YAHAYA BELLO’S AWAITED YULETIDE HAMPER FOR ONUKABA ADINOYI-OJO
For the many awards he has won in recent weeks, I should begin by felicitating with Yahaya Bello, governor of Kogi State. Yes, last month, he was conferred the “presidential award on security” for ensuring minimum security breaches within the space and span of a geopolity bounded by nine states and the federal capital territory, (FCT). And more recently, just last week in fact, Kogi State under Bello’s leadership was also bedecked with a three-layered neckwear by the World Bank, under the State Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability, (SFTAS) Programme. According to a report presented by the state commissioner for ÀQDQFH EXGJHW DQG SODQQLQJ $VKLUX ,GULV to the state executive council, Kogi State reportedly embraced the scheme in 2018.
,W ´VHHNV WR LPSURYH DQG VWUHQJWKHQ ÀVFDO management and entrench transparency and accountability mechanisms that HQVXUH HͿHFWLYH XWLOLVDWLRQ RI SXEOLF IXQGV for improved public service delivery.” The document posits that Kogi State government received three awards for impressive performances in three FDWHJRULHV QDPHO\ ´ÀVFDO WUDQVSDUHQF\ and accountability,” “debt sustainability” and “domestic revenue mobilisation.” The awards must mean a lot to the Bello system, owing to the ear to ear grin which Idris the state’s exchequer has been wearing in the last few days. Our expectation and prayer though, is that these laurels and souvenirs translate into substantial and tangible UHÁHFWLRQV LQ WKH LQGLYLGXDO HFRQRPLHV RI our people, and their buying powers in the marketplace.
Governor Bello will surely be going into the yuletide season which is already at our doorsteps, a happy man. Yes, the imminence of Christmas is reinforced by sprouting decorations around the Abuja metropolis, even as hawkers on the streets thrust sundry merchandise LQWR RXU IDFHV DW WUDF LQWHUVHFWLRQV Age-old Christmas tunes are also being played in public facilities, while in instances, dressmakers are rushing to meet deadlines. This is despite the fact that sartorial accoutrements are not primary concerns for the mass of 133 million Nigerians, relegated to abject poverty by the incumbent administration. All of these, KRZHYHU UHDUP WKH LQHYLWDEOH DSSURDFK of that season when Christendom, indeed the world commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ.
As Bello savours the festive season with family and friends, there are homesteads which will not have the luxury of marking the period. This is particularly so when they reminiscence on the absence of people very dear to them. At a time like this, one’s mind calls up the memory of a consummate media and communications SUDFWLWLRQHU D SUROLÀF SOD\ZULJKW DQG prominent Ebira son, Onukaba AdinoyiOjo. He left us in the evening of Sunday March 5, 2017, while returning from the celebration of Nigeria’s former President, Olusegun Obasanjo. Onukaba alighted from the vehicle he was travelling in and ran into the bush, to avoid armed robbers who had taken over the Ilesha-Akure highway, that evening.
A vehicle which escaped from the marauders, lost control and landed ferociously on him, on the spot he found refuge in the bushes. That was how we lost one of Nigeria’s most committed, most insightful writers and intellectuals. Governor Bello visited Onukaba’s family in Ihima, Kogi State, for the “third day” Muslim prayers. He was informed at the event, that Onukaba who he had long known by reputation, and who was his elder brother within the African context, died without a home of his own. Exasperated and concerned, Bello promised to address the matter, expeditiously. The governor indeed requested to be promptly advised on accommodation options for the family of the late Onukaba.
A team from Dr Onukaba’s group of friends, drawn principally from the membership of the Adinoyi-Ojo Onukaba Endowment Fund, set out to work. The group was chaired by Mallam Yahaya Yusuf, a retired Director from the Ministry of Federal Capital Territory, (MFCT), who is both kinsman, to Bello and the late Onukaba. Other members of the group included: Prof Maxwell Gidado, SAN, OON; Dr Umar Ardo; Mrs Franca Aiyetan; Mallam Sadiq Ibrahim Adaviriku; and I. By every stretch of imagination, this is a very distinguished and respectable assemblage. The team toured several housing estates in Phases 2 and 3 of the Abuja developmental layouts and came up with suggestions and recommendations forwarded to Bello.
I was in Lokoja early June 2017, on the invitation of the Kogi State chapter of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ). Fortuitously, Governor Bello attended the same event and I had the privilege of sharing the high table with him. Presidential spokesman, my colleague and friend, Garba Shehu; former Kogi State Commissioner of Police, AIG Wilson Inalegwu, (rtd), and Secretary to the Kogi State Government, (SSG), Dr Shade Ayoade, were also on the distinguished WDEOH 7KH HYHQW ZDV KHOG DW WKH &RQÁXHQFH Beach Hotel on Ganaja Road. I slipped a small note to Bello, and followed him to his car when he was departing the venue of the event. I managed to extract a sentence IURP KLP WR WKH HͿHFW WKDW KLV ´&KLHI RI 6WDͿ µ &26 ZKR DW WKH WLPH ZDV (GZDUG 2QRMD ´ZLOO À[ DQ DSSRLQWPHQWµ IRU Gidado, SAN and I to see him in Abuja.