Bello Standing Tall Amid Many Battles Kareem Idris
Writes about the many political battles fought by Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State since assumption of office in the Confluence state in January, 2016
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state obviously belongs to the school of thought that believes that for a man to be seen as accomplished, he must be ready to face any battle that comes his way and give it all it takes, not in a diabolical or violent way, but in a manner that allows destiny to take its cause.
So, each time an opportunity provides itself, the trained accountant-turned politician, is always ready to face the storm and fight it to the end.
From his school days to his years of working and going into business, to entering politics, Yahaya Bello, has never relented in battling obstacles and he has the grace of coming out victorious in almost all his life challenges.
Bello’s electoral career began in full fledge with a loss to the late Prince Abubakar Audu in the All Progressives Congress (APC) gubernatorial primary in November, 2015.
In the titanic gubernatorial primaries, Yahaya Bello, who was the youngest among the gubernatorial aspirants, proved the cynics who did not give him a chance wrong.
He polled the second highest votes after late Prince Abubakar Audu.
Following the sudden death of Audu, fate and destiny brought in the young Bello as the fourth democratically elected Governor of Kogi State.
In January, 2016, the Okene, Kogi Centralborn Bello was sworn-in as the governor of the state against all expectations, as he had earlier lost in the primary election of his party, the APC.
Bello had inherited the 240,861 votes polled by Abubakar Audu in the November 21, 2015 poll, which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shortly before Audu died. Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the then incumbent, came second with 199,514 votes.
A supplementary election later took place in 91 polling units in 19 local government areas and Bello polled an additional 6885 to Wada’s 5363. Final score: APC 247,742, PDP 204,877.
The story of the emergence of Bello, a multi-talented young man in the prime of his youth as the Governor of Kogi State is an eloquent testimony of a man entrusted by destiny and the unmistaken hand of God to salvage his people and generation at a critical and agonizing moment of the people’s quest for development.
Bello later began to govern Kogi State with wisdom and determination, which later resulted into developments in all ramifications in the state.
He shamed the critics, who thought he had very little to offer. Not only did he perform, he surpassed the achievements of all his predecessors put together.
On Tuesday, September 20, 2016, the Supreme Court upheld the election of Bello as the governor of Kogi State, putting to rest, the controversies created by the death of Prince Audu.
The apex court, in unanimous judgments in four separate appeals, agreed that Bello was properly substituted to replace Audu as the candidate of the APC in the governorship election on November 21 and the supplementary poll held on December 5, 2015.
This was indeed a deserved victory that enabled Governor Yahaya Bello to settle down to face the real work of governance, which he gave the people of Kogi State in full dose, ranging from infrastructural development to healthcare, education, employment, sports, youth/women development and empowerment, among several others.
After four years of meritorious service, Governor Bello was elected to serve for another four years in November 2019.
Bello won 12 local governments to beat his major challenger, Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who won nine local governments. In total, Bello polled 406,222 votes. Wada polled 189,704.
This was a remarkable success for the man the people of Kogi State believe has the capacity to make life better for them and continue what he started in 2016.
It was a moment of decision for the people of Kogi State, who were later convinced that they made the right choice once again.
Shortly after this, in December 2019, the world was visited with the dreaded COVID-19 that wreaked havoc in many parts of the world and in some parts of Nigeria after an index case was reported in Ogun State in February, 2020.
The pandemic became another battle for both the Federal and some states governments to fight.
On his part, Governor Bello did all he could to ensure that Kogi State was free from the ailment.
He was unrelenting in making everyone to realise that COVID-19 was not in Kogi State. This was another opportunity for the man that has now been known to be a performer to prove his sagacity.
The State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, once said that Governor Bello, was ready to take delivery of the AstraZeneca/ Oxford COVID-19 vaccines given to the state though he had publicly questioned the existence of the virus.
He, however, said the state government would not force anyone to take a jab of the vaccine except for those who are willing.
Fanwo said, “The governor has said he will accept the vaccine in the state but he will not force anyone to take it. Anyone who may wish to take the vaccine can come forward and the person will be vaccinated but the governor will not enforce it.
“He had said it already that he will take delivery of the vaccine if they bring the vaccine to the state. We just don’t have any information about when the vaccine is coming in and in what quantity.”
Bello consistently dismissed the existence of the virus in his state and also expressed reservations about the vaccine for the disease on numerous occasions.
In a viral video, Bello could be seen discouraging a jeering crowd of supporters from taking COVID-19 vaccine.
“They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid!” Bello had said.
It is on record that no case of COVID-19 was reported in Kogi State, while the pandemic lasted. With different theories coming out from the developed world to prove the politicisation of the COVID-19 scare and questions raised about the potency of the vaccine, Bello might have been vindicated at last.