Richard Elesho
Birth of a destiny child
The journey of a thousand years comes to a close with the last step. For the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello with the New Direction self adulating cognomen, the end is less than one week away, precisely 27 January 2024.
Bello began a historic 8-year journey as Kogi State governor in January 2016. His ascension to power was dramatic in many ways. Once described as a circumstantial governor, it would be recalled that he was propelled to the number one Kogi office when the winner of the 21 November 2015 guber poll, Prince Abubakar Audu, unexpecredly died on the verge of victory.
Bello was not a participant in the election. He was neither the candidate nor deputy candidate of the leading party or any party for that matter. The powers that be in the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, however, did the unthinkable. In their wisdom, they brought Bello from the dustbin of its primary election, where he had come second to the late Audu to inherit his votes. James Faleke, running mate to the fallen candidate, cried blue murder, but he was overruled by the party and the courts.
Bello became governor with the votes he inherited from a corpse. At the time of his inauguration at the impressionable age of 40, he was the youngest state chief executive in Nigeria. He clutched to that enviable medal throughout his years in office. He was also the first governor to assume office without a running mate!
Lest I forget, Bello was the first governor to openly burst into tears on the day of his inauguration. He achieved that feat when he remembered his humble beginning and the passing of his father many decades before.
There is another political instruction in his ascension. Bello, an Ebira from Okene, is the first non-Igala to be elected governor in Kogi state’s then two and half decades existence. So long an introduction. A summary of the assessment of his stewardship shows a dull performance laced with silver linings in the first term and more creditable outing through a genuine desire to right the wrongs in the second. Let us go to the specifics.
Timely appointments
One defining attribute of the Bello years is the youthful energy with which he pursued his convictions, whether for good or bad. The new governor wasted no time in making the first set of appointments into his kitchen cabinet. They were David Edward Onoja, Chief of Staff, Abdulkarim Abdulmalik Special Adviser, Media and Kingsley Femi Fanwo, Chief Press Secretary, CPS.
Except for Abdumalik, the first appointees remained strong in his government. In fact, while Onoja was elevated as Deputy Governor in the second tenure, Fanwo became first Director General Media and later Commissioner for Information and Communication.
Within a short time, the governor made other crucial appointments to stabilise his government and get it firmly running. These included Dr. (Mrs) Folasade Arike Ayoade, Secretary to the State Government, SSG, Alhaji Momoh Jubril, Accountant General of the state and a Speech Writer, Barrister Moses Okafor. Others were 20 Special Advisers, SAs, and three Senior Special Assistants , SSAs, on Media. The first set of SAs later metamorphosed to commissioners.
Following Faleke’s continued rejection of the deputy-governor seat, which was reserved for him, Bello shopped for his replacement. Simon Achuba, a former legislator from Ibaji, was promptly nominated for the office. He was screened and confirmed for the position, and he assumed office effectively.
First faulty steps
Within days of his assumption, Bello ordered the removal of all roundabouts in Lokoja. Bulldozers and other earth equipment worked round the clock to destroy the historical monuments and clean them off the ground. Seven Roundabouts were swept away in that self-destruct.
It turned out to be hasty and ill-advised. The bulldozed landmarks were constructed with tax payers funds, some of them dating back to the colonial era. Except for the one in Paparanda Square, where there is genuine effort at improvements, the administration was unable to rebuild them. To say the least, rather than beautifying it, the policy defaced the capital city.
In his determination to check corruption and improve discipline in public service, Bello implemented twin reforms into the system. He mandated civil servants to clock in and out and embarked on an ambitious screening and staff verification exercise.
The screening could well compete for booking in the Guiness book of world records as the longest in history. It lasted for years and introduced new lexicons to Labour register in the state. They include clear, unclear, pardon, unintended beneficiary, ghost worker, etc. At the end of the exercise, hundreds of workers were summarily removed from the payroll, while some died in the process.
In those early days, payment of salary was a huge challenge at all levels of government. Many workers were owed several months at the state level. It was worse in the local governments, where the NDG sustained percentage payment, which it inherited from Capt. Idris Wada, his immediate predecessor.
An ineffective attempt to probe the past Peoples Democratic Party, PDP administrations led by former Governors Ibrahim Idris and the aviator, Capt. Wada added to the somersaults. The probe, which was given wild publicity, yielded nothing.
In those days of rise and fall, the administration also announced the award of contracts including road networks in Otokiti Estate and Takete-Ide to Aghara with 9 others on PPP to Julius Berger, a world acclaimed construction giant, with fanfare. The agreement and contracts were dead on arrival. Not one of them was executed.
As if it was destined to complete the circle of disorientation and misery, the administration acquired state of the art sport utility vehicles, SUVs, and sedans, which it distributed to the political office holders. This was a radical departure from the recent past where appointees had no such privilege and were incongruous with the prevailing atmosphere of want occasioned by the irregular salaries.
Uneasy lies the head that wears the golden crown. One would not forget in a hurry three other controversies that bookmarked Bello reign. One was the narrative over his status as an electorate. The governor was alleged to have registered as a voter twice, first in Abuja and later in Kogi, an action that ran contrary to the Electoral Act. The second was his long battle with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC over alleged infractions in the management of the N50 billion bailout fund, and running of the states’ finances generally.
The last of the controversies hovers around the asset base of the state. A leaked memo had revealed plans by the administration to sell off some of the state’s assets, categorising them as moribund. They included an ongoing twelve-storey Kogi House in Abuja, Confluence Beach Hotel, Kogi Hotel, Kogi liaison offices in Lagos and Kaduna and Commissioners Quarters. Some stakeholders raised the alarm, and the status of those assets at best remains unknown in the public domain today.
Silver linings
It was, however, not all tales of woes in the first tenure. After what seemed like moments of clulessness and groping in the dark, the administration learnt the ropes and gradually waxed strong in terms of impact and delivering the dividends of democracy. Youthful exuberance gave way to sobriety and critical reflections.
The administration went into its beautification agenda for Lokoja, the state capital. A private concern, Geemony was contracted to keep streets of the city and public offices clean. The men in red worked round the clock to reverse the city’s putridity. Lokoja has since gained frontline recognition among clean state capitals in the country.
Deliberate efforts were also made to rehabilitate failed portions of major roads and streets in the ancient city that once served as capital of colonial Nigeria. The roads and major streets were illuminated with befitting solar powered lights. These significantly changed the face of the city so much that one former Senator claimed the innovations confused him about the city.
The efforts went on concurrently with a massive renovation of Lugard House, the seat of government. Apart from the redesign of its exterior architecture, elevated security posts were initiated on all access roads to the palace.
With a mind set on transforming the state’s finances, Bello accelerated the construction of its revenue house. The masterpiece adjacent to the European Cenotaph adorns the landscape and provides a conducive environment for tax collection. Needless to say that the initiative has more than tripled the Internally Generated Revenue, IGR of the state.
There are other growth data in the first tenure. They include a modern office complex for the Graphic Newspaper, a Chapel in the Lugard House, construction or rehabilitation of some roads in Lokoja, Okene, kabba, Idah and other parts of the state and due attention to education. Another is Omi Dam and other interventions in the agric valuechain.
Safety and security
From day one, Bello seemed tailor-made for his schedules in the security sector. His administration pursued an innovative clearing of the shoulders of major highways. The improved long-range visibility naturally made it difficult for men of the underworld to have a hiding place.
In addition, the young governor bulldozed known criminal hideouts, particularly in the Central. Provision of vans installed with adequate gadgets and arms for the army, police, vigilante, civil defence was the pivot of his security module. Kogi has since been ranked among the safest states, making Bello a multiple award winner in the sector.
A harvest of projects
Apart from the security breaches that tarred Bello’s 2019 reelection and the election of his successor in 2023, the governor had a significantly better second term outing. On the day of his second inauguration, 27th January 2020, he did something novel by naming his cabinet on the spot. He was more determined to leave positive marks on the sand of time and firmly took charge of his administration.
Bello was so certain of being in the right direction that in the thick of his second term journey, he took a bold shot at the presidency. Althoigh, he missed the APC presidential ticket, and that adventure established him beyond the borders of Kogi State. It was the first attempt by a Kogite from creation!
Let us take a quick look at other proofs of his footprints.
Education all the way
It can be argued that the flagship sector of Bello’s stewardship is education. Being a product of public school system himself, the governor devoted great energy to repositioning the sector. The effects of Bello’s efforts are visible right from the foundational primary school level to the upper limit of the university. The curriculum has a special focus on science, technology, and mathematics.
The administration built many primary school blocks and rehabilitated others. The establishment of model secondary schools, signposted by the GYB Model School, Adankolo is evolutionary. The three-story imposing edifice contains 18 classrooms, each of which could seat 50 students. it has the capacity to accommodate 900 students at once.
The school has an administrative floor, six standard laboratories for physics, chemistry, food and nutrition, Agric science, home economics, wood work and metal work, 5 emergency exit routes, a large agricultural garden, and 1000-capacity CBT hall among others. There are adequate sporting facilities.
In fact, the model schools are replicated across constituencies in the state. They are finished to taste and stocked with state-of-the-art teaching aides, furniture, tiles, and air conditioners.
The magic wand of Bello’s educational transformation is the establishment of two new State Universities, in a record three years. The Confluence University of Science and Technology, CUSTECH, Osara commenced academic work in 2020. The Kogi State University, KSU, Kabba, was established in 2023. Bello proved skeptics wrong when he inaugurated it on Thursday, 16 January 24. The same day, the institution matriculated its first set of 1,200 students.
With CUSTECH taking off from the former campus of the Kogi State Polytechnic and KSU from the former campus of College of Education Technical, both have metamorphosed into giant construction sites This is even as infrastructure development in other state-owned higher institutions, notably, Prince Abubakar Audu University, PAAU, Anyigba; Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja; Kogi State College of Education, Anpka; College of Health, Idah and School of Nursing and Midwifery, Obaangede has not halted.
To address the problem of human resource deficit, which had plagued the sector, the Bello administration, in a rather late effort, recruited hundreds of teachers. The teachers have since assumed duty.
Health is wealth
Bello’s boldest signage is perhaps in healthcare delivery. It is a pleasant irony that, in spite of his notorious position on the Covid-19 pandemic, the administration paid deserved attention to medical facilities.
The Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, which was established by former Governor Ibrahim Idris, was rehabilitated and expanded. The extension and diagnostic centres have been in use.
The administration established from scratch another Specialist Hospital in Okene, a commercial hub and capital of Kogi central. The 300-bed capacity hospital was conceived to reverse the trend of medical tourism in the Northcentral states.
The hospital is equipped with a 1.5 Tesla MRI machine, an oxygen plant, and a CT scanning machine, among others. With the facilities, it can accurately investigate renal and coronary disorders, for which some people travel abroad. It is CUSTECH’s Teaching Hospital and among the legacy projects inaugurated in 2022 by former President Muhammodu Buhari.
Functional state of the art hospitals were also established in all Senatorial zones, including the Specialist Hospitals in Gegu Beki, Kogi LG, and lIsanlu, Yagba East LG. This is aside from rehabilitating Primary Health Centres in more than 70 communities. The governor said his health policies are propelled by his fanatical belief that health is wealth.
Roads and bridges
The administration constructed several kilometres of roads to link communities and make transportation easy for the people. The roads are scattered all over the state.
The gold lifter in this sector is the Flyover Bridge at Ganaja Junction, a major intersection in the capital city. Before its construction, Ganaja Junction was a traffic nightmare to road users. Not again. Since the construction of the architectural masterpiece, traffic has been flawless.
The wonder came complete with street lights and an elegant landscape.
In addition, every approach road to the bridge was rehabilitated and illuminated to give it an all-around scintillating outlook.
Muhammodu Buhari Square
To boost tourism potential, the administration converted the old Lokoja Township Stadium into a multipurpose event centre, the Mohammodu Buhari Square, MBS. It is a big improvement on the abandoned Olusegun Obasanjo Square initiated by the late Audu.
Strategically located at the heart of the state capital, MBS can accommodate 15,000 regular sitters and 600 VIPs. It can hold another 15,000 people in a well-spaced standing position. That is not all. MBS has a large-format LED display screen, a spacious and beautiful car park, convenience rooms, dressing rooms, a close circuit camera, and commendable night illumination.
Commissioner for Information and Communication, Femi Fanwo, said Bello derives inspiration for his policies because of love for the ordinary people and passion to improve their welfare.
Ododo: A preferred successor
Perhaps Bello’s most enduring achievement is the realisation of his successor plan. Against all odds, he deployed the necessary influence in favour of Ahmed Usman Ododo to pick the APC guber ticket in a largely rancorous primary election process. Not a few persons who were not comfortable with the nomination challenged the process up to the highest level. The courts, however, validated his candidacy.
On 11 November 2023, when INEC conducted the Kogi governorship election, Ododo again emerged victorious. He defeated 17 other candidates with wide margins, sending jitters in the spines of his opponents. The result is an endorsement of the outgoing governor’s style. With a preferred successor in the wings, Bello’s continuous influence in the affairs of Kogi State may not experience sudden eclipse as his traducers may wish.
A governor to the end
Bello had guts and left no one in doubt about the exercise of the enormous powers of his office till the very end. In the fringe of his reign, the governor wielded the big stick over the traditional institution.
In one swoop, he announced the removal of three first class traditional rulers and their deposition to Niger State. He also suspended one and filled four vacant seats in the Monday, 8 January parting gift to the state. While the decision may have brought pain to some, many trooped to the streets in jubilation.
That was vintage Bello, who acted without regard to whose ox is gored. As he steps aside on 27 January, it will be the end of an era in Kogi State. Certainly, Bello was a governor like no other.