Where is Yahaya Bello? – By Pius Mordi

By Pius Mordi

The political class has a perfect knowledge of the mentality of Nigerians they have been ruling. They engage in reckless handling of state resources safe in the constitutionally guaranteed immunity for them while in office. Even though they become private citizens when out of office and open to prosecution, they bank on the short memory of the people, a situation reinforced by another election cycle that usually spring another set of rulers into office to continue another cycle of looting and scandals.

One public affairs commentator that did not fall for the collective amnesia over Yahaya Bello, the enfant terrible of Nigeria politics and poster boy of why the Not Too Young To Run Act is a huge joke is Fred Chukwuelobe. A journalist, he had a front row encounter and observation of the misuse of power as a media assistant to Dr. Chris Ngige who entered the annals of politics as the first governor to be kidnapped and almost forced out of office by a non-state actor who got him into office as governor of Anambra State. With the dubious machination of Aso Rock, the godfather used a compliant federa Police to arrest Ngige despite having constitutional immunity. In a recent post on his verified Facebook page, Chukwuelobe called out the security agencies and the judiciary for letting Bello, a private citizen, avoid a competent summon to account for allegations of financial impropriety against him.

He queried: “What has happened to his case with the EFCC? You mean nothing happened to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo of Kogi who used his executive privilege to protect Bello from arrest?

“Didn’t I tell you people that anything that happens in this country, no matter how scandalous, lasts for a maximum of two weeks. I call it ‘our two-week outrage.’ Within this period, motivational speakers will appear on television. Arm chair critics will take over social media platforms.

“Curses will be rained on everybody by anybody. After that, nothing happens until something else happens. Nothing is outrageous anymore in this country”.

Ododo is the guy Bello anointed to succeed him as Kogo State governor and in part appreciation, Ododo told his people that if he makes a pronouncement and Bello says something to the contrary, his should be ignored and without conferring with him. Bello’s stance should stand. The same Ododo it was that forced his convoy into the compound Bello had been marooned and smuggled in out to ‘safety’.

That action was an impeachable offence and in sane climes, Ododo ought to have been impeached afterwards. Apart from from the half-hearted condemnation of the federal Attorney General, the whole apparatus of government – Aso Rock, the Senate as well as the House of Representatives – kept mum. It was all part of the game. For the Inspector General of Police, his only reaction was to order the withdrawal of Bello’s team of security agents attached to him. And Nigerians were told the Police was looking for him!

How this misfit of a young man come into the political space and end up being a governor is one of the manifest symptoms of the failure of the presidential system, a flawed electoral system and a compromised judiciary that has jettisoned its independence to become an appendage of the Executive Branch. Bello was just a peripheral factor in the process of picking the governorship candidate for the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state. But fate played a crucial game when the politician that actually won the election passed on before the result of the Kogi State gubernatorial vote was released. The expectation was that the running mate would pick up the mandate. Not so, the court ruled.

There are charges of misappropriation of public funds to the tune of N84 billion against the former Kogi governor by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). As Chukwuelobe noted in his post, a choral group of jesters has been at full voice claiming that Bello is not being unfairly treated by security agents and the EFCC.

For a citizenry reeling in multidimensional poverty barely managing to avoid outright starvation, that this Bello who unilaterally and wilfully raided Kogi’s treasury cleaned it out and converted some to pay advance school fees of $720,000 for his young children in their expensive private school is still walking free to the full knowledge of the security agencies and, by extension, Aso Rock is provocative. The legal labyrinth is already in full gear with mundane arguments on if Bello should present himself for arraignment still in a back and forth motion at the lower courts. The Appeal Court and Supreme Court still await.

It is a familiar game. Sooner or later, something more engaging or a catastrophic event will happen to divert the attention of the critical public and Bello will ultimately continue his third with his boy he got into office. Chukwuelobe called it “our two-week outrage.”

But how can an administration steeped in the building of luxury and acquisition of luxury tools muster the political will to take on a loyal party who delivered his state to the party? However, with the pervasive hunger in the land, it is an issue sticking out like a sore thumb. Nigerians, not just Kogi people, are watching. The gathering dry fire wood like a tinderbox is further being kept alive by the highly flammable liquid that the Yahaya Bello saga has become. It will take only one strike of a match stick for the looming inferno to be ignited.

Postscript

Oborevwori’s road map

There is a similarity between how Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori emerged governor of Delta State and the travails of Dr. Chris Ngige who rode the tiger and charted a fresh developmental course for Anambra State. Rather than bow to the wishes of a powerful godfather who wanted the state’s treasury handed over to him, Ngige chose to align with the people. Although he was eventually forced out of office, the new deal he gave his people within the short time he spent in office had permanently rewritten the script on governance in the state. His successors had a template to fall back on without the overbearing opposition of any godfather.

Oborevwori’s path to Government House, Asaba was riddled with thorns. In sum, he had to contend with 38 litigations from the point of nomination as his party’s flag bearer to the final judgment of the Supreme Court affirming his victory. It is a process that gave him a fast track insight into the dynamics of politics and toughened him on the challenges of governance – loyalty should go to the people and doing the right thing for them.

Wednesday, June 18 is his birthday. In his short time as governor of Delta State, Oborevwori has caught up in one year what some peers may not learn even after two terms of eight years in office. He is on the right track and Deltans are the better for it.

Happy birthday, Your Excellency.