Simon Achuba, deputy governor of Kogi State, is in the eye of the storm.
The North Central state, according to observers, is also becoming a curious theatre of absurd. Although the All Progressives Congress (APC) chapter is preparing for the November 16 governorship poll, its chieftains are not in one accord. The rift between Governor Yahaya Bello and his deputy may further polarise the party. Besides, much energy may be dissipated on the acrimony and crisis instead of governance in the poor, agrarian state.
The deputy governor is not a rival of his boss at the proposed primary. He has not picked the governorship form ahead of the shadow poll. But, it is evident that the governor is eager to do away with him. Party insiders said Bello has his eyes on a new running mate, if he retains the ticket. The implication is that the number two indigene faces a perilous future. His days are numbered in the government.
Fate had thrown Achuba up as an emergency running mate to Bello, who was also an emergency governorship candidate, following the election that had almost been won by former Governor Abubakar Audu, who was the party’s candidate in 2015. The election was declared inconclusive by the electoral commission. But today, the deputy governor is battling to keep his job. Achuba, who hails from Igala, was selected as running mate by Bello, who is from Ebira, for ethnic and religious balancing. A source said the Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja from Igala, may be warming up to take his place.
Unable to cope with the vicissitudes of political life, particularly the style of a boss who has reduced him to a spare tyre, the deputy governor cried out about the emasculation. To Governor Bello, the complaint against his alleged high handedness amounted to an affront. The fallout is the impeachment motion in the House of Assembly moved against the embattled deputy governor by Majority Leader Abdullahi Bello. The Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajana is expected to set up a panel that will investigate the deputy governor.
Two weeks ago, Achuba alleged that his boss was after his life and his aides. In frustration and desperation, he accused the governor of intolerance and high handedness. The deputy governor distanced himself from the administration of Bello, saying that it has not performed. He blamed the chief executive for general maladministration and inability of the state to pay workers’ salaries.
Also, Achuba said Bello was responsible for the atmosphere of insecurity in the Confluence State. It was a serious allegation. He challenged him to a duel, saying that if anything happened to him and any of his aides, the governor should be held responsible. At the press conference in Lokoja, the state capital, the deputy governor was like a toothless bulldog. He cold bark, but he could not bite.
After the outburst, the deputy governor was branded a leper by the ruling party. The Kogi APC Chairman, Abdullahi Bello, told reporters that he has been suspended. He chided Achuba for embarrassing the party. He explained that the suspension was premised on the report of the disciplinary committee set up in Achuba’s ward, Iyano, and his Ibaji local government. The committee, he pointed out, reported that the embattled deputy governor worked for the candidates of opposition parties during the 2015 general elections.
To Chairman Bello, the deputy governor was guilty of indiscipline, indiscretion and anti-party activities, following his reckless statements against the governor. “His series of reckless, damaging and unsubstantiated allegations against the government of Kogi State was an action that constitutes a serious violation of Article 21 A(ii), (v) and (vii) of the APC Constitution, amounting to acts of disloyalty and embarrassment to the party,” he stressed.
Achuba is not the only victim of the personalisation of power in the troubled state. Chief Justice Nasir, who had a raw deal with the governor, was rescued by the temple of justice when his job was on line. Labour unions pressing for regular payment of salaries have objected to the governor’s aloofness and insensitivity. Party leaders and chieftains have alleged alienation and politics of exclusion, saying that Bello lacked skills of consensus building. To them, after the late Prince Audu’s supporters and followers, led by his running mate, James Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives, were edged out during the supplementary poll, no conscious effort was made by Bello to pacify and reconcile with the aggrieved chieftains.
Opposition figures have also berated the governor for condoning thuggery and violence, an allegation that has been denied by his aide, Kingsley Fanwo. Although Kogi is endowed with vast human resources, prominent indigenes have distanced themselves from the administration.
Achuba’s aide, Salifu Oguche, accused the governor of repression of real and imagined foes. He described Bello as a lord of manor who lack respect for stakeholders. He justified the public outcry by the deputy governor, reiterating the fact that Kogi had suffered from maladministration. He recalled that Bello had turned the heat on the chief judge, the chairman of the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) and Senator Dino Melaye, who opposed his tyranny.
Oguche, a lawyer, alleged that the governor had enslaved his deputy by refusing to pay his salaries since May 2017. The withholding of the statutory entitlements, in his view, was callous. In a voice laced with emotion, he said Achuba does not deserve humiliation as a party leader. “The deputy governor is the most experienced politician in this government, having served as Deputy Speaker of the House of Assembly during the administration of Governor Ibrahim Idris,” he stressed.
Many have argued that, having made serious allegations against his boss, the deputy governor should throw in the towel. But, Oguche said: “He will not resign. He has sworn to serve the state.”
However, forces beyond his control are working assiduously to draw the curtains on his turbulent tenure. Sources said Achuba may not escape the dangling impeachment axe. Since he drafted the governor to the court of public opinion, the deputy governor appeared to have relocated from the state capital. He has become an absentee deputy.
Fanwo said that absenteeism was peculiar to Achuba, recalling that he also had shunned public functions in the past. “He did not come to receive the President during his visit to Lokoja,” he recalled, adding that Achuba has refused to cooperate with the governor.
Fanwo noted Oguche’s claim that Achuba is an experienced politician. However, he said what mattered in Kogi under Bello is a virtue, which in his view, is greater than experience. “It is not a case of experience, but dynamic leadership,” intone the aide, who also made serious allegations against the deputy governor. Fanwo said companies where Achuba have interest have been involved in some deals, making the state government to take some actions to prevent revenue drift.
Rejecting the deputy governor’s allegations, Fanwo said Achuba was acting the script of the opposition. He said the state government was not owing him salaries, clarifying that his salaries were paid up to July. Taking an exception to the allegation of fueling insecurity, the governor’s aide said Achuba knew the appropriate place to lodge complaint. “Why has the deputy governor not reported to security agencies, but to reporters?” he queried.
Historically, many governors and deputies have not been best of friends. In the Second Republic, Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) deputy governors of Ondo, Oyo and Bendel states parted ways with their governors over 1983 governorship nominations. The late Chief Akin Omoboriowo, Sunday Afolabi and Demas Akpore were up in arms against Chief Adekunle Ajasin, Chief Bola Ige and Prof. Ambrose Ali. In Kano, Bibi Farouk was impeached as deputy governor.
In the aborted Third Republic, deputy governors grumbled over lack of constitutional roles. They met to review their precarious situation. The most vocal among them was Prince Ayoola Haastrup (Osun State).
Following irreconcilable differences between them and their governors, Iyiola Omisore (Osun State), Kofoworola Akerele-Buknor and Olufemi Pedro (Lagos) lost their positions. Also, in this dispensation, many deputy governors had to leave after falling out of favour with their bosses. They either resigned or were impeached. They include Eyin Abaribe (Abia), Ekpenyong and Nsima Ekere), Jude Agbaso (Imo), Ali Olanusi (Ondo), and Abiodun Aluko (Ekiti).
So far, only two deputy governors, Abdullahi Shinkafi (Zamfara) and Abdullahi Ganduje (Kano), have succeeded their governors. In the case of the former, after obtaining the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) ticket and his boss, Yerima Sani, asked him to field former House of Representatives member Abdulaziz Yari as his running mate in 2007, he declined.
