Okun people as a sub-group of the larger Yoruba Nation respect their Obas a great deal.
Okun people take exception to Governor Yahaya Bello dragging them to his second term project which is dead on arrival. Our Obas are the custodians of our values, artifacts and cultural heritage. Their major roles are to govern us according to our traditions, defend, protect and promote our interests, culture and values.
They are satisfied with these. They are not an appendage of the Executive arm of any government. They are not emissaries of a failed regime and should not be used as political foot soldiers by Governor Yahaya Bello any longer.
Our Obas are satisfied with their traditional roles so they should be excused of Governor Bello’s self inflicted problems.Governor Bello is like the Biblical King Saul in I Samuel chapters 15 and 16. God through His mercy brought Saul from nowhere and made him the Ist King over God’s people, Israel. It is the same way as you became the Ist Executive Governor of the power shift movement after the creation of Kogi State. So many hopes were on you being a young man and a beneficiary of other peoples’ labour. But alas, you disappointed almost everybody. If Governor Wada beat us with sticks, you are beating us with scorpions and snakes.
King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel and his family(Kish) which was the smallest in the tribe of Benjamin, yet God made him rule over bigger tribes, just as it is happening in Kogi now. With all the minuses, God still favoured Saul. However, he disobeyed God’s instructions and the Government was ‘rent’ (taken) from him and his reign ended. Saul pleaded with Prophet Samuel for a second chance like your bid for a second term, but it was not to be.
Most Kogites loved Governor Bello at the beginning but through your egocentrism and pride, you squandered the goodwill, dashing their hopes and aspirations.
You have succeeded in making Kogi State a laughing stock in the comity of States in Nigeria. You have refused to pay salaries and pensions for several months and there is no meaningful infrastructural development. People are dying daily, some even committing suicide, out of hunger. Crime rate is high with insecurity at its peak. And to make matters worse, you indirectly levied a war on our dear State by your open invitation to Fulani herdsmen to settle in any part of the State on our God-given ancestral and family lands.
You even threatened our traditional rulers if they dare oppose the Fulani invaders. Unfortunately, this your visitors, not kinsmen, are behaving true to type. They are daily kidnapping our people, raping our women and girls, robbing with impunity on the highways and destroying farmlands. Our people can no longer safely go to their farms. Famine is looming. Your Fulani gendarmes have become an army of occupation all over the State doing whatever they like without the slightest caution.
In the midst of these, the court jesters, clowns and praise singers that you surrounded yourself with who have no genuine electoral values are urging you on in your macabre dance of shame to your monumental failure. You are like the proverbial king who surrounded himself with sparks of charcoals but called it fire. Naturally, he lost his life and the army at the battle.
Governor Bello, please note that no amount of money, killing, thuggery, violence and rituals can make you to be our Governor again.
Don’t debase our culture by recruiting our traditional rulers and unemployed youths in your failed ambition. Enough is Enough.
– Chief Ben Ayo Abereoran
Former National Deputy President National Union of Banks Insurance and Financial Inst Employees.
Former Kwara State Chairman, Nigeria Labour Congress.
Coordinator, Afenifere Renewal Group Kogi state
National President, Okun People Front
Current National Secretary General, Okun Development Association.
