I am not from Kogi State. But I have emotional attachment to the state. Whenever the state sneezes, I catch cold. My one-year mandatory national service (NYSC) was done in the state. And it gave me first-hand understanding of the nuanced nature of the area. I could remember vividly that one of the speakers at the incisive lecture series at the Orientation Camp, Kabba, described the state as a ‘miniature’ Nigeria, to reflect the divergent peoples of tribal divides that make up the multi-ethnic state.
Kogi is a gateway of southern part of the country to the Federal Capital Territory, and a major route to connect the northern Nigeria. The state shares boundaries with no less than nine states. The state has great potentials – human and material. It parades huge deposits of untapped strategic minerals. The confluence status, as a result of the meeting of Rivers Niger and Benue at Lokoja, festoons the state capital with a unique tourist attraction. The location of the Iron Ore Mining Company at Itakpe, and the moribund Ajaokuta Iron and Steel Company by the federal government depicts the irony of arrested opportunities in the country, which hitherto positioned Kogi as a guiding post for accelerating indigenous economic sovereignty. These ideas were well captured in the work I published as part of my community development service project titled, ‘Understanding the Development Potentials of Kogi State’.
As would be expected, the calculus of political power in the state is not insulated from the usual politicization along ethnic and communal fronts, with huge emphasis on vertical solidarities and loyalties across factions and fractions, parcelled for the control of state power. It was such murky environment that threw up the likes of the late governor, Prince Abubakar Audu and his legendary larger-than-life image. He bestrode the state’s political firmament like a colossus. Widely admired by commoners and the state workforce, but his nemesis was a segment of the political elite dwarfed by his electrifying personality. His recent but final attempt to return to Lugard House was truncated by the cold hands of death, in a typical scenario of near-success syndrome.
So, when Yahaya Bello emerged as the governor of the state ‘by God and not by Kogi people’ (apologies to Senator Dino Melaye), and validated by the highest court in the land, I uncritically took side with the governor from a distance. I heaved a deep sigh of relief. I bragged that a paradigm shift has come. At the early stage of his face-off with the state workers, I prayed that they would be patient with him and give him the benefit of the doubt. I admired and wished him well. I betted that my generation has come of age, because his elevation represents mainstreaming of the youths and would serve as an inspiration, and a good case study to engage sit-tight ‘gerontocrats’.
But it appears the governor is losing the spontaneous goodwill of ‘child of necessity’ and youthful age. Governor Bello is like someone employing the tactics of biblical Rehoboam, who rejected the counsel of elders, and chose the ignoble path of exuberant mob reasoning. He has allowed the pomp of power to put him in the wrong side of history. In such a setting, court jesters constitute the think-tank. He forgets that dissipating energy on meaningless ego trips, dirty fights of superiority and peacock grandstanding are misguided. Is he illusive of the smouldering tension and flak of mass anger building up in his state, occasioned by arrears of unpaid salaries and pensions?
For me, the ‘recall’ process in Kogi West Senatorial District is contrived, and is therefore, a huge distraction to statecraft. Sure, Dino Melaye has a measure of offensive eccentricity, which is nauseating a-times, but he’s also gifted. His oratory prowess and streak of activism are germane in any political chess-board. His attitudinal disposition is the ‘luck’ of Kogi people, after all, they elected him twice to the National Assembly both as a senator and member of House of Representatives. Yes, you may not like Dino’s face, but you dare not ignore him. Ask Dimeji Bankole! Dino can rock the boat. He can also paddle the boat against the storm, and ensure safe arrival. Safety is safety, whether by hook or crook. That’s why he’s making a political capital of Governor Bello’s unenviable performance. And do not think that Dino suffers from solitude.
In any nation full of comedy of errors, Dino will definitely have admirers. They may not be among the intelligentsia; after all, what counts is one man, one vote. That’s the beauty of democracy. Bello should therefore, not throw away the baby with bathwater. He was ‘elected’ to administer the affairs of the good, the bad and the ugly in Kogi State. What the governor ought to have done was to manage Melaye’s ‘excesses’ and exploit his radical bent and closeness to the leadership of the Senate to attract more federal projects to the beleaguered state. Now, the desperation to undo Melaye at all costs has bred its contradictions. The Kogi State government, which had denied complicity in the whole saga has come out from her cocoon to upbraid those positioning to stand in the way of the plot. The Attorney General of the Kogi State in recent advertorials in several national dailies picked holes in Senator Ike Ekweremadu’s dismissive comments against the ‘recall’ and posited that the Senate has no role in bringing the recall to a logical conclusion. Like an approaching hurricane, the Kogi bug has caught the Senate. But trust Ekweremadu. He took the Attorney General of Kogi State to the cleaners for misleading the state government, and spending about N12 million of taxpayers money on mere propaganda. At the end, the Senate insisted that they have a constitutional input to consummate the ‘recall’ process.
But to me, the Senate leadership overreached itself by declaring the recall process as an exercise in futility ab initio. It was too prejudicial and one-sided, even though the charade is a typical ‘hand of Esau and voice of Jacob’. The stance of Senate leadership smacks off insensitivity to the rights of Dino’s constituents, whether compromised, induced or based on conviction.
Lobbying is a critical democratic process, and that’s what virtually happens during electioneering and politicking. Besides, undermining an institution like INEC by declaring her constitutional role in a democratic process as a waste of time, just for the protection of an establishment person, is unfair, and a great disservice to attempts towards strengthening of weak institutions. Now that the ‘recall’ process has been temporarily halted by a court order, it is an opportunity to make amends and allow sleeping dog lie. Truly, Nigerians know that there is more to the ugly scenario that meets the eyes. The level of political maturity in the country has not reached that stage, and even if has, Kogi can never be the take-off point. The hapless and helpless electorates cannot on their own, conceive and forcefully implement the ‘recall process’ with the speed of light, without instigations laced with filthy lucre.
I blame the governor for this poor strategic muscle-flexing. He does not need to flaunt the powers inherently at his disposal. What he needs as a young man is to demystify governance by bridging the widening disconnect between the haves and the have-nots. It is widely believed that the rift is all about permutations for 2019, and Dino must be cut to size. Pity! To toe a zero-sum path now is naivety, because the young governor needs to prove his mettle. An insider spoiler or a fifth columnist must be responsible for this indiscretion. But come to think of it, why should the governor forget the circumstance of his emergence so soon? If he remembers, he should resist temptations to play God, and muzzling up dissenting views. On balance, it is not an irredeemable situation. Governor Bello can still retrace his steps and rejig his civic engagement strategy. He can make a good governor. It is not only in his interest but also in the interest of the younger generation. That’s my prayer for him.
– Dr Jasper Uche writes from Political Science Dept. UNN.
