The Yahaya Bello I know

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In her 2018 TED Talk edition titled “The Danger of a Single Story,” Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie warned against one-sided narratives, incomplete stories and biased delivery of events and issues. She said such breeds ignorance and makes people misconstrue isolated events as the norm just as they misconstrue individual shortcomings as negative traits of the whole.

The multiple-award-winning writer and novelist continued by sharing the story of how the wrongful notions she got from childhood misled her into wrong conclusions and how she overcame them as events unfolded in her evolution.

It is easier to destroy than to build. It takes months and years of hard work, resilience, patience and sacrifices to achieve a solid reputation for an individual, institution or organisation. But it does not cost people anything to rip everything apart and this can be done within seconds with just a half-truth that borders on a topic which the majority are emotional about.

Former Kogi Governor, Yahaya Bello has been in the eye of the storm over allegations of financial malfeasance made by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). While the anti-graft agency can be said to be after Bello in line with its mandate to rid Nigeria of corruption, the ex-governor has been receiving unprecedented criticisms as if pronounced guilty by a court of competent jurisdiction.

Since Bello’s travail started, several divergent comments have been made online. Among those vocal are the supporters of politicians who lost out in the ex-governor’s succession process. Some are ethnic champions and jingoists who believe their tribe should have produced Bello’s successor. They see an enemy who stands in the way of the fulfilment of their pipe dreams.

While this article is not in any way arguing that Bello is innocent of the allegations levelled against him, it is the court that will tell us that in the fullness of time. But since the media is supposed to be a free marketplace of ideas, and in a conversation like this, all narratives and angles should be out there for people to read and for the sake of posterity.

I can’t say people who believe Bello was a bad leader are wrong. They are of course entitled to their perspectives, but what I saw and my encounter with the governor formed my opinion about his kind of person. I interacted with Alhaji Bello a couple of times and studied his personality, principles and idea of modern governance not only expressed in his words but also in projects, policies and programmes.

At a meeting with my boss and a colleague, Bello cut the picture of a man in power who remembers his past friends, respects others and treats women with utmost courtesy. The latter was confirmed by the special way he treated women, children, youths and the vulnerable, like People Living with Disabilities (PWDs) while in office.

During research on the performance of some states, I studied the activities, challenges and successes of the Bello administration, management of the economy, battle with insecurity, reforms in civil service, education and health, infrastructural development, women and youth empowerment, political aspiration as well as a strong interest in the welfare of PWDs.

We visited Lokoja where the gigantic flyover along Ganaja junction caught our attention. We saw secondary schools that looked like university campuses in Adankolo and other parts of the capital. Driving through Osara to Okene back to Ajaokuta then to Itobe, Idah, Ugwolawo and Anyigba, we saw good health facilities – general and teaching hospitals. The Reference Hospital in Okene is world-class.

At Osara, we saw the Confluence University of Science and Technology built from scratch and the College of Health Science in Idah, which got full accreditation under Bello. In Anyigba, apart from the infrastructural upgrade at the Prince Abubakar Audu University (PAAU), students were happy being in school when universities were shut nationwide during the long ASUU strike.

We were in Ejiba (Yagba West LGA), host community of Kogi Confluence Rice Mill, one of the biggest rice mills in Nigeria. The mill constructed at over N4 billion is located on 800 hectares, produces 50 tonnes of rice per day and creates over 6,000 jobs. We saw some of the 100 tractors procured under Bello and distributed to farmers across the 21 Local Government Areas.

Again in Lokoja, we equally notice the remodelled Revenue House, which grew the state’s monthly Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) from N350 million to N1.3 billion. Some officials and aides spoke glowingly about Bello’s characteristics, including a no-nonsense attitude to work, targets and timelines, clear vision and attention to detail.

On return to Abuja, we developed 47 articles which make up “Yahaya Bello: 47 Narratives on a Change Agent” presented to him on his 47th birthday in June 2022. A gender inclusivity campaign of his administration also won a SABRE Award at the Conference of African Public Relations Association (APRA) in Lusaka, Zambia in 2023.

Contrary to the inaccurate notion in certain quarters, Bello did not go into Lugard House and left without adding value to the life of Kogites. While the EFCC must be allowed to carry out its constitutional duties, the governor must also be allowed to insist on fundamental human rights to which he is entitled to. The two parties should, however, abide by the law.

Nafisat Bello, a media practitioner, writes from Abuja

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