Uzo Nwogu
An Abuja-based legal practitioner, Mr. Pelumi Olajengbesi, has differed with the Senator representing Kogi West Senatorial District, Senator Smart Adeyemi, and some other people over the peformance and 2023 presidential ambition of the Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Adoza Bello.
Olajengbesi, the Managing Partner at Law Corridor, in a statement on Monday accused the 46-year-old Bello of poor performance as the governor of Kogi State, adding that his presidential ambition was a disservice to the youths.
The statement was titled, “Yahaya Bello and the embarrassment of youths in governance.”
He said, “When only a few years ago Nigerian youths applauded President Buhari’s assent into law the Not Too Young to Run Bill, not many could have predicted that the arguments for the involvement of the comparatively young in government would be defeated, flawed if you prefer, by one of the president’s biggest supporter and party colleague in the person of the pugilistic Governor of Kogi State, Mr. Yahaya Bello.
“The ululations that attended what was lauded as a landmark shift in our political experiment that sought to reflect the changing demographics of Africa’s most populous nation and help usher in younger leaders have long since dwindled to an embarrassing murmur of sheer disbelief in the capacity for deceit, corruption, and ineptitude that has plagued the Kogi state government and people under the embarrassing rule of Governor Yahaya Bello- Nigeria’s youngest serving governor by age.
“Recent confirmation by the EFCC of Governor Yahaya Bello’s attempt to hoard state relief funds for personal gains is a rare revelation into the elevation of corruption as a strategy for deliberate misgovernance and avarice that has stunted the development of the state and made rubbish of the vigorous arguments for the inclusivity of youths and the comparatively young in government. Lacking, therefore, the mettle of integrity necessary to offer his resignation over the scandal that now engulfs his government, Mr. Yahaya Bello must thus be shown the exit door through legislative impeachment.
“This is a sacred duty and intervention that Kogi state legislators owe their people as a redemptive first-step in rescuing the coffers of the people from the avarice of a young governor’. Failure to act with dispatch and alacrity in this vein would amount to a legislative seal of approval over the attempted theft and aborted misappropriation of the commonwealth of the people of Kogi State.”
He added, “Governor Yahaya Bello represents a poor example of a political Nigerian youth, and is one whose leadership is a crying shame to the progenitors of the Not Too Young to Run or Rule campaign that favourably disposed Nigerians to the idea of having much younger persons in positions of political authority in the country. He has squandered the goodwill and faith of many and trampled on the aspirations of many more by his unremarkable cupidity.
“Even so, the uncomfortable truth which Governor Yahaya Bello’s rapacity has brought to the fore is that the quality of a leader’s character matters just as much if not more than their age. The Not Too Young to Run bill ‘merely emphasizes the dysfunctional structures of the nation’s democratic amalgam and the lopsided economic disparities between the mighty old ruling class and the deliberately pauperised youths by the same obstructing criminal political elites. It does not confer any measure of competence in an aspiring youth in just about the same vein that grey hairs do not translate to outright proficiency in political leadership.
“In aiming for clarity and sanity in our polity and politics, the likes of Governor Yahaya Bello must not be allowed to thrive. One can vouchsafe that his attempt to hide away over N19Billion of taxpayers’ money was part of the building process of a war chest for his rather laughable presidential ambition. Again, to have to confront in a relatively young leader such an incident of money politics amidst queries of the electoral ethos of elected leaders is to emphasize that besides spirit and vigour, young age alone is not prescient of leadership competence. Governor Yahaya Bello who now represents all that must be abhorred and eschewed in our politics must thus be made an example of- impeached and prosecuted, to set the tone for the future.”
Senator Adeyemi had reportedly said Governor Bello had done superlatively in transforming Kogi State in the last six years such that every right-thinking Kogites needs to support Bello become Nigeria’s president in 2023.
He went further to state that any appointee or member of the ruling All Progressives Congress in the state who is working clandestinely to succeed Governor Bello now without first working assiduously for the success of Bello’s presidential ambition was doing a great disservice to the governor in particular and the state in general.
He was reported to have said such in an interview with journalists during the celebration of Iyara cultural day festival.
Adeyemi said, “To me, I see it as wasted energy and a great disservice for anybody in this government to be working behind the scenes to succeed our great leader, every other ambition now must be subsumed under his mission and vision to rule and transform Nigeria
“As for me, I have already started consultations with eminent Nigerians on the need to give our energetic governor the needed support to clinch the APC ticket. I have had one-on-one discussion with over 16 governors, and over sixty percent of members of the National Assembly, and many more prominent Nigerians, yet the real campaign has not even started.
“Yes I believe power shift is desirable in the state but not expedient for t now because governor Yahaya Bello has demonstrated enough sincerity and fear of God in his dealings with every segment of the state
“He said it often and often and he still repeated same today (Saturday) that he believes in fairness, equity and justice to every senatorial district and indeed every segment of the state, he is not a man (like past governors in the state )who said one thing and did the other. He is too honourable to fail his words
“Look let me tell you the reasons I am supporting governor Bello for president, apart from supporting my return to the senate, Governor Yahaya Bello is a highly focused and detribalized Nigerian who does not deal with you on the basis of your religion or where you come from
“He is energetic, very intelligent and Imbued with a great deal of native intelligence and a good manager of men and resources who has distinguished himself as the best governor that Kogi State has ever produced
“And if such a young man can do so much in Kogi State, I believe if given the chance, he can repeat the feat in Nigeria because right now nobody is talking about marginalization again, he has United all the ethnic groups and has made the state one of the most secured
“Governor Yahaya Bello has not derailed at any point in time in his developmental agenda and I will not be a party to those who want us to criticize him for doing the right thing, he needs our support now more than ever before.”
Also President, Niger Delta Peace Movement, (NDPM), Comrade Douye Alhaji Kebbi, was reported to have said Governor Bello has ensured delivery of dividends of democracy and transformed Kogi State, adding that the governor deserves to succeed in his ambition.
The Delta State-born Ijaw man added that Bello’s administration has achieved infrastructural, economic, social, and agricultural development in Kogi State.
He said, “NDPM is a body of political intellectuals, including men, women, and vibrant youths in the Niger Delta, who have resolved to give the needed support for a competent, reliable, trustworthy, visionary, and vibrant leader that can lead the nation to greater heights. After careful assessments of the development efforts of this young, vibrant, and development-oriented governor of Kogi State, His Excellency Yayaya Bello, we resolved in our various general meetings that we must lead other Nigerians in the call on Gov Bello to come out and contest for the office of the president in 2023.
“Our careful look at the infrastructural, economic, social, and agricultural development in Kogi State, which is making the news, has given us the courage and confidence to lead in this all-important and beneficial task of urging this young man to come out and contest.”
Bello reported said many Nigerians have continued to call on him to run for the Presidency and that he would not betray them or breach the trust they reposed in him.
He stated that the grassroots have assisted him in curbing insecurity and achieving the perceived present level of development in Kogi State.