There is no doubt about it that Yahaya Bello, immediate past governor of Kogi State, would not freely have relinquished power the day he did, on January 27 2024, if the choice was his. The constitution was the bitch! Bello manifestly loved the office and paraphernalia of state governor.
To be fair to him, Yahaya Bello was not the first, or only elected person who, at the end of his elected tenure as a political chief executive, wished the hands of the clock had taken some rest. The 42nd president of the United States of America, the charismatic Bill Clinton, reportedly stayed on the seat of president late into the night on the eve of the end of his presidency, working. He obviously wished he could stay back, even a little bit more. In an interview to the Inquiry magazine, shortedly after he left office, Clinton did allude to that wish, adding, as a confirmation, that were there to be provision for another tenure, he had no doubt that he would have won. But then, he had to go, as Bello had to.
In the environment of Nigeria’s present electoral politics, more so under the regime of elections that has prevailed since All Progressives Congress [APC] happened to the country in 2015, Yahaya Bello must have felt short-changed by the constitution at the end of his two terms as governor. Surely, he would have felt and believed at the time he was leaving the Lugard House in Lokoja, that indeed, the constitution was a bitch. He knew he would have won hands down, if there was provision for another term. To achieve that would not depend on any sterling performance by him. His two previous elections did not depend on such. It did not take any outstanding legacy of his eight years in office, either, for the man he anointed his successor to prevail and emerge governor.
Bello fully lived his time under the APC sun. Indeed, he was and remains a quintessential APC politician. In Kogi State politics of the present era, what Yahaya Bello wants and however he wants it, Yahaya Bello gets. He enjoyed it all. Slightly more than four years ago when Bello was gunning for second term, in a fierce opposition before him, his supporters had a rallying song with an ominous onomatopoeic ring that went something like “…tatatata…. Bello will win”. As they say it in Nigeria, “if you know, you know”. If you don’t, too bad. And Bello won, against the backdrop of that song and all what it represented.
On January 27 2024, Yahaya Bello’s second term as governor of Kogi came to an end. In his stead came in Ahmed Usman Ododo, a 41-year-old kinsman, who Bello installed. The campaign and execution of Ododo’s electoral war were not actually his business. The war was Bello’s. He fought it the way he knows how to. As it seemed, all that was required of Ododo was to make himself available for coronation, which he did. And he was coronated. For those who were expressing umbrage at the newly sworn-in governor prostrating fully, alongside his wife, before Bello, at the inauguration arena, they obviously did not understand. Ododo fully understands how he got to the governor’s seat. He is not about to play any Fubaraic game, at least not that fast.
Even for all that, Yahaya Bello owes himself and the many distinguished citizens of Kogi State, some respect and decency. He needs to step back a little and allow Kogi state a breathing space. This is the point here. The day after Ododo assumed office as governor, he promptly created an office through executive order, known as ‘Office of the Immediate Past Governor of the State’. That is to say, office of Yahaya Bello. From all indications, Ododo will exist, to all practical purposes, as a figure head, while Yahaya Bello functions next door, as the de facto governor. Ododo has no problems with that. But what about the larger people of Kogi?
Nigeria is presently beset with myriad problems, different…. It has never been this dire for the country. The antics of one former governor, contending with a self-imposed hangover after leaving office, ought not to be an issue for serious attention, beyond his enclave. However, there are serious implications of the model Yahaya Bello is constructing in Kogi state, which may yet crystalize into a dangerous culture in Nigeria’s political setting. This, after all is a society that so easily imbibes bad precepts. Here lies the justification for calling out Yahaya Bello and what he is setting up in Kogi State.
At forty eight years of age, Yahaya Bello is still, very much, a young man. He is not a genius, or exceptionally brilliant, by any known testimony. But at the same time, nobody, not even his detractors, will describe him as a dunce. He is actually vibrant and smart. He is articulate and athletic. He does seem, from a distance, to exude a warm personality.
There are a thousand and one things that Yahaya Bello can apply himself to, in the wake of his eight years in office as governor. He can return to the university, at home or abroad, to take up higher studies, thereby brushing himself up and broadening his knowledge, in any field of interest. Such engagement will enable him to develop a richer perspective of life and leadership, which may serve him better down the road. For good measures, he established a university in Kogi as governor. He can go there as a visiting professor. There must, surely, be something worthwhile he can impact on students. He can engage himself in some civil society initiatives and make himself a decent name in some human development areas. Also, he can go into farming or the industries, although his party seems determined to run all productive enterprises aground.
With so much that Yahaya Bello can do with his life, age and resources been on his side, the impression that he cannot live without hanging on around government house in Lokoja is at once, pathetic and reprehensible. There is life, a vast range of life before former governor Bello. This office of immediate past governor creation thing is a huge disappointment. It speaks of atrophy.
As if to further confirm that Bello is indeed, searching for what to occupy himself with, the APC headquarters had cause, last week to warn him, that there is no vacancy for national chairman of the ruling party.
The source of the interesting warning turned out to be the curious appearance in Abuja of posters of Yahaya Bello for APC Chairman. With no party convention in view, the producers of the poster must know something other party faithful do not yet know. Whatever the joke or omen in the posters, Abdullahi Ganduje’s men did not find it funny, hence the warning to Bello, that there is no vacancy at the moment, for APC national Chairman.
There are very attractive and personally fulfilling things that a young man with even average intelligence can engage himself in today’s world. Governor Yahaya Adozi Bello, immediate past governor of Kogi state should take some holiday, relax, see the world and decide on his next line of action. It does not speak well of him to present himself in this absurd light where his colleagues and friends are warning each other to guard their seats jealously, because Yahaya Bello is now a free agent. He is not the only person whose governorship tenure elapsed.