By Bayo Bernard
Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has yet to declare his interest in the 2023 Presidential election despite the clamour by some groups in the country for him to run for the highest office in 2023.
However, from all indications, the youthful Governor has not left anyone in doubt that he’s among politicians in the ruling APC positioning themselves to succeed President Muhamamdu Buahri when he completes his term in two years time.
Bello first rode to the high profile office of a Governor while in his 40s in 2015. He became the Governor following the death of Abubakar Audu, the clear winner, before the final collation and announcement of the election result.
Bello, a former PDP governorship aspirant was later picked by APC as its candidate, in the bye election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. He won in controversial circumstances. Many APC leaders in the state refused to support him.
Since he became the Governor of the Confluence State, as Kogi is called because it was the State that Nigeria’s most popular Rivers, Niger and Benue, met, the state’s helmsman has done his best to bring development to his people, sometimes in a way that draws criticism from members of his party and the public.
His comments on topical national issues have not helped matters, putting him on the spot many a time.
Therefore, when he recently told his people that the COVID 19 vaccines were meant to kill them, only a few Nigerians were surprised at his familiar tirade, more so, after he had earlier said the deadly virus does not exist.
The second wave of the virus is ravaging the country, with scores of infections recorded daily by the National Center for Disease Control, NCDC. As a way out of the viral infection, the Federal Government earmarked N400 billion for the purchase of vaccines from Pfizer and other approved drug manufacturing companies in the United States and Europe.
In order to boost the confidence of many Nigerians to take the vaccine, Governor Kayode Fayemi of Ekiti state and Chairman of the Nigerian Governors Forum, NGF said recently that President Buhari and the 36 state Governors will be the first to receive the vaccine jab. This, he said, will eliminate reservations by some persons about the safety of the vaccines.
Fayemi, who addressed journalists in Abuja after meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari, last month said the Governors will also take the vaccines on live television. “We too will like to demonstrate to our citizens that we believe that vaccines would work,” the NGF chairman said.
The Ekiti helmsman position, however, is different from that of Governor Bello who claimed that the vaccine is meant to kill Nigerians and has warned his people not to take the vaccine whenever it is rolled out by the Government. He said this recently during a rally held by his party in Lokoja, the state’s capital.
Rejecting the vaccines, Bello said covid 19 vaccines manufacturers were too hasty in developing the vaccine, therefore, they should not be trusted, adding that he found it unbelievable that vaccines could be produced for the virus, within a short period when there is no cure for Cancer, HIV and many other diseases troubling mankind.
Bello said “Vaccines are being produced in less than one year of COVID-19. There is no vaccine yet for HIV, malaria, cancer, headache and for several other diseases that are killing us.
They want to use the (COVID-19) vaccines to introduce the disease that will kill you and us. God forbid.We should draw our minds back to what happened in Kano during the Pfizer polio vaccines that crippled and killed our children. We have learned our lessons.
“If they say they are taking the vaccines in the public, allow them to take their vaccines. Don’t say I said you should not take it. But if you want to take it, open your eyes before you take the vaccines.”
The Governor, in his New Year broadcast, had said it would be irresponsible of his Government to see COVID-19 as a definer of 2020, in response to suggestions by some members of the Presidential Task Force, PTF that the country could shut down if Nigerians failed to live responsibly and follow safety protocols necessary to curb the rapid spread of the virus. Bello described the suggestion as a “mass heysteria’, and asked Nigerians to ignore the PTF under the leadership of Boss Mustapha, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF.
At the peak of the first break of the virus, last year, the Kogi Governor had shocked not a few Nigerians after he said the virus does not exist. To underscore his point at the time, he refused NCDC officials a visit to the state to ascertain the number of persons carrying the virus. He also did not allow the Government Agency to build a laboratory, where residents would be tested for the virus, as had been done in other states in the country, like Lagos where ultra-modern infectious disease laboratories had been built to test residents.
Bello had also rejected the N1.1billion support fund from the World Bank because of his belief that COVID-19 is a “glorified malaria. “I rejected the World Bank fund because I do not believe in COVID-19. Even the five cases reported in Kogi State is an NCDC creation, he said.
When the state’s Chief Judge, Justice Nasir Ajana died of covid 19, Governor Bello debunked the claim that the Judge died of the virus. At a point, the matter became a war between him and health workers in the state, who accused him of trying to destroy their work.
Lamenting the absence of NCDC laboratory in the state, in May, last year, the Chairman, Nigerian Medical Association, NMA, Kabir Zubair, said the situation has made it impossible to determine the number of positive or negative persons in the state, apart from exposing health workers to danger as there’s no way to determine whether a patient has contracted the viral disease or not.
Contrary to Governor Bello’s claim that nobody was infected in the state, the NMA chairman said doctors had been receiving suspected COVID-19 cases at the Federal Medical Centre in Lokoja.
Zubair said: “Although no confirmed case has been reported in Kogi State till date, a number of suspected cases have been attended to at FMC Lokoja and members of ARD are among the first set of people to attend to these patients and as such, they might be exposed to the highly contagious COVID-19.
“The NMA is aware that they have become agitated and apprehensive in the last few months due to the community spread of COVID-19 in Nigeria. As a Clinician, standard practice demands that the moment you have a clinical suspicion of infectious diseases, the ideal thing is to carry out laboratory confirmation.
“COVID-19 is a highly infectious disease responsible for the ongoing global pandemic. In Nigeria, new cases are reported daily and community spread is accelerating. This is the reason why members of ARD are agitated as testing for COVID-19 has remained a challenge in the state.”
On May 8, the NCDC eventually named the state among other states in the country that recorded new infections. Five persons, the disease centre said, had contracted the virus, even though infectious disease experts insist that more cases could have been detected, if the State Government allowed NCDC officials unfettered access to carry out tests among residents to determine their status.
The matter took another dimension when his colleague Governors rebuffed the Kogi helmsman, after his conspiracy theory that the vaccine was meant to kill Nigerians and Africans.
While responding to Governor Bello on the issue, Governor Fayemi warned his counterpart to stop making careless statements capable of rolling back gains recorded in the fight against covid 19.
“On the ill-fated pronouncement made by a member of the forum regarding the COVID-19 vaccine in a national daily, the forum totally and categorically dissociated itself from the statement. The forum emphasized that it will continue to be informed and guided by science and will ensure that every decision it takes will help retain public and professional trust and is not compromised by conflicts of interest,” the NGF chair said.
Just a few days ago, the NCDC flagged the state among 11 other highly infected states in the country, and advised Nigerians to be wary of visiting the State.
But, despite his controversial nature, Governor Bello is said to be among those that have the ears of President Buhari and his influence looms large in the ruling APC, the party in which he intends to achieve his presidential ambition.
Those in this school of thought cited a father and son relationship between him and the President. The Governor has severally described Buhari as his mentor and father.
The camaraderie between the Governor and the First Family had been further reinforced in 2019 when the First Lady, Aisha Buhari, boosted his campaign for re-election after many APC leaders refused to support him, analysts say.
His closeness to the President has, also, showcased him as a power broker in the ruling party, considering that he was recently appointed as the Chairman of the ongoing APC national registration process, by the party’s Caretaker Committee Chairman, Governor Buni of Yobe state, watchers of the state said.
“That he has the President’s ears gives him a huge leverage in the APC, and that goes a long way in a country where the President sneezes and others catch cold.
Governor Bello, his supporters say, is qualified to run for president notwithstanding his shortcomings. Already, a number of groups in the State are rooting for him, including the APC Senators from the State.
Said an APC, Governor Bello is qualified. It is left for Nigerians and members of our party to reject him or support him.”
The question is whether the controversial governor possessed the qualities required to lead the country, particularly in the face of his antecedents since he became governor over five years ago. What his critics are saying is that Governor Bello is the opposite of what a public servant should be, in his avowed quest to become an enforcer in Kogi and national politics. A pointer to this fact came to fore during his re-election campaign two years ago.
The state was almost turned into a war zone as the supporters of the governor, with alleged tacit support from him unleashed on the state untold violence. Those that witnessed the pandemonium said what happened has further cast a shadow on the governor as a peaceful politician, at a time that the country needs bridge builders that can bring everybody together.
For instance, his opponents cited the killing in cold blood of Salome Abuh, a PDP stalwart on November 16, 2019 by suspected supporters of Governor Bello while celebrating his victory in the governorship election. Abuh, 60, the PDP women leader of Ochadamu Ward in Ofu Local Government Area, was sleeping in her home when APC thugs set her building ablaze.
Ahead of that election Governor Bello’s supporters had unleashed violence on the state with many of them threatening his opponents with death if they stood on his way from being re-elected into office for a second term. Critics of his government said the political violence was inflamed by the utterances of the state governor and his refusal to tame violence tendency among his supporters.
For instance, a group of ladies in the governor’s campaign were noted for chanting violent songs throughout the period of the campaign. While this was on, the governor or his party did nothing to stop his supporters, thus reinforcing his belief that the election must be won by all means.
Delivered in a local dialect, the highly melodious song of the Kogi ladies had said, inter alia “Who is saying that Yahaya will not be Governor? Dem go hear am ta-ta-ta-ta-ta. What are you saying? What are you talking about? What a tyranny4+4. ‘Tatatatata’, according to those familiar with the songs, is the rhythm of a rifle.
Bello will further reinforce his belief in violence after he re-echoed the chant when he led his party campaign for the reelection of Governor Oluwarotimi Akeredolu of Ondo state a few months after.
“It’s Aketi that we want as governor. What are they saying? Clean dirty away. What are they talking about? if you don’t want him as governor, them go hear am ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta,”the controversial governor chanted with supporters in Akure during campaigns to re-elect Akeredolu.
One prominent politician in the state, Natasha Akpoti is not likely to forget Governor Bello in a hurry. On November 12, barely 48 hours to the governorship election, the SDP governorship candidate was attacked by the governors supporters, allegedly led by a relation of Bello Chief of Staff, at a peace meeting organised for governorship candidates by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC. The irate thugs later went ahead to set the SDP secretariat ablaze.
“The state had not witnessed such violence since its creation many years ago. It’s unimaginable, the rate at which people were killed in the desperate means to win elections. Apart from prominent opposition politicians that were either killed or maimed, the security agencies are yet to give the exact number of innocent people that were caught up in the mayhem that reigned supreme during that infamous election, Saheed Adebambi, a PDP stalwart said.
Meanwhile, these ugly testimonies against Bello’s trajectory as Kogi governor appear not enough to deter his supporters who are asking him to make his bid for the highest office in the country. Some groups in the country have openly declared their support for his presidential ambition in obvious rebuff of those saying he’s not qualified to run for president.
Three weeks ago, a youth group, under the aegis of GYB2PYB gave the Kogi helmsman 14- days ultimatum to declare his interest in the race. While presenting a letter of their request to the governor, the National Coordinator of the group Oladele John Nihi, said their call was necessitated by the “exemplary leadership of the governor in Kogi State.”
