Rising from the meeting held on Tuesday 13, 2016, Kogi Central Forecast Group (KCFG) maintained that Kogi East is still Governing Kogi State under the guise of Alh. Yahaya Bello from Kogi Central.
Hon. Edward Onoja (the Chief of Staff) from the Eastern axis of the state has over powered our son as Governor and taken total control of Kogi State. This is an undisputed fact to as many whose eyes are open to the present leadership hierarchy in Kogi State.
In the first place the appointment of Edward Onoja as Chief of Staff was condemned by our group before now because we knew it was going to snowball into a bad omen for our dear son, Alh. Adoza Yahaya Bello.
Now, it has become crystal clear to everybody that Onoja has taken over Kogi State and has even gone to the extent of pocketing the state in his many trousers he has acquired with funds from Kogi State. He is busy remoting our Governor and nobody is bold enough to come out to the open and say the matter as it is out of fear. Nobody is considering the ill treatment that Kogi Central may suffer in the near future if we the entire people of Kogi Central refuse to stand up against mis-guided governance that our son has been cajoled into at the moment by an Onoja whose name means “chief of all” and he is right now the chief in charge of Kogi State making our son to drive rough while governing the state.
It is sad that Governor Yahaya Bello has turned Africa Independent Television (AIT) to a media house where he can propagate lies to the entire world about the good deeds of his government that is indeed a bad one to those of us who are insiders and knows where the shoe is pinching us. I wonder why he has no guts to patronise a television station like Channels whose journalistic practice is bent on truth and nothing but the truth. TAO FM radio station in Ebiraland is another broadcast media outfit the governor is using to spray lies in the ears of people who used their hard earned money to purchase their radio sets. It is indeed a pity that the radio station is headed by a “Pastor” and she does not see anything wrong in follow the governor to deceive our people. It is indeed rocket science for one to read the true Kogi stories in the newspapers, television and radio stations. And still, nobody dare talk about them on the media. May God save Kogi Central from this present mess.
It has come to our notice as a group that all the ghost workers fished out from Kogi East in the first screening exercise have find their way back to the State civil service with the help of Onoja, Alh. Yahaya Bello’s twin brother from a different mother as he is fond of referring to him any time the need arises. It is very clear that Kogi Central is recording the highest numbers of ghost workers so far as against what it should be. We have been relegated to the background in the civil service structure for many years now and still, we are the ones adjudged presently as taking the lead in the hunt of ghost workers by Alh. Yahaya Bello. What a “gold medal” indeed this our son Alh. Yahaya Bello has brought for us from Rio Olympics that just ended. Shame!
Where is our Ebira Youth Congress (EYC)? Will I be right if I say they too have become money mongers or that they have suddenly forgotten their activities? It is very miserable that EYC who campaigned for an Ebira man to become a Governor cannot equally see the many undoings of Alh. Yahaya Bello who so many people now refer to as as one that “inherited governorship upon the demise of the rightful winner.”
The lingering economic and static situation going on in Kogi State cannot be over-emphasized. This is because the Governor is “impotent” and does not consult experienced people before taking decisions. The governor is saddled with the responsibility of running the affairs of the State in the best interest of the state and the society at large
but our own governor has already been blown by the evil wind of his friend, Onoja and the likes. I do not know what the governor termed as good governance, whether it is by travelling and visiting the holy Land at will and other countries of the world or not paying workers their salaries. We are yet to understand him.
The circumstance on ground is clear evidence of the problem facing the state where people who passed the screening exercise were not paid their salaries while most ghost workers have received salaries and on percentage basis which is still the same archaic and devilish style of his predecessor. We can no longer differentiate between the ghost and
genuine workers.
Instead of him rising gallantly to rescue the state from unpaid salaries, security lapses leading to robbery, kidnapping and secret killings our governor in the company of his Onoja is busy buying cars with millions of dollars. Thank God the document leaked out for us to know that we are been governed by a crop of people who are highly insensitive to the groaning of the masses but rather to their pot bellies that will one day burst as a result filling it up with public funds.
Good governance allows differing interests to reach a broad consensus on what is in the best interest of the state and where possible, on policies and procedures. All men and women should have a voice in the decision making of their beloved state either directly or through legitimate, intermediate institutions that represent their interests. Such broad participation is built on freedom of association and speech, as well as the capacity to participate constructively. This is largely lacking in this administration.
Good governance is an ideal which is difficult to achieve in its totality as there can be no utopian society anywhere in the world no matter how we try to but life can be made better for people however little. Governance typically involves well-intentioned people who bring their ideas, experiences, professionalism and other human strengths and shortcomings to the policy-making table. In Kogi State the reverse has been the case. Governor Yahaya Bello thinks his friends can best head any position in the state whereas those friends were thieves from various sectors of the Nigerian economy before they came on board his administration. That is why the state cannot move forward in terms of development.
The governor is brain weak and a corrupt fellow as he has successfully device many means of embezzling money most notably the awarding of road construction across the state to a construction company that has no known name. As a matter of fact, we need God’s intervention in Kogi State because all the civil servants are dying one after the other with some shouting the governor’s name on their sick beds while giving up the ghost.
Lastly there is security challenges facing every part of the state but the military personnel deployed to the state are all working in Kogi Central for reasons best known to him the governor and once we know what the reason(s) is we will publish it later.
Let us look at the functions of Chief of Staff. This is a State that we in Kogi Central have been crying for marginalization in the Kogi State Civil Service. Are we to say what the governor did by giving the position to Onoja is in order?
The governor appointed a Chief of Staff who in turn plays a wide range of roles in the governor’s office among which are:
Chief Operating Officer: Much of the day-to-day responsibility for ensuring that state agencies are functioning falls to the office of the Chief of Staff.
Office Manager: The Chief of Staff directly manages the governor’s office, overseeing the daily operations and interrelationship of the gubernatorial staff and determining what decisions will be taken to the governor.
Chief Strategist: The Chief of Staff helps the governor to develop and maintain a short and focused policy agenda. As primary strategist, the Chief of Satff helps to reinforce the Governor’s commitment to his or her agenda and to oversee the process of campaigning for its achievement.
Policy Advisor: The governor inevitably will rely on the Chief of Staff for advice on a wide range of policy issues. The Chief of Staff’s role is to ensure that the governor receives the information, analyses, and views necessary to make a decision.
The Chief of Staff also may develop the key themes and directions of the governor’s budget or legislative message, leaving details to the budget or policy director.
Crisis Coordinator: The Chief of Staff has a formal role in the Governor’s office plan for emergencies, which includes developing the standard processes for managing crises, putting together an ad hoc team to address the specifics of any given emergency, and rationing the governor’s visibility in a crisis.
In conclusion, Hon. Edward Onuja (Chief of Staff) has been in politics before Executive Governor Yahaya Bello and he is politically oriented as he was once a House of Assembly aspirant in 2010 under the then ANPP and late Prince Abubakar Audu was his godfather and quite knows what he is doing to protect his image politically and to the interest of Kogi East.
The well meaning people of Kogi Central should stand up and advise our son; our Governor on what it is the ideal thing to do even if he fails to listen so that he will not create much problem we will have to suffer in the future.
Signed
Yakubu Nazir Abdulhakeem
