Kogi: Revisiting the Yahaya Bello years of the locusts
By Jethro Akowe
There is no shred of doubt that Kogi State’s political orbit and power loop today revolve around the persona of former Governor Yahaya Bello, who is the Numero uno in the current political structure and hierarchy.
Not many people are as lucky as the gap-toothed erstwhile first citizen of the Confluence State. Against the run of the mill, Bello, who was not on the ballot for the position of Governor of Kogi State in the 2015 off-cycle election, being the biggest beneficiary of an unforeseen natural occurrence paving the way for him to inherit the votes of the APC’s candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu, who died hours before the announcement of the poll’s result. Bello’s pathway to the exalted office was his participation in the All Progressives Congress’s, APC Guber Primary election, where he came second place.
After the Buhari government’s massive deployment of hitherto untested legal instruments and arguments to railroad Bello to power at the expense of the running mate to Audu, James Abiodun Faleke, the new man of power quickly consolidated his influence, using a combination of crude force and starvation tactics through a most haphazard salary regime to silence the people.
The first signals that Bello would not be subservient to or take orders from anybody became manifest early in the life of his administration. He had hardly settled in his new office when he dismantled the coalition of forces that rallied around him to gain power. Dino Melaye, then Kogiwest Senator, was shovelled aside as the young landlord of Lugard House built a youthful cult of loyal supporters, dispensing political patronage and economic empowerment to them to become formidable power player.
In his bid to consolidate power, Bello showed unbridled desperation and built an armed wing that served as the machinery of intimidation and coercion. He became lethal while those who wanted to live in peace moved out of the state for him. Indeed, many opposition stakeholders had to stay away from their constituencies and gave up their electoral rights to avoid being caught up in the viral violence that his goons unleashed during elections across the state.
It was with mortal fear that political conversations about the bad governance and insecurity under his watch were brought up as it was generally believed that he had intelligence gatherers among the populace who executed judgement and served justice to rumour mongers and gossips. That was when some people devised the nickname ‘Ojo’ to veil him in their daily conversations.
Yet not many would believe back then that a young and lucky man who literally had power, fortune and fame placed on his laps would become so despotic, lacking in empathy, callous, and apathetic to the needs and desires of his people. For eight years, Bello ran a government detached and disconnected from the people he was supposed to serve. His self-styled new direction government totally lacked focus.
His first term in office was in pursuit of vainglorious, tangential, and non legacy promoting activities. A state-wide staff audit went on for almost four years, during which most workers were not on the payroll and had to resort to begging to feed. Some died in the process. Little did the people know that he was perfecting the groundwork for the grandest larceny of the public treasury.
As revelations from the investigations conducted by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, show, Bello was alleged to have converted N90 billion of the state resources to personal use, acquiring massive real estate portfolio and living a life of ostentation. The case and several others are still in court as the anti-graft agency is pursuing a legal case to strip him of these proceeds of unlawful self enrichment.
While one man didn’t have moral restraints in amassing N90 billion for self aggrandisement, paying the civil servants their well-deserved salaries that could barely sustain them became an issue. Where salaries were not delayed, they were not paid in full, especially at the local government level. Yet full appropriations were made for such funds to be released for salary payment.
Bello was just a grade level 12 officer at the Fiscal Mobilisation and Revenue Allocation Commission, Abuja before joining politics as a 41-year-old. He became wealthy as a civil servant, owning a transport company, FairPlus Transport
After his primary and secondary education in his hometown, Agassa, in Okene Local Government Area, he proceeded to the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting and a Master of Business Administration degree from the same institution.
Bello has grown politically, installing fellow Ebira man, Ahmed Usman Ododo as his successor to the consternation of the deprived Okun people of Kogiwest and the Igala people of Kogi East who had hoped they would regain power in 2023. In fact, Ododo is said to be his cousin. There is no doubt that Bello is still calling the shots in *Lugard House* as Ododo, who acknowledges him as his mentor, has severally deployed state power to shield him from prosecution.
However, indications that Bello may not enjoy the confidence of the APC national head office emerged recently when he organised an endorsement rally for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Usman Ododo in Lokoja as part of the build up to the 2027 general elections. Not a single national official was at the rally, suggesting a sour relationship between Bello and the national headquarters of the ruling party.
For keen observers of the Yahaya Bello evolution, the October 18 rally is proof that the embattled former governor is like a fish with a fast receeding aquatic splendour. How long will this fish survive without water?
Akowe, an indigene of Kogi State, lives in Abaji, FCT
