Kogi: Emperor-Governor At His Most Disrespectful

By Comfort Obi

Unless there are other underlying issues not known to the public, the Emperor-Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, owes the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Dr Ado Ibrahim, an apology. The Ohinoyi’s subjects should insist, or rise in anger.

Bello has insulted the 94-year old First Class Monarch. He used very derogatory language on him. He dressed the Monarch in a robe not worthy of a man of his status. He said  the Ohinoyi has brought shame to Kogi State, the Ebira nation, and the revered stool he sits on. He said the Ohinoyi is a threat to the  security of the State. Finally, he hinted the Ohinoyi could be dethroned. The Monarch’s subjects should protest this insult. They should protect their pride and culture as represented by the Ohinoyi.

What was the problem?

The much that we know is that it began on December 29, 2022. President Muhammadu Buhari was in Kogi State to commission some projects executed by Yahaya Bello’s Government. It is the norm in Nigeria. Every project executed by Governors, even a borehole, is commissioned. Atimes, the money spent on commissioning such projects is more than the money used to execute them.

So, Bello invited the President to commission his projects. Inviting the President is a big deal. It doesn’t come easy. Atimes,  lobbying comes into play. And why not? The President is a busy man. It takes some  to host him. The planning could take months.

When he visits a State, everything comes to a halt, almost. The socio-economic lives of the people is disrupted, including those of Traditional Rulers who are expected to travel, and converge at the Airport or at any appointed venue to welcome the President, especially, First Class Traditional Rulers.

But on this day when President Buhari visited Kogi, the Ohinoyi was absent at the welcome party. A cardinal sin. But, a combination of factors contributed to his absence. That, later here.

His absence stung Governor Bello. His anger rose to high heavens. And, his Government queried the Traditional Ruler.

In the query, dated 5th January, 2023, and signed by a Director in the Ministry of Chieftaincy Affairs, the Ohinoyi was given 48 hours within which to respond. He was accused of disrespecting Mr President. He was accused of “exhibiting deliberate attitude and actions capable of bringing Kogi State and Ebiraland, in particular, to disrepute.”

One would think the Monarch planned a coup to topple President Buhari out of office, and strip Governor Bello of his gubernatorial jacket.

The query pointed out to the 94 year-old Monarch that in times past, he had, also, ignored lining-up to receive the Governor each time Bello came back from a trip. “It is on record that in time past, topmost Traditional Rulers, including the President, Kogi State Council of Chiefs, do receive the Governor of the State on his return from critical missions undertaken on behalf of the State.

“But you have chosen to disdain the office of the Executive Governor and, this time, you did it with effrontery before the number one citizen of Nigeria.” And to the Governor, here’s the implication: “This action of yours is an act of insubordination and disloyalty to the President and Commander-in-Chief of Nigeria Armed Forces, the Executive Governor of Kogi State and the entire Ebira nation as a whole and portends grave danger to the security of the State and laying bad precedence for traditional institution of the State.”

The Monarch has replied to the query. But, here, a little background before we get to his reply.

In the morning of the President’s visit, a bomb exploded by the gate of the Ohinoyi’s Palace. There were four fatalities. And part of the Ohinoyi’s Palace was destroyed. How anybody expected the aged Monarch to, still, leave the Palace that morning, in the face of uncertainty, beats one. That’s insensitive.

In the Monarch’s reply, he pointed the insensitivity out, among other seemingly  deliberate acts to make a ridicule of him and his stool.

For instance, one of the projects scheduled for commissioning by the President was a new Palace for the Ohinoyi. But here’s the irony. The Monarch said he was unaware of any new Palace for him. He had been living in the old Palace since his coronation in 1997, and had no hint he could be asked to move to a new Palace. But there’s worse.

The Monarch said he was not officially informed of the President’s visit to the State, not to talk to his domain, until the eve of the visit. He explained that the same Commissioner for Chieftaincy Affairs whose office queried him, was the one who came to the Palace December 28th evening, to inform him of the Presidential visit. It was, also, the same  Commissioner who, the Ohinoyi said, asked him to stay put in his Palace as the President would, as protocol demands, pay him a courtesy visit on arrival. How the same man who asked the Ohinoyi to stay in his Palace and await the President’s arrival, turned around and queried him for not joining the President’s welcome party, is a mystery only Governor Bello and his Commissioner can explain.

Then, the Ohinoyi hinted at the Governor’s insensitivity. He lamented that a bomb exploded by the Palace gate  in the morning of the President’s visit, and killed four people. He said that while awaiting the President’s arrival to his Palace, he was, at once, busy consoling his panicky and scared subjects, reassuring them that all was well. He expressed surprise that neither the Governor, nor any Government official visited the Palace to find out the situation of things. None extended any sympathy to him and his subjects. His first official contact with Bello’s Government, he said, was the query he received.

Not a few people think that there was a plan to stop the Ohinoyi from the activities to welcome the President. They ask: How come a representative of the Ohinoyi, not known to him, read an address to welcome the President? Who wrote the welcome address? Why did the Ohinoyi not see the welcome address before it was read on his behalf? He is not an illiterate. He is well read – home and abroad. He holds, at least, a Masters Degree. He is addressed as “Dr”, but I’m careful not to add that he possesses a PhD, in case it is honorary prefix which anybody, with a little cash, gets honoured with by  some cash-strapped Nigerian Universities, and some backyard/fake Universities abroad. Those ones come to Nigeria, take their cash, and  confer, on even illiterates, honorary doctorate degree in hotels and Church premises, or any available hall. The recipients proudly celebrate it and shamelessly insist on being addressed as “Dr.”

But, more important, the bomb blast, many point out, was a compelling reason for the President and Bello to have visited the Palace. Or, for Bello to visit as soon as the President left.

What’s wrong with Governor Bello? When he was first elected Governor,  controversial as his election was, in 2015, the Youths, in particular celebrated him. He was young. Still is. He was dubbed the youthful Governor. But Bello has been a bad Ambassador of Nigerian youths.

The Governor is brash and arrogant. He talks carelessly. He talks down on people. He  threatens violence at the drop of the hat. He is disrespectful. He is not diplomatic.

In the heat of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the Federal Government of Nigeria, and every Government in the World, was frantic, and appealing to subjects to get vaccinated, Bello was against it. He said there was nothing like COVID-19. He preached against the vaccine. He discouraged his people from taking it. At the height of his vehement opposition to it, he detained health officials who came from Abuja to his office to talk about COVID-19 to the people. When they went to a hospital or wherever to enlighten the people,  thugs invaded the venue, and chased them away.

Every election since Bello became Kogi State Governor, has been marred by violence. He has stiffled the political space in the State. It was under Bello’s watch that Mrs Salome Abuh, a PDP woman leader, was burnt alive in her home for holding a different view from Bello’s supporters. Her murderers got away with a slap on the wrist. Quite a number of people allege that the Governor is angry with the Ohinoyi for giving his blessings to a PDP Senatorial Candidate in the State, Natasha Akpoti-Uduahan, who Bello regards as an arch political enemy. It has been alleged that the Governor warned Traditional Rulers not to welcome non-APC candidates to their Palaces or face the consequences. Haba!

Bello says Mr President is his father. He proclaims it everywhere. He says he is President Buhari’s first son. People say it is part of the reasons he stays in Abuja more than he stays in Lokoja. I think the President and his family accept him as  their son. Good for them.

In 2019, during his campaign for a second term in office, First Lady, Aisha Buhari, travelled to Lokoja to campaign for him – the only APC Governor who had that privilege.

Now, Mr President should call his son to order. His “gra-gra” is too much. He went over-board on the Ohinoyi. He respected neither the Monarch’s age, nor his throne. How Bello, could even count it against the Monarch, that at 94, the Ohinoyi does not go to Lokoja to welcome him from a trip, is unimaginable. Bello is young enough to be the Monarch’s grandson.

Finally, Bello should cause the withdrawal of the query given to the Ohinoyi. He owes the Monarch a condolence visit over the bomb blast at the gate of his Palace. Unless, the dead were the criminals who planted the bomb, what the Governor did by his silence, and the query to the Ohinoyi, is to dance on their graves. That’s not leadership.

And, now, an unsolicited advice to the Governor: ‘Calm down. As the saying goes, no condition is permanent.’

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