By Deborah Alabi
Each time I see tv reports, on-line videos and snippets from the actions, activities and pronouncements of Yahaya Adoza Bello, the governor of Kogi State, I cannot however draw comparisons between him and Mohamed Abdulsalam Onuka. Not several keep in mind the latter, however he was a colonel within the Nigerian Army, Who was deployed to function military administrator of Edo State, throughout the administration of info Sani Abacha.
In a state full with best military talent across the services at the time, Abacha favoured the young Onuka at the time and created him chief govt of 1 of Nigeria's most politically refined states. simply just in case you have got forgotten, Edo State is that the home of Brig-Gen Samuel Osaigbovo, WHO as governor of the previous western State, was simply one in all the best success stories of the Yakubu Gowon dispensation. Edo State is additionally the birthplace of Admirals statesman Aikhomu and microphone Okhai Akhigbe, WHO served at numerous times as Nigeria's variety 2 voters, within the official designation of Chief of staff, CGS.
Onuka was noted for intemperate language, abrasive mien and unchecked vanity of power. He was short, brash and impulsive. He traversed the expanse of Edo State, together with his trademark cane, barking orders, spewing threats, sacking and dismissing employees in tow. He appeared passionate to impress his masters in Nigerian capital, WHO were even additional discerning and refined than he was, because the Abacha gang strove to permit itself within the immediate post 'June 12' era.
I cannot forget one in all Onuka's televised appearances on Nigerian tv Authority, NTA Network news, within the course of his visit to 1 of the numerous state-owned parastatals, someday in 1994. I recall i used to be visiting an exponent in his Oregun, port accommodation that day and just like the newsmen we have a tendency to ar, we have a tendency to tuned to the news telecast to catch up with the day's events. And there was the voice of Onuka belching out of 1 of the news reports, his eyes blazing just like the chamber of the bronze casters on Igun Street, African nation City: 'This is that the last time i would like to envision things this fashion. following time I even have cause (to) come here, you may see the redness of my eyes.' Then he stormed out, military escorts and security personnel toadyish over themselves to clear the approach for him...
I don't grasp if Abacha watched that Aminian dramatization by Onuka. i would not grasp if it absolutely was the metric system to Abacha, Lt. info Oladipo Diya WHO did. higher still, i can not recall if it absolutely was the revered royalty in African nation, the Omo N'Oba N'Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, N'Ogidigan, Oba Erediauwa II himself WHO place a decision through to Aso Rock, Abuja, seeking AN finish to the continuing repression and practice of his subjects by Onuka. What i do know evidently is that a couple of days at that time inglorious outing on national tv by Onuka, his tour of duty as military administrator of Edo State, came to AN unceremonious denouement.
Appointed as chief govt of the state on December nine, 1993, Onuka got the boot on Sept fourteen, 1994, once barely 9 months in workplace. He was promptly replaced by a additional mature, additional attractive, less creaky and disputable Bassey Asuquo, a military commissioned military officer. And trust the military with its punitive , if not vindictive reward for misdeamenour, Onuka was flung, with immediate impact, to the battlefields of Republic of Sierra Leone on a peacekeeping in an exceedingly nondescript capability. which marked the start of the tip of AN otherwise promising career, an equivalent pedestal on that the Hamid Alis, the Jafaar Isas, the Olagunsoye Oyinlolas and therefore the Buba Marwas, among others, rode to subsisting national acclaim and connectedness.
I have been checking Wikipedia recently and it tells Maine Yahaya Adoza Bello of Kogi State and Mohamed Abdulsalam Onuka, ar so 1st cousins! perhaps herein lies the uncanny congruences and affinities in their destinies, persona, official carriage and body manner.
Yahaya Bello loves the military cane. it's a vicinity of his customary sartorial make-up. the sole times I even have not seen his walking continue him, ar in those short video clips of his boxing trainings wherever the gloves he wears, stop him from adorning the stick. From the chronicle of him within the public area, he was likely still in middle school once his older relation was military administrator and strutted concerning therewith trademark stick. And he fair-haired it.
Very much like Onuka, Bello was awarded the post of Kogi State on a platter of Pt. Here could be a man WHO did not campaign to be nonappointive governor, whose name wasn't on the ballot paper, WHO did not contest to be governor, however WHO was woken up by a telephony and bestowed the position as a fait accompli! affirmative, Abubakar Audu, a cheat on governor of the state and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was coasting home to ending in this Gregorian calendar month 2015 politician election, once the sudden happened and he died simply before the conclusion of the election. Against all electoral and political permutations, a wierd legalistic invention to the impact that the competitor within the election that made Audu as candidate, become beneficiary of the votes solid for Audu, and by extension, 'duly elected' governor of Kogi State! And so entered Yahaya Bello. Bello, before then was completely unknown in Kogi State.
Yes, he oppose the APC post primaries within the state in 2015, however he walked away as presently as he lost. there's no record of him attendant the campaign train of the APC within the build up to it election, as a result of he was sore and bitter from his foretold loss at the primaries, and he opted to abstain from the method.
Onuka, his cousin, was furthermore AN unknown amount within the Nigerian Army, in all probability serving as commissioned officer or Battalion Commander in Bama or Bakassi, retiring to a bottle or 2 of kunu or Trophy beer at the shut of labor on a daily basis, before fate catapulted him to the leadership of Edo State.
And what has Yahaya Bello through with this fairy tale chance since his inauguration as governor of Kogi State in January 2016? He has striven assiduously, committedly and systematically to form the state the headquarters of national scorn and public opprobrium all told ways in which potential. Kogi State is definitely the capital of mass suffering, general misery, palpitant insecurity, immeasurable heartsickness and incapacitating despair across the country.
Workers' salaries and emoluments ar unpaid. Labour unions are unanimous and consistent in oral communication that the earnings backlog is in hovering round the 40-month mark. The officialdom has been phenomenally degraded and debased such permanent secretaries at the uppermost echelon of the forms commute to figure on motorbikes! Pensioners WHO gave their active and productive years within the service of state and country ar underprivileged their gratuities and entitlements.
The economy of the state, mostly high-powered by the officialdom, is nearly unfit. Sales are low, businesses folding up. several businessmen have so bifold up and left the state. Hunger walks on cards within the state, poorness has become some way of life. Kogi State nowadays holds the notorious national honour for the state with the very best rates of depression, stroke and suicides.
Amidst such despair and despair, 'GYB Boys' because the lot of similar characters around Yahaya Bello whole themselves, board such grandeur and sumptuousness, with contrasts therefore disturbingly sharply with the quag around and concerning them. They ride the choicest, cars adorned with ladies procured from tertiary establishments within the state, move concerning with bands of police escorts and live giant like tomorrow can ne'er come back. They nearly speak down the folks by their visual communication, like saying: 'This is our time, to hell with you.' Kleptocracy is at its despicable best, when a recent intelligence report indicated that a shot to convert the add of N7 Billion for a serving, high government official in Kogi State, to USD, was discovered, blocked and according to the President.
Gangsterism, crime ANd lawlessness became vital aspects of governance and wisdom by a governor therefore power-drunk he is ever taking an aim at critics, enemies and antagonists, real or fanciful. The workplace of the Deputy Governor has been nearly abrogated and therefore the powers transferred to the Chief of employees. when the National Judicial Council, NJC, found no benefit any within the governor's petition seeking his outline removal, Bello has since instigated the pathologically genuflecting state assembly to orchestrate the ouster of the Chief choose. Such is that the reign of terror foisted on Kogi State by Yahaya Bello.
You descend into the lounge of your edifice in Lokoja, and you're greeted by gruff-looking, gun-wielding fellows in strange uniforms pacing concerning. they're operatives of the non-public army of the Bello government, christened the Kogi State unpaid worker Services, whose terribly activities as they patrol in unmarked vehicles could be a revenant supply of apprehensiveness for the folks.
The recent general elections witnessed a replacement high in provocative, state-sponsored unlawfulness and brigandage, wherever state appointees, notably commissioners, advisers and native government directors in person bore arms and targeted pathetic voters, as they fell over themselves making an attempt to impress the gangster within the hall of infamy. this is often the abyys into that Yahaya Bello has dragged Kogi State, within the last forty months.
Traditional rulers WHO were once the conscience of the folks, WHO spoke truth to power within the service of their subjects, became AN integral a part of the info machinery of the administration. apart from the revered Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Abdul Rahman ruckus patriarch (the predominate ruler of Bello's home quality by the way), WHO has been generally blunt and stalwart in telling the governor some stinging truths, the others are groveling and caterwauling before him, for concern of being throw out or not being bestowed their employees of workplace, for people who haven't been put in.
Those people WHO believe the energy, the quality, the resourcefulness and therefore the creativeness that the youth will bring back any sphere of human endeavour and have continually canvssed youth inclusiveness, furthermore as members of the younger generation themselves, should be totally unsuccessful and embarrassed by the below par outing of Yahaya Bello in Kogi State. Yet, our democracy has thrown up genuinely young bright lights across the political spectrum WHO left positive imprints on the sands of your time. Donald Duke was thirty seven once he was elevated governor of Cross stream State in 1999. His legacies still echo around and concerning the state. Nnamani Chimaroke became governor of Enugu State at thirty-nine, Bukola Saraki became chief govt of Kwara State at forty one, we are able to endure and on with examples.
My mind simply keeps going back to however folks stroll into irredeemable oblivion, once handcrafting the direction of providential opportunities, substantially like Yahaya Bello.
There ar loud insinuations that he might not get the post price tag of the APC at the August 2019 primaries. If the party needs to start the method of salvaging no matter is left of its battered name in Kogi State, that will be strategically helpful. Yahaya Bello could be a grievously unsellable whole.
If the courts rule that his sack of Haddy Ametuo-led APC govt last year and his singlehanded installation of a replacement govt is null, void and of no impact like we've witnessed in Rivers, Delta and Zamfara states, that information of his conquest within the last elections, culminating in 2 legislator positions, seven House of Representatives seats and twenty five State House of Assembly offices, becomes ash mud.
If perchance he survives these 2 landmines and confronts the trend of the folks at the polls on weekday Gregorian calendar month sixteen, 2019, not even the concern of guns, bullets and machetes can break the resolve of country he has therefore Pharaonically suppressed.
And Yahaya Bello, head bowed, shoulder dropping, takes the long walk to hitch his ageing relative and mentor, Mohammed Abdulsalam Onuka, on the vacant, lonely route to Agassa.
Each time I see tv reports, on-line videos and snippets from the actions, activities and pronouncements of Yahaya Adoza Bello, the governor of Kogi State, I cannot however draw comparisons between him and Mohamed Abdulsalam Onuka. Not several keep in mind the latter, however he was a colonel within the Nigerian Army, Who was deployed to function military administrator of Edo State, throughout the administration of info Sani Abacha.
In a state full with best military talent across the services at the time, Abacha favoured the young Onuka at the time and created him chief govt of 1 of Nigeria's most politically refined states. simply just in case you have got forgotten, Edo State is that the home of Brig-Gen Samuel Osaigbovo, WHO as governor of the previous western State, was simply one in all the best success stories of the Yakubu Gowon dispensation. Edo State is additionally the birthplace of Admirals statesman Aikhomu and microphone Okhai Akhigbe, WHO served at numerous times as Nigeria's variety 2 voters, within the official designation of Chief of staff, CGS.
Onuka was noted for intemperate language, abrasive mien and unchecked vanity of power. He was short, brash and impulsive. He traversed the expanse of Edo State, together with his trademark cane, barking orders, spewing threats, sacking and dismissing employees in tow. He appeared passionate to impress his masters in Nigerian capital, WHO were even additional discerning and refined than he was, because the Abacha gang strove to permit itself within the immediate post 'June 12' era.
I cannot forget one in all Onuka's televised appearances on Nigerian tv Authority, NTA Network news, within the course of his visit to 1 of the numerous state-owned parastatals, someday in 1994. I recall i used to be visiting an exponent in his Oregun, port accommodation that day and just like the newsmen we have a tendency to ar, we have a tendency to tuned to the news telecast to catch up with the day's events. And there was the voice of Onuka belching out of 1 of the news reports, his eyes blazing just like the chamber of the bronze casters on Igun Street, African nation City: 'This is that the last time i would like to envision things this fashion. following time I even have cause (to) come here, you may see the redness of my eyes.' Then he stormed out, military escorts and security personnel toadyish over themselves to clear the approach for him...
I don't grasp if Abacha watched that Aminian dramatization by Onuka. i would not grasp if it absolutely was the metric system to Abacha, Lt. info Oladipo Diya WHO did. higher still, i can not recall if it absolutely was the revered royalty in African nation, the Omo N'Oba N'Edo, Uku Akpolokpolo, N'Ogidigan, Oba Erediauwa II himself WHO place a decision through to Aso Rock, Abuja, seeking AN finish to the continuing repression and practice of his subjects by Onuka. What i do know evidently is that a couple of days at that time inglorious outing on national tv by Onuka, his tour of duty as military administrator of Edo State, came to AN unceremonious denouement.
Appointed as chief govt of the state on December nine, 1993, Onuka got the boot on Sept fourteen, 1994, once barely 9 months in workplace. He was promptly replaced by a additional mature, additional attractive, less creaky and disputable Bassey Asuquo, a military commissioned military officer. And trust the military with its punitive , if not vindictive reward for misdeamenour, Onuka was flung, with immediate impact, to the battlefields of Republic of Sierra Leone on a peacekeeping in an exceedingly nondescript capability. which marked the start of the tip of AN otherwise promising career, an equivalent pedestal on that the Hamid Alis, the Jafaar Isas, the Olagunsoye Oyinlolas and therefore the Buba Marwas, among others, rode to subsisting national acclaim and connectedness.
I have been checking Wikipedia recently and it tells Maine Yahaya Adoza Bello of Kogi State and Mohamed Abdulsalam Onuka, ar so 1st cousins! perhaps herein lies the uncanny congruences and affinities in their destinies, persona, official carriage and body manner.
Yahaya Bello loves the military cane. it's a vicinity of his customary sartorial make-up. the sole times I even have not seen his walking continue him, ar in those short video clips of his boxing trainings wherever the gloves he wears, stop him from adorning the stick. From the chronicle of him within the public area, he was likely still in middle school once his older relation was military administrator and strutted concerning therewith trademark stick. And he fair-haired it.
Very much like Onuka, Bello was awarded the post of Kogi State on a platter of Pt. Here could be a man WHO did not campaign to be nonappointive governor, whose name wasn't on the ballot paper, WHO did not contest to be governor, however WHO was woken up by a telephony and bestowed the position as a fait accompli! affirmative, Abubakar Audu, a cheat on governor of the state and candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was coasting home to ending in this Gregorian calendar month 2015 politician election, once the sudden happened and he died simply before the conclusion of the election. Against all electoral and political permutations, a wierd legalistic invention to the impact that the competitor within the election that made Audu as candidate, become beneficiary of the votes solid for Audu, and by extension, 'duly elected' governor of Kogi State! And so entered Yahaya Bello. Bello, before then was completely unknown in Kogi State.
Yes, he oppose the APC post primaries within the state in 2015, however he walked away as presently as he lost. there's no record of him attendant the campaign train of the APC within the build up to it election, as a result of he was sore and bitter from his foretold loss at the primaries, and he opted to abstain from the method.
Onuka, his cousin, was furthermore AN unknown amount within the Nigerian Army, in all probability serving as commissioned officer or Battalion Commander in Bama or Bakassi, retiring to a bottle or 2 of kunu or Trophy beer at the shut of labor on a daily basis, before fate catapulted him to the leadership of Edo State.
And what has Yahaya Bello through with this fairy tale chance since his inauguration as governor of Kogi State in January 2016? He has striven assiduously, committedly and systematically to form the state the headquarters of national scorn and public opprobrium all told ways in which potential. Kogi State is definitely the capital of mass suffering, general misery, palpitant insecurity, immeasurable heartsickness and incapacitating despair across the country.
Workers' salaries and emoluments ar unpaid. Labour unions are unanimous and consistent in oral communication that the earnings backlog is in hovering round the 40-month mark. The officialdom has been phenomenally degraded and debased such permanent secretaries at the uppermost echelon of the forms commute to figure on motorbikes! Pensioners WHO gave their active and productive years within the service of state and country ar underprivileged their gratuities and entitlements.
The economy of the state, mostly high-powered by the officialdom, is nearly unfit. Sales are low, businesses folding up. several businessmen have so bifold up and left the state. Hunger walks on cards within the state, poorness has become some way of life. Kogi State nowadays holds the notorious national honour for the state with the very best rates of depression, stroke and suicides.
Amidst such despair and despair, 'GYB Boys' because the lot of similar characters around Yahaya Bello whole themselves, board such grandeur and sumptuousness, with contrasts therefore disturbingly sharply with the quag around and concerning them. They ride the choicest, cars adorned with ladies procured from tertiary establishments within the state, move concerning with bands of police escorts and live giant like tomorrow can ne'er come back. They nearly speak down the folks by their visual communication, like saying: 'This is our time, to hell with you.' Kleptocracy is at its despicable best, when a recent intelligence report indicated that a shot to convert the add of N7 Billion for a serving, high government official in Kogi State, to USD, was discovered, blocked and according to the President.
Gangsterism, crime ANd lawlessness became vital aspects of governance and wisdom by a governor therefore power-drunk he is ever taking an aim at critics, enemies and antagonists, real or fanciful. The workplace of the Deputy Governor has been nearly abrogated and therefore the powers transferred to the Chief of employees. when the National Judicial Council, NJC, found no benefit any within the governor's petition seeking his outline removal, Bello has since instigated the pathologically genuflecting state assembly to orchestrate the ouster of the Chief choose. Such is that the reign of terror foisted on Kogi State by Yahaya Bello.
You descend into the lounge of your edifice in Lokoja, and you're greeted by gruff-looking, gun-wielding fellows in strange uniforms pacing concerning. they're operatives of the non-public army of the Bello government, christened the Kogi State unpaid worker Services, whose terribly activities as they patrol in unmarked vehicles could be a revenant supply of apprehensiveness for the folks.
The recent general elections witnessed a replacement high in provocative, state-sponsored unlawfulness and brigandage, wherever state appointees, notably commissioners, advisers and native government directors in person bore arms and targeted pathetic voters, as they fell over themselves making an attempt to impress the gangster within the hall of infamy. this is often the abyys into that Yahaya Bello has dragged Kogi State, within the last forty months.
Traditional rulers WHO were once the conscience of the folks, WHO spoke truth to power within the service of their subjects, became AN integral a part of the info machinery of the administration. apart from the revered Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, Alhaji Abdul Rahman ruckus patriarch (the predominate ruler of Bello's home quality by the way), WHO has been generally blunt and stalwart in telling the governor some stinging truths, the others are groveling and caterwauling before him, for concern of being throw out or not being bestowed their employees of workplace, for people who haven't been put in.
Those people WHO believe the energy, the quality, the resourcefulness and therefore the creativeness that the youth will bring back any sphere of human endeavour and have continually canvssed youth inclusiveness, furthermore as members of the younger generation themselves, should be totally unsuccessful and embarrassed by the below par outing of Yahaya Bello in Kogi State. Yet, our democracy has thrown up genuinely young bright lights across the political spectrum WHO left positive imprints on the sands of your time. Donald Duke was thirty seven once he was elevated governor of Cross stream State in 1999. His legacies still echo around and concerning the state. Nnamani Chimaroke became governor of Enugu State at thirty-nine, Bukola Saraki became chief govt of Kwara State at forty one, we are able to endure and on with examples.
My mind simply keeps going back to however folks stroll into irredeemable oblivion, once handcrafting the direction of providential opportunities, substantially like Yahaya Bello.
There ar loud insinuations that he might not get the post price tag of the APC at the August 2019 primaries. If the party needs to start the method of salvaging no matter is left of its battered name in Kogi State, that will be strategically helpful. Yahaya Bello could be a grievously unsellable whole.
If the courts rule that his sack of Haddy Ametuo-led APC govt last year and his singlehanded installation of a replacement govt is null, void and of no impact like we've witnessed in Rivers, Delta and Zamfara states, that information of his conquest within the last elections, culminating in 2 legislator positions, seven House of Representatives seats and twenty five State House of Assembly offices, becomes ash mud.
If perchance he survives these 2 landmines and confronts the trend of the folks at the polls on weekday Gregorian calendar month sixteen, 2019, not even the concern of guns, bullets and machetes can break the resolve of country he has therefore Pharaonically suppressed.
And Yahaya Bello, head bowed, shoulder dropping, takes the long walk to hitch his ageing relative and mentor, Mohammed Abdulsalam Onuka, on the vacant, lonely route to Agassa.
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