As Gov Bello Wins on All Fronts…

Kabir Adevouh writes about the feat of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State since he assumed office in the Confluence state in January, 2016.

while growing up, it was certain that the two term Governor or Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello had good dreams and great plans for the future.

The future later came and the Okene, Kogi Central-born Bello became the fourth democratically elected governor of the state in 2015 and was sworn-in in January, 2016.

This was after Bello had achieved excellence as a student and in all the schools he attended, and in all the places, where he worked as an accountant before venturing into business.

With the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) at the national level as the ruling party in 2015,  Bello felt challenged and inspired to offer himself for leadership as a change agent to rescue Kogi State that had been bedeviled by corrupt and inept leadership.

Bello’s electoral career began with a loss to the late Abubakar Audu in the APC gubernatorial primary in November, 2015.

In the titanic gubernatorial primaries,  Bello, who was the youngest among the gubernatorial aspirants, proved the cynics who did not give him a chance wrong.

He polled the second highest votes after late Prince Audu.

Following the sudden death of Audu, fate and destiny brought in the young Bello as the Fourth democratically elected Governor of Kogi State.

Bello had inherited the 240,861 votes polled by Audu in the November 21, 2015 poll, which was declared inconclusive by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shortly before Audu died.

Idris Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), the then incumbent, came second with 199,514 votes.

A supplementary election later took place in 91 polling units in 19 local government areas and Bello polled an additional 6,885 votes to Wada’s 5,363 votes.

 Final score: APC 247,742, PDP 204,877.

The story of the emergence of  Bello, a multi-talented young man in the prime of his youth as the Governor of Kogi State is an eloquent testimony of a man entrusted by destiny and the unmistaken hand of God to salvage his people and generation at a critical and agonizing moment of the people’s quest for development and true happiness.

Bello is governing Kogi State with wisdom and determination, which has resulted into developments in all ramifications in the state.

He shamed the critics, who thought he had nothing to offer. Not only did he perform, he surpassed the achievements of all his predecessors put together.

It is interesting to recall that the man nominated by the APC to be Mr. Bello’s deputy, James Faleke, made real his threat not to present himself for swearing in with the governor.

Faleke, a member of the House of Representatives, had been the deputy governorship candidate of the party to the late Audu. But, he was conspicuously absent at the ceremony.

Faleke objected to the party’s decision and approached the election tribunal in the state asking it to declare him governor-elect.

He contended that the election had been won and lost before Audu died and that he (Faleke) should have been pronounced governor-elect.

Faleke repeatedly claimed that he was not consulted or taken into confidence by anyone regarding the choice of Bello as Audu’s replacement.

The matter was however, put to rest on Tuesday, September 20, 2016 after the Supreme Court upheld the election of Bello as the governor of Kogi State.

The apex court’s judgment therefore ended the controversies created by the death of Prince Audu.

The apex court, in unanimous judgments in four separate appeals, agreed that Bello was properly substituted to replace Audu as the candidate of the APC in the governorship election on November 21 and the supplementary poll held on December 5, 2015.

In the first appeal filed by Faleke, the court dismissed the case for lack of merit.

Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, in the judgment, disagreed with arguments made by counsel for Faleke, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), on Bello’s emergence as a replacement for Audu.

In the judgment on the second appeal, filed by the immediate past governor of the state, Wada, delivered by Justice Sylvester Ngwuta, the court also dismissed the appeal for lacking in merit and substance.

The court equally refused to order a fresh governorship election in the state as canvassed by the appellant.

This was indeed a deserved victory that enabled Governor Bello to settle down to face the real work of governance, which he gave the people of Kogi State in full dose ranging from infrastructural development to healthcare, education, employment, sports, youth/women development and empowerment, among several others.

After four years of meritorious service, Governor  Bello was elected to serve for another four years in November 2019.

Bello won 12 local governments to beat his major challenger, Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who won nine local governments.

In total, Bello polled 406,222 votes. Wada polled 189,704. The governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Natasha Akpoti polled 9,482 votes to come third.

This was a remarkable success for the man the people of Kogi State believe has the capacity to make life better for them and continue what he started in 2016.

It was a moment of decision for the people of  Kogi State, who were later convinced that they made the right choice once again.

Shortly after this, in December 2019, the world was visited with the dreaded COVID-19 that wrecked havoc in many parts of the world and in some parts of Nigeria after an index case was reported in Ogun State in February, 2020.

The pandemic became another battle for  both the Federal and some state governments to fight.

On his part, Governor Bello did all he could to ensure that Kogi State was free from the ailment. He was unrelenting in making everyone to realise that COVID-19 was not in Kogi State. This was another opportunity for the man that has now been known to be a performer to prove his sagacity.

Kogi State Commissioner for Information and Communications, Kingsley Fanwo, once said that Governor Bello, was ready to take delivery of the AstraZeneca/ Oxford COVID-19 vaccines given to the state though he had publicly questioned the existence of the virus.

He, however, said the state government will not force anyone to take a jab of the vaccine except for those who are willing.

Fanwo said, “The governor has said he will accept the vaccine in the state but he will not force anyone to take it. Anyone who may wish to take the vaccine can come forward and the person will be vaccinated but the governor will not enforce it.

“He had said it already that he will take delivery of the vaccine if they bring the vaccine to the state. We just don’t have any information about when the vaccine is coming in and in what quantity.”

Bello consistently dismissed the existence of the virus in his state and also expressed reservations about the vaccine for the disease on numerous occasions.

In a viral video, Bello could be seen discouraging a jeering crowd of supporters from taking COVID-19 vaccine.

“They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid!” Bello had said.

It is on record that no case of COVID-19 was reported in Kogi State, while the pandemic lasted.

Prior to the Presidential Election of February 25, 2023, which later led to the election of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the next President of Nigeria, Bello had dared to give the office a trial.

It is on record that Bello ran one of the best campaigns before he later withdrew from the race and threw his weight behind Tinubu.

Bello is a man that pursues any cause he believes in to a logical conclusion. He believed and still believes that the office of the Nigerian President is not exclusive to the people of certain parts of the country and he obtained the nomination and expression of interest forms of the APC to contest for the coveted office.

The Kogi State Governor was able to carry the youths along in his campaign and he had the best media presence before the primary.

On why he wanted to be president, Bello said he was running for the Presidency because he wanted to restore the hope of Nigerians.

This, he said, would be done by providing guarantees for security, unity and progress.

He spoke at the Eagles Square in Abuja, while officially declaring his intention to run for the Presidency in 2023.

The governor had promised to replicate some of his achievements in Kogi State across Nigeria, if elected president.

According to Bello: “I am running for president because I see a bright light shining at the end of the tunnel for our nation. I am not one of those who always see doom. What God has helped us to do in Kogi state, by the grace of God we will replicate the same in Nigeria.

“We are so blessed as a nation and yet it does not always seem so. I am running to restore hope by providing guarantees for security, unity and progress to all Nigerians.

“Our focus will be proper management of our great diversities, so that it can really be an advantage. We will foster more cooperation and integration amongst citizens and make sure that progress is made steadily across all sectors and indicators.”

There is no doubt that Bello’s campaign materials would be useful for the Tinubu administration as they contain some of the things that should be done to move the nation forward.

Another serious task Governor Bello was able to accomplish was the election of his successor as he would be leaving the office in January, 2024 after serving two terms permitted by the Nigerian constitution.

The events leading to the primary election of the party were as interesting as they came as a former Auditor General for Local Governments in Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo, won APC gubernatorial primary election, which held in the State on Friday April 14, 2023.

Ododo, who scored a total of 78,704 votes, won the direct primary election with a wide margin to defeat six other contestants in the governorship race.

About seven other aspirants, including the state’s deputy governor, Edward Onoja, Governor Yahaya Bello’s Chief of Staff, Mohammed Asuku, had earlier withdrawn from the gubernatorial race on the eve of the primary election.

Ododo is the preferred candidate of Governor  Bello, who he believes would continue his people-oriented programmes so that Kogi would keep occupying its pride of place in the country as a forward-looking state that is harnessing its full potentials.

Governor Bello has proven that he can thread where others fear, and that with strong determination nothing is difficult to achieve.

As the next governorship election in the state is slated for November 11, 2019, signs are obvious that it would be another opportunity for Bello to prove his mettle as a man, who is destined to win any battle that come his way through the grace of the Almighty God.

It is also on record that Governor Bello fought insecurity on all fronts and ensured that the people of Kogi State could once again sleep with their two eyes closed. He did not spare any cost to equip the security agencies to aid surveillance and prompt arrest of criminals in all the books and crannies of the state.

No doubt, the man popularly called GYB has the hand of God directing his affairs and he is destined to win.

-Adevouh writes from Abuja.