Bello and his 2023 presidential ambition

Abuja Bureau Chief/Head, Northern Operations, SANYA ADEJOKUN writes on the journey of Kogi State since Mr Yahaya Bello emerged as governor.

THE relatively youthful governor of Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello, is a former civil servant and businessman. Age 45, he has been governing Kogi State since January 2016 and so, his scorecard should be his major campaign instrument in his quest for the presidency in 2023.

The economy of Kogi was said to be in a bad shape when Bello was sworn in in January, 2016. His predecessor reportedly left at least three months’ arrears of public sector salary. Upon his inauguration, however, Bello declared his determination to priotise the welfare of workers. Within weeks, he inaugurated a public service steering committee comprising people drawn from labour, higher institutions, civil service and private sector to screen the pay roll of the state and weed out ghost workers. A process that was supposed to last a few months dragged on until January 16, 2017, when a report was submitted. A total of 43,522 workers were cleared, while 32,753 others were not cleared as authentic workers. Also, 8,879 names were declared as ghost workers on the payroll of government.

For the 11 months the exercise lasted, government withheld all salaries. Kogi State Public Service Joint Negotiating Council, an umbrella body of workers in the state, condemned the screening committee report, describing the outcome as “premeditated attempt to retrench workers”. In a resolution passed at plenary, Kogi State House of Assembly also condemned the outcome, saying alleging that subjected many workers to untold suffering, and in some cases death. An Abuja-based journalist, Mary Ibrahim, who is a native of Kogi, who spoke on the issue, alleged that the action left many citizens poorer.” According to her, “Kogi state is mainly civil service-based and those in service are not sure of their income. So, it makes planning difficult,” Mary also said the state had its share of ravaging insecurity in the country as farmers are unable to access their farms and those who managed to go to their farms, poverty is forcing them to sell their produce at give way prices.  She gave kudos, commended the administration for battling ceaselessly to curb insecurity as the situation is much better than when Bello took over the reins of governance. “The major challenge we have is in the area of welfare of the citizens. Government must find a way to lift more people out of poverty, eliminate hunger and empower citizens,” she declared.

At the onset of covid-19 pandemic, Bello insisted that there was no incidence of covid-19 in Kogi. He disagreed with the World Health Organisation (WHO), Federal Ministry of Health and Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) on the disease. He did not  establish isolation centres in the state and once had an open disagreement with the officials of NCDC that travelled to Lokoja to carry out Covid-19 tests for residents.  As a result, many residents of the state who were said to have been infected with the disease found their way to other states and FCT in particular.At the third day prayers for the late Kogi State Chief Judge, Nasiru Ajanah who reportedly died in Abuja from Covid-19, Bello insisted “COVID-19 is only out to create fear and panic. It is a disease created to shorten the lifespan of the people. It is a disease propagated by force for Nigerians to accept”. He said Ajanah did not die from coronavirus as Kogi is free of the pandemic. He dismissed the necessity for vaccination, and refused to wear face mask. At a point, members of the Nigeria Governors Forum openly disagreed with him on his utterances on the disease. Forum chairman and Ekiti State Governor Kayode Fayemi said: “We have 35 governors on one side. Only one of us has a divergent opinion.” Despite these, Bello is soldiering on his quest for Aso Rock Villa in 2023. At an interactive session with journalists in Abuja on March 10, Bello confirmed his intention to run for presidency in 2023. This is several months after groups and members of the state House of Assembly moved round the country, campaigning on his behalf. While predicating his ambition on calls by the youths, women, the less-privileged, among others, Bello said: “I don’t refer to this as my presidential ambition. It is the ambition of the youths, the younger generation, the women, the less-privileged, the deprived and the oppressed in the society. These are the people calling me to come and serve, to run and contest for president in 2023 and in order that I don’t run afoul of the law, I am waiting for an appropriate time to officially give the nod to that call. And, as a matter of fact, because I belong to that constituency, humble background, young, and I’m seeing exactly the less-privileged, the oppressed, the needy and quest for good governance in Nigeria, I don’t think when the time comes, I am going to turn the request down. I won’t turn it down; surely.”

He has also seized the opportunity of his being appointedthe chairman of the All Progressives Party (APC) women and youth sensitisation and mobilisation committee to advance his cause. Although the committee also has Ogun State governor, Dapo Abiodun, as vice chairman and the party’s Director of Organisation; Professor Ussiju Medaner as secretary, Bello has been acting as sole administrator spending millions to promote himself on newspapers and television while hosting dozens of celebrities in Lokoja and Abuja.A group of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the North Central under the umbrella of North-central Council has asked Bello to drop his presidential ambition, stating that it is injurious to the zone. Leader of the group, Dr. Kassim Muhammad stated that the zone was positioned to produce the next national chairman of the party. According to Muhammad, current President who still has two years to complete his eight-year tenure in office is from the North-West, while North-East is presently occupying the position of the Senate President, and the only geo-political zone in the North left is the North-Central and for fairness and equity, the national chairmanship of the party should be zoned to the North-Central. “The North-Central Council (NCC) is equally appealing to the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello to have a rethink over his 2023 presidential ambition as it will be fair in the spirit of one Nigeria to allow the southern part of the country to produce the next president come 2023,” he said.

Also, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked for probe of the Bello administration. The spokesman of the PDP, Kola Ologbondiyan, challenged the governor to give account of his stewardship so far. However, the government debunked the various insinuations and allegations against his administrtaion, saying the rising profile of the governor was intimidating the accusers and a threat to the opposition. The Commissioner for Information, Kingsley Fanwo, said: “It is one of their comedies. “They just need to separate the reality in government from the Nollywood they have joined. Like everyone, we are seeing it as another comedy.”

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