Yahaya Bello – Not entirely good, not entirely bad By y Isa Eneye Mubarak

After all is said and done, the biggest political blunder we the people of Kogi can possibly do is voting Governor Yahaya Bello (GYB) out in 2019. Our Pioneers were not so intelligent, the first political blunder was during the creation of Kogi, and when the creation of LGs came. They committed a blunder we’re suffering from today, let’s not repeat another blunder because we are simply angry. I’m not his fan, and I don’t agree with some of his methods of getting things done, but I like to look at things from different perspectives not by always condemning.


The great Genghis Khan said, “Nothing is ever good until it is finished”, and “no one is entirely bad or entirely good”. I can understand the bitterness but let it not cloud our better judgment. We keep comparing 21 years of misrule to barely 1 yr+ of GYB.

He’s done so many errors and all, but looking at the bright side of things and from a critical and logical perspective, we would be better off as a people if he wins in 2019. Not like the previous governments did any much better than him right?

Previous governments in this state marginalised Kogi Central and Kogi West for so damn long, appointments were lopsided, Kogi East dominated the civil service (had the most ghost workers), even Kogi West were more of second class citizens, while Central are the third class. Workers were owed salary alternatively, sometimes only paid 10% of their salary monthly, or didn’t Kogi State University usually go on three months strike every single year prior to his coming? But we seem to overstate GYB’s flaws, I’m not justifying it either, but we seem to forget too easily. And this is just a mild reminder that the previous government was in no way better.

During Wada’s tenure, nothing was done in Ebira land of any SIGNIFICANCE, same with the people before him. They did all they could to suppress us (Kogi Central and Kogi West) politically and in everything. Encouraged thuggery in our lands, we killed each other for no good reason, they gave us the tools we needed to destroy ourselves. And did NOTHING to end the fight. Now, GYB is totally intolerant of any security lapses, he will bring security agencies to ‘quench’ every little thing, and we are living peacefully.

Was it not in Kogi that political leaders agreed ‘power rotation’ to Okun and Ebiras but failed to yield for 16 years, or where almost all the Tertiary Institutions are in one particular part of the state, because there’s no space in other parts right? Or take a good look at Kogi Civil service, where one group grossly dominated with ghost workers. But we can all deceive ourselves all we want that the previous governments were much better. How convenient it is to use “Tribalism” only when it suits our narrative.

GYB might have messed up with the screening, which is the root of all the problems in his administration but he’s setting things right this time around, above all treating the three senatorial districts equally, he’s unbiased, not tribalistic, his appointments reached all sections, Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja is Igala (no Ebira man has held that position, to my recollection). Road construction everywhere, we can all agree he’s not partial, yeah? To me, this is the kind of leadership we should crave, one devoid of lopsidedness, tribal sentiments, insincerity, the screening was a necessary evil, as Kogi Civil service was immensely infested with irregularities. However, workers shouldn’t have been the ones to bear the brunt of the screening by not being paid for such a long time.

In reality, if he does want to come back for a 2nd term, it is imperative he does right by the workers. Kogi is a civil service state, offending the workers is like offending the whole populace, and that’s not a good thing. Workers welfare should’ve been his utmost priority regardless of whatever reforms he’s doing. It is in his best interest to apologise, please, and pay the workers promptly with no delays.
So basically, we can dislke him all we want, but in 2019, before we cast our votes, we should ponder on the bigger picture of what he has done/he’s doing, because removing him, will be our BIGGEST mistake. We need him to rectify the gross injustice done to the good people of Kogi State.