysts suggest that government has over the past four months, worked on a foundation that would see the economy bounce back over time. But such promises do not gratify the immediate needs of a people, who, having suffered in the hands of successive governments for years, invested what was left of
their near exhausted optimism on a new set of people who assured them of new direction. The administration has still not found a pleasant rhythm with which to sing the song of patience to Kogites, yet the people keep hope alive.
Another front on which the government would decorate itself is its fight against ghost workers. This war is one that the administration is winning even if just in the court of public opinion. Although the greatest victory would be in laying the foundations for a contented citizenry and a system that does not incentivise corruption. The masses of our people have for years lived on pittance and wages they barely subsist on. The cost of living has outstretched their
incomes farther than bearable. Inflation is galloping. Power supply is epileptic. Many have no idea where the next meal will come from. Our communities need roads, water, modern health facilities and better schools. Many parents cannot afford a decent meal for themselves and their children. Workers who spent their entire life serving the state are consigned to a life of scavenging in old age because their pensions are not paid. Some die while standing in pension queues, struggling to get their legitimate earnings and what is due to them.
These salient facts are not secret, the government knows, and the citizens are on the edge having borne so much in
silence.
It is also very clear that the Governor has left the All Progressives Congress, on whose back he rode to power, behind in the business of governance. No matter how much it tries to cover it up, the APC has become an outsider in this administration and I dare say that this lacuna will be central to the stumbling of this government if it persists.
The Kogi scenario can be best captured in that evergreen folklore, where it is said that the people having become tired of the needless squatting of the dog, got annoyed and decided to sell the dog to buy a Monkey, only to then
discover that the squatting of the Monkey is even far worse than that of the dog they thought was a burden.
The Yahaya Bello government must be careful not to push the people to that point where they start drawing the
above conclusions.
Your excellency, Governorialism is about political wisdom and political wisdom is summed up in the ability of a leader to manage diverse political interests, no matter how primitive and disgusting.
Therefore, you must get down to radically restructuring the state and not doing the same old things with a new style.
After all, like our people have said, if it takes a Man twenty years to rehearse how to go mad, when exactly should we expect him to make it to the Market square. May God grant you the wisdom to consider these thoughts and use them.
– Balogun Emmanuel Funsho writes from Ilorin.
He can be reached on irule9ja@gmail.com or 07034444976
