Gov. Bago, Happy Christmas Your Excellency

By Comfort Obi

Short of what to say to this man who, tragically, is the Governor of Niger State, let me wish him a Happy Christmas. Christmas is  about a month away, but I refuse to add “in advance” in  extending that wish to him.

Let me explain.

I am following  Governor Umar Bago’s footsteps. I only re-echoed him. I only wished him what he,  insensitively, wished a broken State, a broken people, heartbroken parents, heartbroken families, and over 300 heartbroken, confused, helpless and hapless pupils, students and teachers who are in the custody of blood-thirsty terrorists, sharing spaces in the bush, in the forest with venomous snakes and other wild animals.

In saner societies where politicians have conscience, are in office for the people and not for themselves and their families, in societies where leaders are judged by their utterances, by their public behavior, by their carriage, this Governor  could have been thrown out of office. He could have been forced to resign, or  impeached from office. He could have been barred for life from holding any public office. But who is there to scold, or call him to order? Which House of Assembly would dare impeach him?

Except for about three Houses of Assembly, including Lagos, none of the others can hold their Governors accountable. No questions. Jellies, they shiver before the Governors who they should monitor and hold accountable.

So who would call Bago to  order?

For the records, careless talks and embarrassing public behaviors are not exclusive to Bago. A number of Governors are guilty of same obnoxious behaviors. They get away with anything. Everything, especially, their careless talks.

There is this Governor who asked his State Executive Council Members to wear the signature President Bola Tinubu Cap during Executive Council Meetings, or lose their jobs. And just a couple of days ago, he swore he would resign from office if in 2027, President Tinubu fails to win in his State. Before that time, he had said people were hailing him for more  accomplishments in his less than six  months in office, than his predecessor’s eight years in office. Such delusion! But that’s how large his ego is. And that’s how large the egos of most Governors are. They are Emporors whose Aides hardly have access to, and when they do shiver before them, and answer “Yes Sir, yes Your Excellency”. Never disagree with anything.

However, Governor Bago holds the title of the most careless- talking and irresponsible Governor in this dispensation. The sad thing: this Governor is governing a State which produced two unforgettable former Nigerian Leaders, and still respected Elder Statesman – former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida and former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar.

Sorry, I have since digressed, but here’s why I began by wishing Bago  Happy Christmas.

In Bago’s Niger State, about 315 students, pupils and teachers of St Mary’s Catholic School, Papari, were abducted by terrorists on November 21, 2025. How the cursed  devils managed to storm the school, undetected, should be one of the seven wonders of the World. To be able to abduct such large number of people, there must have been over 60 terrorists, each riding a motorcycle that would accommodate, at least, two other people each. Some reports say they also had a van. Each of them would have been well armed. They must have driven past highways. How nobody was able to detect the movement of such large number of people, is a miracle only Bago’s Government and security agencies and vigilante groups would explain.

So, they succeeded in abducting this large number of people from this school in Niger.

By that abduction, the terrorists added to our fears, the hell we have been going through these past weeks. We live in fear. Sleepless nights. Thumping hearts. Broad daylight is not better. The guys can strike anytime. But it has been worse recently. It has shaken us, and shaken the foundation of our country. We weep. We gnash our teeth. We mourn.

People have given up hope, to the extent that even some of the most patriotic Nigerians are yearning for foreign help. My heart skipped when I read former President Olusegun Obasanjo, sounding helpless, almost, and insisting that Nigerians have the right to ask for  foreign intervention.

Our education system is in disarray. States are closing down Schools. They are sending students and pupils home. Even a couple of tertiary institutions closed down too. For fear of terrorists.

These terrorists must be throwing a party. They have forced us to our knees. Because of them, we closed down our schools. What a victory for them. It spells: “We surrender!”

Those who mocked the Goodluck Jonathan Administration during the abduction of Chibok girls must, by now, within them, realised how stupid they were. Things are so bad that we must count those days as glorious days. In some States in the North, terrorists and bandits (By the way, what’s the difference between them), are in charge in many Local Government Areas. They have established their own Government, and are collecting taxes. They have their own Courts. And are beheading women.

Months after Jonathan left office, I attended a function where former Minister for Information, the irrepressible Lai Mohammed, told his listeners, that before Muhammadu Buhari took office, 18 LGAs in Borno State, were under the full control of Boko Haram Terrorists. And yet, his party, the All Progressives Congress, APC, said it won in all the LGAs in the State. In fact, the APC returned millions of votes. And I asked the then  Minister: “Honourable Minister, if Boko Haram was in charge of 18 Local Government Areas, how then did your party win all the LGAs, and returned such huge number of votes.? Who conducted the election in terrorists-held areas, and who voted? Boko Haram terrorists? That was the propaganda then. It will be nice to ask him now: “Oga, how country? A classic example of when you are pointing one finger at one, four other fingers are pointing at you.

Those who played politics with the security situation, with Boko Haram,  under Jonathan, have seen that it goes beyond that; that Nigeria was dealing with an ailment more serious than we thought; that it had nothing to do with the false much celebrated Jonathan’s “weakness and cluelessness.”

But again, I digressed. I was talking about Governor Bago. It was in the midst of our anguish over the abduction of the over 300 students and pupils, alongside 12 of their teachers, that Governor Bago, instead of expressing pain,  instead of screaming blue murder, instead of  calling for help, began by blaming the school authorities. Shamelessly, his first reaction was why the school was still in session when he had ordered all  schools around that area closed. The school management has since put a lie to his claims. The school said it received no such order either orally,  or in writing.

But as if acting under a curse which is pushing him to hurt his people by his pronouncements, he upped the antenna.

Addressing the people on the abduction at St Mary’s he, again, began with the disobedience by the school authorities, then he added that he has now closed down all schools. Everybody should go home, he said. Then, he dared add: “I have given you Christmas Holidays. Happy Christmas.”

My heart sank on hearing the Governor wish them “Happy Christmas”. The children were being forced home under such heartbreaking circumstances, and the Governor is wishing them Happy Christmas. The children are traumatized with the thought of their classmates and schoolmates and friends in the forest, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas. The children’s studies have been disrupted, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas. The children’s fate is unknown, they hardly know when classes would resume, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas. The children may not start school till January, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas. Parents are in anguish, pains, not knowing the fate of their children, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas. Members of the School Management are heartbroken over their abducted students, pupils and teachers, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas.

The State is in a state of shock and fear, and the Governor is wishing them a Happy Christmas.

So, is the Governor happy? Should the word “happy” be even uttered by him? How can he talk about happiness when his State is on edge, when his State is under siege, when all schools are closed, when his subjects are afraid to go to farm, when they are afraid to sleep at night?

But Bago, still on rampage, denied the number of those abducted. He played it down. He said it was an exaggeration by the Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, that CAN lied, that most of the children were hiding in the bush, and would come out; that 51 of them had come back, and that 11 more were discovered in the forest where they took refuge. He warned CAN against spreading fake news. But look at Bago, more than one week after the horrible abduction, the children and their teachers are no where to the seen; they have not walked out of the bush/forest as  assured by Bago; he has not also gone into the forest to personally ask them to come out. How could a Governor be that tactless, let me not say heartless or insensitive. And he has not apologized? What’s wrong with this Governor?

Since he assumed office as the Governor of Niger State, Governor Bago has been in the news, most of them negative.

The first time I took note of him, because I honestly don’t know the names of some of these Governors, was when, at one funeral rite in his State, he asked his aides to publicly flog a Cleric for daring to lead prayers. That was followed by Bago ordering security agencies to shave the hair of any youth spotting dreadlocks. When it was greeted by outrage, the efforts  he made at clarifying what he meant cut no ice with anybody.

Next, he shut down a private Radio Station for criticizing his Government. He lied about paying graduates; he lied about paying workers their minimum wage; he sacked his cabinet in one fell swoop. And recently, publicly, this Governor publicly called his protocol officer a “fool”, and dismissed him as “stupid”. That’s his fellow man. The only difference: he is a Governor, thanks to however he was elected, and the people he now talks to anyhow, and feels nothing.

Here’s my opinion. Governor Bago talks before he thinks, and has a temper from hell. He needs to go to a finishing school. He needs to worry about more serious issues than talking irresponsibly, For instance, his State is fast becoming the headquarters and hiding place for terrorists, or,  how come the female students kidnapped from Kebbi were “comfortably” kept   in Niger State.

For the records, I’m not one of those who hold Governors fully responsible for the insecurity in their States. It is a federal matter. They have no control over the Military, Police, Civil Defence, or Paramilitary. This, even when they fund these people and take care of their  logistics. Their powers end with the vigilante groups they establish. But they are giving security votes, millions of Naira, every month. What do they do with it? I agree they should do more.

But they spend so much on things that are of no priority. Every State wants to own an Airport, even when there are no passengers. That is the latest craze.

I don’t also believe that we have enough security operatives to guard all the schools in the Country. That’s not possible. Just as I don’t believe that the recruitment of thousands more into the military, police, DSS, will solve the problem. Millions of them, without funding,  appropriate and enough weapons, and dare I say, weeding out saboteurs, will not work.

But back to Bago. He owes the parents whose children were abducted, and are still in custody, an apology for his insensitive comments. He also owes same apology to CAN and the children who are still in the forest.

For Bago, the way forward is easy. He should think before he talks. Control his temper. Get some polish.

And from me to this Governor, personally, may the type of Happy Christmas he wished his people who are in distress be his portion year after year till he learns how to exhibit some kindness when he talks. Too much intoxication with power is a disease that,  atimes, needs psychiatrist attention. Ask!

Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com.  Email: [email protected], [email protected]