‘Basket-case governors: Yayaha Bello as metaphor

During the past week, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) organised a retreat at the Presidential Villa Abuja, for serving, returning and incoming governors, at which was discussed, some home truths with respect to the execution of their mandate as chief executives of their respective states. In a related development another converge was organised for Permanent […]

During the past week, the Nigerian Governors Forum (NGF) organised a retreat at the Presidential Villa Abuja, for serving, returning and incoming governors, at which was discussed, some home truths with respect to the execution of their mandate as chief executives of their respective states. In a related development another converge was organised for Permanent Secretaries of Cabinet Offices in the federal and state governments. Given that the Cabinet Offices remain the engine rooms for the governors’ offices, the unmistakable connection between the participants in these two fora, raised expectations in the public domain, over their outcomes, especially with respect to the furtherance of good governance in the country. And as this conversation shall unveil, the purpose of the two fora has more to do with the country’s breed of basket-case governors, among whom the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, remains a shining metaphor.

For the purpose of clarification, the term ‘basket case’ originated from the World War 1 and was used to refer to soldiers who lost both arms and legs in war and had to be carried around in a litter or ‘basket’. Metaphorically it is used today to refer to an individual in a state of helplessness similar to the loss of the appendages, with such manifesting in the context of inability to demonstrate passable stability in mental health or aptitude. Some typical behavioral characteristics of basket case personalities include inability to organise self, as well as getting along with others. And as many Nigerians who are familiar with some of the knee-jerk happenings with respect to governance in Kogi State since Yahaya Bello assumed office as governor will testify, hardly can any other governor qualify as the typical metaphor of a basket case governor than him. His case is even more acute as it is self-imposed, given his sole responsibility for much of the fallouts he is now contending with, courtesy of avoidable acts of sheer indiscretion.

According to the sages, some people bring happiness when they come around. Others, when they go. For Yahaya Bello it would seem that not a few people in Kogi State – especially the civil servants who are owed salaries for months on end (many as much as 38 months), have tied their happiness to whenever the man will vacate the office for a better successor, to take over, come November 2, 2019. The sad tale of Bello and the civil servants is not unconnected with his series of screening exercises, which results seem never to be conclusive, leading to delays in resolving the plight of the government’s workforce, who are the main bread winners in the civil service dominated economy of the state. Thanks to him the state’s civil service has been rendered comatose as scores of the workers have moved on to other states, others resorted to farming, while many married ladies engage in prostitution. This is not to forget the daily rising cases of armed robbery, kidnapping and other crimes indulged in by the hordes of jobless youth.

Beyond the impoverishment of the state’s civil servants, the failure of governance under him in the state not only manifested in his constant altercations with vested interests in the state. This situation eventually rubbed off on virtually every aspect of the people’s public life leading to a stiff opposition to his aspiration to run for a second term in office. At the last count, the leadership of the ruling APC in the state is sourcing for his replacement in November when the election of the next governor for the state will hold. Interestingly this twist in his political career is not lost on him as he, acting in the same fashion as the proverbial, repentant prodigal son, has been striving to reverse the dispensation.

For the benefit of the reader this article elects to dwell less on an eclectic run down of the specific areas of Bello’s acts of commission and omission.  Rather the concern here is the more profound complement of missed opportunities for meaningful development of Kogi and other states of the federation, courtesy of the leadership handicaps of ‘basket case’ governors like Bello. Incidentally even without being mentioned, this consideration constituted in a veiled form, the theme of both fora by the NGF and that for the Permanent Secretaries of Cabinet Offices.

Often goaded by the hoopla from the fixation of many Nigerian activists on the federal government, especially in the name of chasing their respective shares of the much touted national cake, they forget to pay attention to the activities of their state governors even when such constitute the real cogs on the wheel of the progress which their respective states should have attained. For in real terms the statutory powers and vicarious responsibilities of the state governors as regional leaders are more profound than the present indulgence by some of them with creating personal empires that are established only to foster their personal interests as well as feather the nest of their fawning acolytes. Governors are vested by the Constitution with a significant swathe of powers that, the only thing they cannot do literally is to turn a man into a woman, and vice versa.

It is therefore for good measure that one of the speakers at the NGF retreat – Mrs Ibukun Awosika, Chairman of First Bank Plc, deployed her address to take her audience to the brass tacks by reminding them that their success in office shall not be measured by the loot amassed during their tenure, but the impact they make on the lives of their constituents. Deservedly, the audience gave her a standing ovation at the end of her speech, even as questions are raging over how much of the wisdom in her homily will be brought to bear on their actions, when these men of power settle down for business as ultimate potentates of their states (sorry, empires).

Coming back to our friend Bello, enough can never be mentioned on the historical injury he – through self-imposed basket-case disposition has caused – not only the good people of Kogi State but Nigeria as a whole. It is easily forgotten that Kogi State with Itakpe and Ajaokuta, hosts one of the country’s most strategic natural resources – iron and steel endowment, (second only to petroleum), and the interminably awaited foundation for the country’s sustainable industrialisation. All over the world locations where iron and steel processing thrive, remain havens of humongous prosperity. But not in Kogi State, simply because the vision and commitment of the political leadership remain averse to such a pursuit.

Granted that Bello has a long array of predecessors who also did little or nothing to change the picture of the state’s endowment, his predecessors were however tactful enough not to stir up any historical animosity with critical pressure groups like labour, which has a deep memory and capacity to impact a politician positively or otherwise. Was in not Mark Anthony who in Shakespeare’s play – Julius Ceaser, noted that “the evil that men do lives after them. The good is interred with their bones”.

In any case, even without the benefit of the now uncertain second term in office, Yahaya Bello has the liberty of the remnant of his present term to clean up his act in Kogi State, and perhaps…