By Dr Tom Ohikere.
The purported security reports coming from the camp of Governor Yahaya Bello that there will be ethnic crisis if the much awaited Supreme court judgment does not favour him does not in any way reflect the actual situation on ground as the people of Kogi state are preparing their songs to rejoice and jubilate should the judgment evict him from the Luggard House.
The apex court will on Tuesday, September 20th deliver judgment on the prayers before it bordering on the November 21, 2015 governorship election in Kogi state.
However, if the feeler from the state’s 21 Local Government Areas are anything to go by, it therefore means that, the people of Kogi state will be happy with the exit of Governor Bello whom they have described as an imposed leader.
There is no gainsaying the fact that, the people of Kogi state have been subjected to untold hardship since the emergence of Governor Bello and have been praying for his quick exit through constitutional process.
To majority of the people of Kogi state, the Tuesday Supreme court judgment will define the maturity of Nigeria’s judicial system as they all await the Justices of the Supreme Court to be on the side of justice because of the gruesome ordeals which Governor Bello has subjected them to.
Besides the utter rejection of Governor Bello by the people of Kogi state, Alhaji Bello has been at loggerhead with his party, The All Progressive Congress, APC, and the party executives which was instrumental to his emergence as governor of the state.
It is also a pity that, the governor who promised, during the 25th anniversary celebration that all genuine workers in the state would get five months salaries before the just concluded Sallah, but the workers are yet to receive any salary alert, thereby making the governor an executive liar.
In view of the shortfalls in the monthly allocations accruable to the state from the federation account, nothing has fared well under ‘Fair Plus’ as Governor Bello is fondly called and the state’s Internally Generated Revenue has not received any boost like Kaduna, Ogun, and Lagos states who were able to pull through the string through innovative economic ideas.
The people of Kogi state will continue to question the legality behind the demolition of the various roundabouts within Lokoja, the state capital and till the time of writing this article, the Governor has not deemed it fit to explain the rationale to the people neither has he put any replacement of sort.
It is lucid to assert that the emergence of this infertile governor has denied the people of Kogi Central of their golden slot and I’m pained because Kogi Central Senatorial District have been craving for their son to be the governor of the state. My people from Kogi Central are still with the short end of the stick suffering and smiling with the consolation that their brother and son is the governor. But my questions are; has that put food on their table? And how far have the Kogi Central fared in the scheme of things in Kogi state?
Though, the governor promised of allowing local government autonomy during his inauguration but sadly however, the local government workers have been placed on 50 per cent salaries for the past five months.
While the rationale behind this satanic austerity measure remains uncertain, one remains astonished as to when the remaining 50 per cent balance will be paid.
You may recall that, staff screening have been on going in the last 7 months despite the N50m reportedly spent on live broadcast to announce the discovery of more than 18,000 ghost workers. At this digital age, the lingering staff screening clearly depicts incompetence and inexperience and also shows a conduit for corruption.
Following the above ordeals, the people of Kogi state are earnestly praying for a favorable Supreme Court judgment that will remove Governor Yahaya Bello from office and save the state for more untold hardship.
Therefore, the mood of the people suggests that there will not be any ethnic crises as opined by the Bello camp when he finally gets the booth. Even the unborn generations are already celebrating in anticipation of Governor Bello’s exit as they are not happy that he has mortgaged and wasted their pregnant future.
