Yahaya Bello and the Blind Political Debates

Folalumi Alaran writes about political issues around the former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, as he settles down for private life eight years after being in the saddle at the Lugard House, Lokoja.

Without a shred of doubt, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Adoza Bello, is one of the most admired policymakers and politicians in the history of Nigeria politics today. His countless millions of lovers are over him like hybla bees over honeycomb. On the other contrasting hand, and like heavenly angelic beings, his haters are uncountable.

Venoms against Bello are coarse, hoarse, biting, brash, and brazen.

This man is not just loved and hated; he is feared. And the fear of Bello, for whatever reason, is real. And many Nigerians are beginning to wonder why.

About four weeks ago, Bello’s posters surfaced in some locations in Abuja, including the national secretariat of the APC with the inscription, “APC Next Level. Alhaji Yahaya Bello as APC National Chairman. Leading the Change, Building a Stronger APC.”

Without even being prompted, many informed observers, on their own, knew the posters must have been planted by detractors who wanted to create some form of bad blood within the ruling party against the ex-Governor.

Those who have studied both him and the Nigerian political environment well knew that there was no way someone like GYB, as he is fondly called, would roll out posters of that low quality when no one was talking about replacing National Working Committee members. It was easy to see the mischief behind the posters and even the reports that followed.

Reacting in a statement through his media office, Bello said he did not authorize anyone to circulate any posters on his behalf as he remains a loyal party man committed to the leadership of the national chairman of APC, Abdullahi Ganduje.

The former Kogi State helmsman urged members of the general public to disregard the mischief makers circulating posters to create a false impression.

“We are aware of the clandestine moves by some mischief makers to create confusion within the hierarchy of the All Progressives Congress. This is the handiwork of some opposition leaders and some 5th columnists within the party.

“A part of the plans already being hatched is the circulation of campaign posters with the picture of His Excellency Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State, insinuating that he is contesting for the position of the national chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress. The insinuation is infantile, false and should be disregarded.

“Our party is not in the process of conducting Congresses or a Convention, therefore, there is absolutely no basis for anyone to circulate any posters for party offices.

“Let it be abundantly clear that Alhaji Yahaya Bello did not authorize anyone to circulate any posters on his behalf as he remains a loyal party man who is committed to the leadership of the national chairman of the party, Dr Abdullahi Ganduje.

“We urge members of the general public to disregard the mischief of the people circulating posters to create a false impression,” the statement read.

Again, earlier last week, the Kogi State Government raised the alarm over what it described as a desperate attempt by “criminals masquerading as politicians” to tarnish the image of Yahaya Bello, for selfish reasons, through the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

In a statement issued last Tuesday by the Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, the state government said, in its desperation, “which would leave Nigerians wondering who exactly is afraid of Yahaya Bello,” the EFCC has, in an amended charge, accused the former Governor of diverting Kogi State Government funds in September 2015, four months before he assumed the position of governor.

It said this was not only laughable but also portrayed the EFCC as an agency infested with persons whose intents disagree with the noble intention of Mr. President to defeat corruption in Nigeria.

Last Wednesday, anti-Corruption Civil Society Organisations warned the EFCC, under the leadership of Ola Olukoyede, to refrain from allowing “cankerworms of the previous management left in the system” to rubbish his credentials as the Head of the Commission.

The over 300 anti-corruption activists, under seven broad frontline organisations noted that it was pertinent for them to sound an early note of warning in view of the fact that the misuse of the EFCC by political gladiators, as a veritable tool of victimization and score-settling, which they thought had been tackled, was suddenly rearing its head again.

They spoke in a statement jointly signed and released to the media, in Abuja on Wednesday.

The anti-corruption Civil Society Organisations advised the EFCC boss to sit up and stop the Commission from being accessed by “political miscreants who think EFCC is an extension of their political structures to be manipulated at will.”

Bello was sworn in in 2016 as the fourth democratically elected governor of Kogi State, marking a complete change from the former dominance of elderly people in the saddle of the state’s affairs.

Not only that, it was the first time in the history of the state that a non- Igala person would govern the state.

Bello’s emergence as replacement for late Abubakar Audu who was the candidate of the APC in the governorship election came with a bag of mixed feelings.

Being a non-Igala and a young man for that matter was a major factor in the political governance of the state.

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