Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State has been in the news for the wrong reasons of recent. Since he assumed office on January 27, 2017, he has been swimming in the murky waters of politics as his administration has been trailed by controversies.
The manner of his emergence has not helped matters. On top of that, he is being criticized for his style of leadership. Despite the manner of his emergence as governor, Bello has not been able to win any stakeholder over to his side. Instead, the camp of his adversaries swells with each passing day.
It would be recalled that Yahaya Bello became governor as a result of the death of Prince Abubakar Audu. Bello who is Ebira from Kogi Central became the first non-Igala to be sworn in as a democratically elected governor. However, his emergence was highly controversial.
The All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in the election of November 2, 2015, Prince Abubakar Audu, who was leading by a margin of 41,000 votes, died after the election was declared inconclusive and Bello was nominated by the APC to replace him. And since there no provision in the Constitution to take care of such issues, the Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Abubakar Malami, on November 24, of that year, offered a legal opinion, saying that the election had to be concluded and that it would only require the APC, to substitute its candidate, Abubakar Audu, who died on November 22. Even though other party people kicked against it, at the end of the day that was what was upheld.
The APC then adopted the suggestion by nominatingBello to replace Prince Audu for the supplementary election, which he won. Many are still aggrieved as a result of that decision and have argued that the governor still has not takensteps to appease aggrieved members of the party.
Aside from not carrying everyone along, The Next Edition gathered that one of the main challenges he is grappling with is non-payment of worker’s salaries. Kogi is one of the states that benefited from the bailout funds rolled out by the federal government toenable states to pay salaries. It is over a year since Bello received the funds yet, salaries have not been paid. This has led to several agitations in the state and has created bad blood.
The issue of non-payment of salaries has been viewed as the worst mistreatment any government can do to its people. As a result of this nonchalant attitude of government, some civil servants who depend on their salaries for survival are said to have lost their lives. The most reported case being that of Alhaji Abu Onaji, a veteran journalist and former General Manager of Kogi Broadcasting Corporation, who reportedly died last year while waiting to be screened and paid his pension of 14 months. The wife was also said to have lost her life in the same circumstance a year before the husband’s demise.
The issue of unpaid salaries also resulted to the closure of all public schools in the state for many months. The governor has been conducting a screening exercise since last year in order to remove ghost workers from the payroll as Kogi is said to be notorious for over-bloated civil service.
Many analysts and stakeholders within the APC and in the opposition parties are of the view that Bello is not sincere with his screening exercise as he keeps postponing the date of payment of salaries. It would also be recalled that the governor promised to pay by November last year, a deadline he shifted April. Unfortunately, three months after, the state government is yet to fulfill that promise.
Bello’s adversaries such as Senator Alex Kadiri, Hon. James Faleke and Senator Dino Melaye have also accused Bello of mismanaging the bailout funds. Some of the funds they allege include over N11 billion Paris refund, N10 billion infrastructural development funds and N30 billion bailout funds. If all of these funds are put together as being alleged, a lot would been achieved especially in the area of payment of salaries to alleviate the problems of the people in the state.
To compound the woes of Bello, he was caught by the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC) while trying to register twice. INEC conducted a registration of permanent voters card exercise in Kogi State and the governor saw that as an opportunity to register. Unfortunately for him he was caught out.
A political analyst from Kogi State, Mr. Ibrahim Yahaya, is of the view that Yahaya Bello should no longer parade himself as governor of the state. “The governor never registered in Kogi State. What that implies is that we have an illegal governor in kogi State because it is clearly stated in the constitution that you have to register in your ward to be qualified to vote and be voted for,” he said.
The loudest critic of the governor in this regard has been the irrepressible, Senator Dino Melaye. Melaye who doesn’t see eye to eye with Bello saw it as an opportunity to call for his resignation or impeachment. While Melaye was accused of holding meetings with stakeholders from Kogi State on the need to impeach the governor, Bello, on the other hand, is believed to sponsor stakeholders from Melaye’s constituency to recall him.
To prevent that from happening, Melaye organized a protest at the entrance of Kogi State Polytechnic, but unfortunately, unknown gunmen stormed the venue of the rally from Nataco junction, to bring it to an abrupt end. By the time the shooting ended, no fewer than five persons were reportedly felled by the bullets. One of those who got killed was Saka Seidu, a fresh graduate of the polytechnic.
In reaction, Dino Melaye who is the chairman, senate committee on the FCT, called for a state of emergency claiming attempts to assassinate him. APC chieftains in kogi state have given their support to Dino Melaye. According to a chieftain of the APC in Kogi State, Alhaji Yakubu Mamuda in a chat with Next Edition, “Dino Melaye is only standing for the truth. He may be highhanded but let’s be honest; we need someone like him to call the governor to order. He has refused to pay salaries for over a year. There is nothing wrong with what Dino is saying. Dino Melaye is saying the mind of most Kogi people because he isn’t a coward.”
Meanwhile, at a press conference in Abuja, the APC chairman in Kogi State, Chief Hadi Ametuo also lent his support to Melaye. He said, “The contributions of Senator Melaye to the formation of the party, and his tireless efforts during the electioneering campaigns, which led to the party’s victory, including the election of President Muhammadu Buhari, was not only noticeable but extremely valuable.”
The Next Edition gathered that the Prince Tony Momoh Peace and Reconciliation Committee is committed to seeing peace return to Kogi State. A report on the crises was submitted by the committee.
Irrespective of how the situation pans out, many political analysts are of the view that Governor Bello would face a herculean task if he seeks re-election in the future.
