Right now, His Excellency Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State is in a very unpleasant and difficult situation in which a lot of people are very angry. In a daring move, the youthful governor who first stirred controversy by denying the existence of Covid-19 and followed up by insisting the deadly disease was a hoax has now finally landed in hot waters with his controversial decision to vie for the top job ahead of 2023.
In a crunch move, his supporters have flooded the federal Capital with his posters using the impending APC membership drive as a smokescreen to sell his ambition! The move is particularly vexatious in the sense that the APC has a zoning formula in place and definitely, that formula does not favour Bello’s ambition. Moreover, Bello is regarded widely as a novice in the school of the administration having no prior knowledge about governance. Bello’s only practical experience in such matters has been a mere accounting office in one of the numerous government parastatal’s with relevance to remuneration affairs.
Since becoming governor of Kogi State by virtue of the sudden demise of Audu Abubakar moments after clinching victory in the gubernatorial election, Kogi State has been thrown into a state of paralysis with Bello being accused of underperformance. Nowhere in the State is said to have received facelift only utter neglect everywhere. Now in his second term in office payment of workers salary, pensioners are still in a mess. No finger is lifted to add value to the welfare and prosperity of the State. As a youth, the general belief is that Bello has not lived up to expectations.
Now, he is aspiring to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. “At some point in our life, we have to get serious”, said Alhaji Inuwa Idris. “We are talking about how to escape the Covid-19 quagmire and this man is talking about his personal ambition. Would he not live before 2023?” he asked. Apart from being governor for only 6 years, Bello has not done any tangible job to warrant him having the kind of resources needed to contemplate such an expensive enterprise. “We don’t ask questions here, and that’s our problem”, said Ismaila Isa, a public affairs analyst. “It is as if the culture is to use government positions to steal as much money one could gather and absolutely nothing will be done about it”, he disclosed.
That assessment is very much an understatement; the truth is that it has become the fad in our short history. For now, the rabid governor is well on his way to campaigning with no law stopping him
