Adebayo Obajemu
Gov. Yahaya Bello of Kogi State since 27 January 2016 has left an indelible mark in the state such that future chroniclers of governance in the Confluence state will have tons of information and mine of anecdotes to depend on in order to write a definite history of his time in governance, spanning eight momentous years. The move for apparent and ostensible self succession will mark the climax of it all.
His ascendancy into power as some have said, had the hand of providence in it given that he was not the one, who won the 2015 election on the banner of the All Progressives Congress. Prince Abubakar,Audu former governor of the state did.
Bello actually lost to Audu in the APC gubernatorial primary in 2015 , and Audu subsequently won the gubernatorial election; however, Audu died on the day of the election and Bello was selected as his replacement as party nominee and was sworn in the next year.
In spite of widespread opposition four years after, he was re-elected in 2019 amidst allegations of violence and fraud. But detractors and supporters of the youthful governor – the youngest of all the 36 state governors – are agreed that hate or love him, Bello can not be ignored.
The reasons for his rising profile are many ranging from maverick personality, and projection of same into governance, to his relative youthfulness at 47 compared to other Nigerian politicians along with his controversial statements and questionable expenditures. He has not been credited with grand vision nor clear progressive agenda on path to take in taking the state to greater heights.
In the absence of the grand vision, he has been able to dominate the state and his aura oozes out of everything in the state, leaving nothing to chance.
A good student of Machiavelli, in order to create a unique governance style that will ensure his total control he adopted the time tested carrot and sticks policy, giving huge favours to his supporters while methodically scorching his enemies either into submission or partial exile.
A good example is the fate of Dino Melaye, the People’s Democratic Party’s strongman in the state, who at the beginning of Bello’s administration was the governor’s buddy and man Friday.
But as they say there is no permanent friend in politics but permanent interest, they soon fell out. In order to tame Dino Melaye, he courted Melaye’s arch rival in Okun politics, senator Smart Adeyemi, whom Dino displaced as senator representing Kogi West at the Senate.
Thus Adeyemi was exhumed and resurrected from political death by Bello, and both the governor and Adeyemi teamed up against Dino, making sure he did not return to the Senate in 2019. The trophy went to Adeyemi, who won the Senate election with the help of Bello.
Bello’s greatest asset is his ability to play both the lion and the fox (apology to Niccolo Machiavelli). He played the lion against his opponents by his ruthless tactics of crossing them, and the fox by his talent to recognize traps and roadblocks created by his enemies.
Insiders say that he often succeeds by playing the game of Russian roulette with his top officials, giving all of them the impression of the anointed, who will succeed him after his term of office must have come to an end.
This he deployed to maximum effect in the run up to the gubernatorial primary.
Many Kogi watchers believed he would anoint Edward Onoja, the deputy governor, who acted as his chief of staff in his first term because of the bond of friendship between them, given that the later played a major role in Bello’s reelection. Adeyemi is also close to him, so are other aspirants.
He neither gave out an inkling of who his successor will be leaving others to guess, nor did he openly show his hand until two days to the primary when he anointed Ododo, the former auditor general in charge of the local government as his chosen successor.
By then, it was too late for any serious opposition or political realignment that could upset the apple cart.
Many observers believe that Bello’s endorsement of Ododo is practically an attempt at self succession as both are from the same village, the same local government and the same senatorial zone, contrary to the demand for rotation. He claims that his zone has only done eight years and should be allowed to complete 16 years as Kogi Central, before it goes to the west.
Another of his tactics, which many watchers of Kogi politics say he deploys in order to draw people’s attention away from his failing is in stirring up controversies. His latest action may have unwittingly armed his opponents with the munition to challenge him at the poll to ensure he fails. Already there are talks of a ground swell of forces coming together to scuttle his self succession bid.
Prof. Adeagbo Moritiwon, a political scientist, told Business Hallmark that Bello is a wily politician and “one of his greatest asset is detracting people’s attention away from the burning issue of poverty and unemployment in the state.
A number of controversies marked Bello’s tenure. These include electoral fraud, incitements to violence, and U.S visa ban, N20 billion hidden bank account, among others.
Recall that on 14 September 2020, Bello was among a list of politicians placed on visa ban by the United States Department of State for undermining democracy in Nigeria. While activists praised the decision and called on other developed nations to impose similar bans, Bello accused the United States of partisanship and claimed the 2019 Kogi State gubernatorial election was mostly peaceful and fair.
Despite his claims, the election had significant reports of violence and fraud along with claims that Bello incited the violence with a ‘ta-ta-ta-ta’ chant that imitated the sound of gunfire.
In 2020, Bello repeated the ‘ta-ta-ta-ta’ gunfire chant in Akure, Ondo State while addressing a rally for Rotimi Akeredolu’s re-election campaign. The chant was condemned by the PDP, which then accused Bello of organizing thugs to intimidate Ondo voters. Bello denied the claim and accused the PDP of spreading misinformation.
At various points during the COVID-19 pandemic, Bello either falsely claimed the virus was ‘an artificial creation’ or simply denied the virus’ existence, while his state government suppressed testing and fought with the NCDC officials to keep case numbers artificially low.
Bello also refused to wear a mask at public events, including after a Governors’ meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari and at the funeral for Tolulope Arotile.
At memorial prayers for Kogi State Chief Judge Nasir Ajanah, who died of COVID-19 on June 28, 2020, Bello falsely claimed that Ajanah had not died of COVID-19 and said “whether medical experts and scientists believe it or not, COVID-19 is out to shorten the lifestyle of the people, it is a disease propagated by force for Nigerians to accept.”
In October 2020, Bello said that he had rejected a ₦1.1 billion support fund for Kogi State from the World Bank because of his belief that COVID-19 is a “glorified malaria”. He also said that “I rejected the World Bank fund because I do not believe in COVID-19. Even the five cases reported in Kogi State is an NCDC creation.” This claim was despite his own admission that Kogi State had already received ₦1 billion from the Federal Government for COVID-19 recovery.
In spite of all this,.many agreed that Bello did his best in the areas of infrastructure, education, healthcare among others.
He is said to have sanitized the Government of Kogi state by streamlining government processes and protocols and to recover lost and/or stolen government properties including monies. He also launched the exercise to rid the Kogi state civil service of ghost workers.
Early in his administration he grabbed the bull by the horns by setting up a task force for the recovery of lost and stolen government properties and monies. A committee populated by persons from across party lines. The committee task force was able to discover and recover billions of naira to the state monies
According to report, he reinvested into the state the recovered funds by erecting infrastructure, such as roads, schools, water treatment plant, hospitals upgrades and refurbishment, agriculture/farming, power and water supply to rural communities, and other critical sectors of the state.
On December 30, 2022, president Muhammad Buhari said he was impressed by the performance of Governor Bello in Kogi state, nothing that he had, particularly done very well in the area of security and projects execution. President Muhammad Buhari was very impressed by the reference hospital Okene.
However, a cross section of the people though commended Bello but they added he could have done better.
Adebayo Obajemu,is a journalist,he writes from Lagos.
