The media handlers of Yahaya Bello, the overtly exuberant governor of Kogi state, have been in overdrive in the previous few days. They’ve been issuing rebuttal after rejoinder after launch, all in a spirited try to absolve their principal of a most calamitous fake pax he just lately dedicated. He simply may need unwittingly illuminated preexisting fogs typically thought, and cleared cobwebs within the public eye. Bello’s wrong-headed gaffe likely would ordinarily have been dismissed as a tolerable incidence of logorrhoea — that verbal affliction which makes individuals “over-talk”. The gist of his exegesis, nonetheless, transcends what might be papered over courtesy of inchoate contestations, vacuous statements and discombobulated appearances on tv.
Understandably and deservedly, Bello’s treatise instructions deeper dilation in opposition to the backdrop of what has grow to be the brand new regular, in a sleepy state hitherto well-known for its tranquil, welcoming attributes.
Whereas addressing his kinsmen at Ihima, Okehi native authorities space within the central senatorial zone of the state just lately, Bello made a detour into his indigenous Ebira language, the key tongue spoken in that part of the state. Ogori and Magongo, the opposite ethnicities in the identical zone, are wholly subsumed by the Ebira. He exhorted his listeners to file his deal with and playback for many who weren’t bodily current. The video clip which continues to be trending on the web has been subtitled in situations to allow listeners to know the meat of Bello’s homily.
First, he made it very clear that because the incumbent governor, he was not inclined to have anyone however his kinsman and protege succeed him. He reeled out a number of the initiatives his administration had sited in Ebiraland which might not have been attainable underneath a governor from one other zone. He alluded to the Confluence College of Science and Know-how (CUSTECH) in Osara, the upgrading of the Obangede Specialist Hospital and the highway repairs and rehabilitation being undertaken in his zone. Even when he didn’t enunciate additional, Bello’s drift was in direct reference to the previous monocultural grip on governance within the state of the Igala-dominated Kogi east zone. Starting from January 1992 all the way in which to January 2016, straddling the regimes of Abubakar Audu, Ibrahim Idris and Idris Wada, Kogi east grossed a minimum of 18 years within the state’s helmsman’s place. There was after all a army interregnum, between November 1993 and Could 1999.
On the expiration of Bello’s second time period in workplace in January 2024, Kogi central would have spent eight years in Lugard Home, Lokoja; the way in which the federal government home within the state is addressed. For the advantage of hindsight, Bello’s ascent to the governorship was purely providential. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) within the 2015 gubernatorial election, Abubakar Audu, was coasting house to victory within the contest, trouncing his main opponent, Idris Wada of the Peoples’ Democratic Celebration (PDP). Sadly, nonetheless, Audu died earlier than the tallying of the ultimate election outcomes. Additional to some opaque interpretation of the electoral legal guidelines by Abubakar Malami (SAN), the legal professional basic of the federation, Bello who got here second within the governorship major which produced Audu was bequeathed with the place.
Yahaya Bello’s competition on the Okehi Declaration means that he’ll unilaterally impose on the state in 2024 an Ebira successor, who will anchor the relay for 2 extra phrases of 4 years every. That is to make sure that Kogi central approximates the subsisting file of Kogi east when the zone would have chalked 16 years by 2032, two years in need of the Igala file. Curiously, in all of those political permutations, Kogi west, the third leg within the sociopolitical tripod of Kogi state and residential to the Okun-Yoruba individuals in the principle, will not be featured. Within the 31-year existence of the state, the realm has not produced a substantive governor apart from a three-month stint in 2008 when the erstwhile speaker of the state home of meeting, Clarence Olafemi, stood in as appearing governor following the nullification of the 2007 governorship election of Ibrahim Idris, by the courts. The ruling known as for contemporary polls between Idris and Abubakar Audu.
Bello, on the Ihima outing, warned these he described as critics of his administration, telling his listeners that he was “a seasoned gun handler”. As a adorned marksman, he promised to pursue his political adversaries all the way in which into their hiding holes. Issuing a categorical risk, Bello stated: “I’m coming after those that abuse us, who poke their fingers in our mouths. These fingers shall be severed from their fingers. I’ll pursue them to their bedrooms and hiding locations. These of you who harbour or shield such characters have to be able to confront the boiling level of my wrath once I come. My eyes shall be flaming with hearth and I’ll guarantee you’re burnt. Anybody who opposes my agenda shall be picked up and saved in a spot the place won’t ever see the solar once more”. Certainly, en path to the decisive actualisation of his political masterplan to put in a homeboy as successor, Bello introduced to his viewers that the approaching politicking and elections “shall be very popular and those that cross my path shall be spontaneously consumed”. He reminded his congregants that he’s the well-known “white lion” who nonetheless roars and feeds on his preys. Kogi state is nearly changing into an expansive, modern-day taking pictures vary, within the fingers of gangsters.
It was good Yahaya Bello spoke his thoughts the way in which he did. His communication managers, sadly, have been operating round, making an attempt spiritedly to rewrite the narrative, freely and consciously spewed by their boss. They overlook that phrases are like eggs. A Yoruba proverb certainly reminds us that alcoholic intoxication is simply an enabler of the unfettered expression of long-harboured ideas. Such ideas had beforehand been catalysed and have been simply awaiting public air flow in due season. Bello positively is aware of what he’s saying. Puzzles and consternation in regards to the post-2016 descent of Kogi state right into a full-scale Hobbesian state may be receiving illumination, due to the candour demonstrated by Bello in his deal with.
Sadly, and spontaneously too, the celebrated confluence state hitherto an oasis of serenity has spiralled right into a jungle of the rule of the gun. Sure incidents have occurred within the current political previous of Kogi state, which is getting clearer now, due to Yahaya Bello’s current outburst. Forward of the February 2019 presidential election, hooded gunmen besieged the Lokoja house of former governor Ibrahim Idris, the place elders of the PDP have been strategising for the polls. Dignitaries on the assembly included Tunde Ogbeha, (a retired military basic and former senator); Salifu Atawodi, (a retired air vice marshal); Dino Melaye, Biodun Ojo; Tolorunju Faniyi; Musa Ahmadu, (all former federal parliamentarians), amongst different senior stakeholders. It took Ogbeha’s cellphone name to the commander, Command Military Information in Lokoja, to element personnel to disband the hoodlums. Instructively, upon the arrival of the army, the hooded gang merely strolled leisurely, albeit confidently, into the adjoining premises of Authorities Home, Lokoja.
Months later, the gubernatorial major of the PDP in Kogi state was disrupted by unknown gunmen who invaded the Lokoja stadium, the venue of the method. Previous midnight when the votes have been being tallied, electrical energy within the stadium was instantly put out because the sports activities enviornment erupted right into a cacophony of gunfire. The Adamawa state governor, Umaru Fintiri who was delegated by the PDP headquarters to supervise the method, was shielded out of the stadium by his very skilled and brave safety aides. An analogous state of affairs performed out on the eve of the gubernatorial election correct when the delegated anchor of the Kogi state PDP governorship election, Oyo state governor, Seyi Makinde, was briefing leaders of the get together at a Lokoja resort. Once more, masked males breached the resort premises and intimidated members of the PDP. Makinde’s safety stood agency and repelled the invaders.
Days after, a PDP girl chief, Salome Abuh, was shot, locked up in her house and incinerated in Ochadamu, in Ofu LGA, for standing for her political desire throughout the governorship election in late 2019. Early July 2020, employees of the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja, have been attacked by gunmen suspected to have been sponsored by the Kogi state authorities. The medical staff have been planning a press convention to implore the federal authorities to ascertain a COVID-19 screening centre within the state after they have been assaulted throughout the premises of the hospital. Voters in Lokoja, the state capital, won’t overlook in a rush, the aerial assaults that visited them on election day in November 2019. A helicopter reportedly procured from the Nigeria Police was deployed to fireside stay bullets at voters within the densely populated capital, which usually posts excessive election figures.
Yahaya Bello’s current advisory re-echoes the Ebira tune which was spontaneously composed within the aftermath of Bello’s victory on the 2019 polls. The video clip, which has been trending for 3 years now, options excited kids singing and dancing to the rhythm of a tune celebrating Bello’s triumph. Whereas a part of the tune was in Ebira, it was interspersed with English. It urged that “no one can deny the Ebiras a second time period on the helm in Kogi state. As many individuals as tried to vote in line with their conscience rejecting the Ebira candidate, Yahaya Bello, have been handled to the rhythm of gunfire, ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta”. Merely put, what we’ve in place in Kogi state immediately is democracy by the barrel of the gun.
On the tail of Yahaya Bello’s outing was yet one more risk, woven across the senatorial election subsequent February. The key speaker at that occasion declared that the forthcoming parliamentary ballot is a direct contest between Ebiraland and Delta state. You marvel why? Abubakar Sadiku Ohere, a serving commissioner underneath Bello, is the APC candidate for the workplace whereas Natasha Akpoti, additionally a daughter of the soil and PDP flagbearer, just lately obtained married to Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan, the Alema of Warri and a businessman from Delta state, at a well-attended ceremony. Her marriage to somebody exterior her geocultural hemisphere has now been clad within the mould of what Catholics check with as a grievous sin. Such is the magnitude of toxicity which is being thrown up within the Kogi political area months earlier than the polls, from supposedly excessive locations.
Simply months in the past, Bello who had relocated to Abuja for about 18 months whereas contesting for the ticket of the nation’s presidency underneath the banner of his get together expended tons and tons of assets belonging to Kogi state on a vainglorious quest. It was a season of fine, brisk enterprise for the media — print, digital and promoting. Bello marketed youthfulness and capability as his sturdy factors. His pseudo-seriousness really hoodwinked some in any other case circumspect political watchers, who purchased into the actual risk of his eventual emergence because the candidate of the APC on the final presidential major. Nigerians have positively dodged a bullet by being spared the prospect of getting a sniper because the nationwide helmsman.
Yahaya Bello has simply acquitted himself as an uncharacteristic ambassador of his Ebira kinsmen, most of whom are courteous, civilised and cosmopolitan. He can’t be representing His Majesty Abdul Rahman Ado Ibrahim, or the Abdulrahman Okenes, Aliyu Attas, Tom Adabas, Patrick Adabas, Isa Ozi Salamis, Moses Okinos, Clem Baiyes, Austin Oniwons, George Omaku Ehusanis, Angela Okatahis, Ladi Ibrahims, Sunnie Ododos, Mercy Johnsons or the Natasha Akpotis. The departed A.T. Ahmeds, Musa Etudaiyes, Salihu Ibrahims, Joseph Makojus, Onukaba Adinoyi-Ojos amongst different outstanding Ebira personalities have been notably sober, sane and savvy individuals of their time.
He’s not an excellent advert copy for Kogi state at massive both, a polity well-known for availing Nigeria throughout generations, a number of the nation’s best possible within the challenge of nationwide improvement and reengineering. Want we rehash their names in tons of and 1000’s right here? The Sunday Awoniyis, Silas Daniyans, Moody Olorunmonus, Ayo Johns, David Medaiyese Jemibewons, George Oshos, Femi John Femis, Kola Jamodus, Eyitayo Lambos, Bayo Ojos, Mohammed Chris Allis, Mohammed Ndatsu Umarus, Abdulrasaq Isa Kutepas, Olusola Akanmodes, Olu Obafemis, Albert Anjorins, Olatunji Dares, Ola Oyelolas, John Baiyesheas, Julius Oshanupins, Yomi Awoniyis, Dapo Olorunyomis, Dapo Asajus, Yemi Akinwumis, Gbenga Ibileyes, Tunde Adelaiyes, John Obaros, are a number of the most interesting human species one can discover wherever on the planet.
This isn’t forgetting Ahmadu Alis, Yakubu Mohammeds, Ibrahim Ogohis, Isaac Alfas, Salifu Atawodis, Jibrin Usmans, Ibrahim Idris, Idris Wada, Jibrin Okutepas, Emmanuel Onucheyos, Patrick Okolos, Dan Okolos, Josephine Agbonikas, Gabriel Oyibos, Jeremiah Abalakas, Halima Musas, Humphrey Abbas, John Sani Egwugwu Illahs, Nicolas Ugbanes, Attai Aidokos, Armstrong Idachabas, who rank among the many most cultured throughout the globe. Francis Idachabas, P. S. Achimugus, Stephen Achemas, and James Eneojo Ocholis have been wonderful personalities after they have been right here. Being recognized as constituents of a governor who prides himself as a marksman will not be an edifying ascription.
Yahaya Bello has to transcend the predictable, puerile, disjointed alibis being pleaded by his picture makers. Energy have to be exercised with warning, self-discipline and duty. He must be holding city corridor conferences throughout the state now, apologising for his verbal somersaults and restating his subscription to civility in company governance. He should start, speedily, to exorcise the demons and monsters of bloodletting violence which have grow to be an integral element of his administration’s DNA. This was unwittingly planted and groomed within the sociopolitical scheme of Kogi state underneath his watch. For his info, each bullet that’s fired, each harmless citizen hit, and each drop of blood spilt within the title of Kogi politics, henceforth, shall be traced to him.
Bello’s predecessor governors, Joshua Dariye and Jolly Nyame of Plateau and Taraba states respectively have simply graduated from the “Kuje Corrections College” with honours, albeit for various causes. De-facto quantity two man underneath the management of Sani Abacha, a three-star military basic and chief of military employees on the time, Ishaya Bamaiyi, was saved out of circulation for eight lengthy years. For all his closeness to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, PDP elder statesman Bode George had his years behind the bars. Obasanjo himself, who was Nigeria’s army head of state in 1976 when Bello was a toddler, was saved within the gulag for over three years by the Abacha authorities.
Former Liberian president, Charles Ghankey Taylor, was tracked and picked up inside Nigerian territory by Interpol in 2006 to reply for human rights abuses he dedicated in Liberia and Sierra Leone. He was sentenced to 50 years imprisonment in 2012 and is serving time in jail at The Hague. Taylor is 74 and together with his jail time period expiring in 40 years’ time in 2062. He could “by no means see the solar once more”, to deploy Bello’s expressions. Taylor, as soon as a “lion” within the wilds of Liberia and Sierra Leone, is a lonely, depressing kitten within the chilly cell of a overseas jail immediately. He not has these scruffy, substance-ingesting, bloodshot-eyed, gun-toting rebels and militias at his beck and name. Former Chadian president, Hissene Habre, was exiled to Senegal after his ouster from workplace, concurrently tried in Chad and Senegal, and concurrently sentenced to life imprisonment. He was convicted of assorted human rights offences. He died in exile in 2021 at 79, interred in a distant cemetery in Dakar, not in N’Djamena, the capital of his house nation.
Entrenching democratic establishments could take some time. However then, we’ve taken the primary steps as a democratic sociopolity. A phrase is sufficient for the discerning.
Olusunle (PhD). poet, journalist, scholar and writer, is a member of the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE)
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