By Uche Nnadozie
It is no longer news that Yahaya Bello, the erstwhile governor of Kogi State has been on the run. He is now a fugitive of both the law and law enforcement.
This is after the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) charged him and his accomplices to court for corruptly enriching themselves to the tune of over N80bn. Bello has denied the allegations.
But what he has not denied is his penchant for throwing tantrums. From pretending to be a lion to snaking through seiges to evade arrest; the former governor has also unleashed the most concerted campaign against the anti-graft agency. In his latest gambit, people of all shades including anti-corruption crusaders have been co-opted into a blistering anti-accountability campaign making it difficult for the watching public to know who to believe. They have muddled the waters in a negatively fantastic form!
But one thing that cannot pass is a diatribe by a former spokesperson to Atiku Abubakar’s campaign and an Ogun-based politician.
In a series of tweets, Segun Showunmi accused the Yoruba of betrayal. He says it has become a norm rather than an exception; a culture of the people, he claims. By this, the Ogun politician is recycling a deadbeat prejudice that has been made about perhaps the most civilized ethnic group in Nigeria.
While protecting his pay master, this PDP politician who knows the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) better than his own party opined that, “The Yorubas already carry misconceptions about betrayal, that we don’t keep our end of the bargain,” he wrote on Twitter.
“That we use and dump people.
“That we are cunning around the power play.
“Except Olusegun Obasanjo, who as both in and outside power as military and civilian.”
Mr Showunmi is referring to his master Bello and elevating him to a dot-god. He chose to tar his own whole ethnic group in order to embarrass President Bola Tinubu. He expects Tinubu to order the EFCC to allow the ex-Kogi helmsman a free reign over the courts and EFCC. For this PDP politician, the president should bend the rules, call EFCC to back off and allow Bello and his cohorts to enjoy their loot.
Doing otherwise will mean that Tinubu is a betrayer and that this is a Yoruba thing! To make it worse, it also means that the Yoruba cannot be trusted because if you belong to the same party with a fugitive ex-governor, your duty as president is to shield such homo sapien from alleged corruption trial. With that, you won’t be labelled a betrayer by a failed PDP aspirant. What a shame!
The Ogun PDP politician also said Bello gave “…Asiwaju (Tinubu) good numbers in Kogi not to talk of how he funded and ran the youth campaign with vigour and energy to the extent that I was so jealous compared to the disorganized charade of my PDP. ”
The long and short of Showunmi’s silly tweets and group slander is for Tinubu to exonerate Bello. This, according to him must be done because Bello who belongs to the president’s party helped him win the presidential election. In order not to be like a regular “Yoruba betrayer” then Tinubu must save Bello from accountability.
I think that Showunmi and people like him should be ashamed of their own audacity. It is very sad that the ex-governor has precipitated a dodgy campaign against EFCC and law enforcement by avoiding arrest and refusing to appear in court.
It is best in the circumstance for Showunmi and his ilks to advise their friend to stop ridiculing constituted authority and national institution. And for that matter to not drag an ethnic group into a personal misdemeanor of a politically exposed person. It is more honorable to honour the law than this audacious attempt at upgrading bad behaviour as a model for a piece of pottage.