By: Hon. Ahmed Attah / Monday 17th March, 2021
Senator Dino Melaye on Monday March 1st, 2021 shared five (5) videos stating that His Excelleny Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been siphoning state funds and has proceeded to EFCC, ICPC and other antigraft agencies in the country with a petition against Governor Bello.
I wouldn’t have engaged such a shit stain on the underpants of society who in a country where anyone can be anything yet choses to be mediocre. But I am compelled to correct his tirade that was designed to misinform the good people of Nigeria and Kogi State against a governor that is a democratic humanist, an epitome of power shift and breaker of religious and ethnic jingoism.
To begin with, Dino’s intemperate criticism of an administration that has been adjudged transparent, goal-oriented and committed to the welfare of the downtrodden, shows a clear lack of capacity to appreciate the hallmarks of good governance.
Governor Yahaya Bello gets money besides the federal allocation from the Tax Reforms of the Administration (and no money laundry as claimed) which has impacted positively on the finances of the state. It will be right to say that without the reforms, it would have been impossible to survive the current financial depression occasioned by the reckless borrowing and stealing of the past. On the assumption of office, the Governor granted the Board of Internal Revenue autonomy. It became the Kogi State Internal Revenue Service. The government built and delivered, a gigantic Revenue House, which has added to the aesthetic beauty of the capital city. Competent hands were employed and revenue administration became digitalized. What we have today is a product of having a youthful and digital Governor at the helms of affairs who is digitally mobile and intellectually poised to move the state forward. Today, revenue has moved from the paltry N350 million naira that we inherited from the last administration to nothing less than N1.3 Billion monthly which if put together in three years is 750% more than the sum Dino’s claimed was laundered.
Since Dino did not back his allegations with facts and evidence, I will not waste time on an unfounded allegation and go ahead to unmask most of his earlier posts:
On 23rd of October, 2016, he released a video that told the world that Igalas of Kogi east were not recognized in the appointment of Governor Yahaya Bello but got a whooping response by the same Igala that it was the first time in the history of party politics in Nigeria that Governor Yahaya Bello spread appointments across the senatorial district, all nominated by their respective local government areas and was screened by the State House of Assembly. So one would wonder what he meant by the expression ‘leaving the legislature behind and planning to buy them at the appropriate time’ in his tirade. It is either his memory has been held hostage by senile forces or he derives pleasure in dispensing falsehood.
His philosophy of good governance must have been formed in the era when public good was subordinated to the interests of a few individuals that converged to exploit the majority of Kogi people and shared our common patrimony that ought to have been used to build enduring infra and superstructures for robust socio-economic growth and development.
It is ridiculous to even contemplate that the legislature as presently constituted in Kogi State can be bought by anyone. Against all odds, including the deep pockets of the Peoples Democratic (PDP), members of the APC dislodged PDP from Kogi State, not for bread or butter, but because we were committed to the redemption of Kogi people from a cabal that foisted poverty on our people due to their excellent skills for grand looting. Today, all the organs of the All Progressives Congress-led administration in the state are working together daily, to deliver the real dividends of democracy to Kogi People.
When Senator Dino claimed in one of his video of 10th January, 2017 scoring Bello administration abysmally low, we are not unmindful of the fact that all the feats recorded in its favour are easily achievable by any of the 21 local government councils in Kogi State, it is unclear what achievements he was referring to.
The ‘Wake and See’ sobriquet of Alhaji Yahaya Bello was coined by the Kogi people who still marvel at the pace at which road and other developmental projects are being delivered across the State. Could the local council have embarked on Procurement of 375 Fergus Tractors with complete implements, three quantities each for Mini Harvesters, Planters, Broom Sprayers, Rice Reapers and other similar equipment to enhance agricultural activities and boost production, or the procurement of modern technology in road construction which were imported to raise the capacity of KOGROMA to deliver quality roads at a lower cost to the state that has paid off as we now have better roads constructed or rehabilitated by the Agency, Renovation of the State House of Assembly Complex, Lokoja that can compete favourably with others around the country, construction of the Kogi State Ministry of Justice Office Complex, Lokoja, construction of the Kogi Revenue House, construction of the SDG House, to mention but few…
Before the gubernatorial election in November 2019, Senator Dino reeled out three videos that took all the platforms to task spreading rumors that Yahaya Bello should not be voted for the second tenure because according to him, workers were sacked. Even in his campaign against the governor, every dick, tom and harry knows that Dino’s reasoning was pure treachery to say the least, which must not stand, amongst right thinking men and women.
The Civil Service Reforms was a monster that many administrations before the incumbent avoided as a result of the fear of losing elections. Powerful Kogites who have so enriched themselves at the expense of the people of the state were involved in loading the payrolls of government with thousands of fictitious names to defraud the state. Governor Yahaya Bello refused to be cowed. He dared the cabal and stopped the stealing through a rigorous and thorough verification exercise. Mind-boggling revelations were left at the wake of the exercise and today, the government didn’t only succeed in removing ghost names from the service but have also digitalized the operations of the service as well as re-engineer the work psychology of the civil servants. A massive achievement that has set the state on the path of progress.
Late last year, Dino went viral on another video to preach that Governor Bello has more hate for the west but failed to tell the truth that the present administration in the state has been able to promote peace and unity through detribalized leadership. That there are now peace and harmony. He went further to claimed that the Government House has become a trade post for Bello’s friends from Abuja and elsewhere. Dino surely hates Kogi State and her people so much, that he wishes we do not make progress through collaborations and partnerships with the private sector, bilateral and multilateral institutions that are driving economic growth in other climes.
Yahaya Bello’s rising profiles locally and internationally was earned through hard work and dedication to duty as well as their respect for constituted authority.
That they are astute managers of men and material resources has been acknowledged even by members of the opposition who have in many fora, owned up to the fact that only efficient manager like Yahaya Bello have steered the state safely through the turbulent condition created by the terrible recession from which the country is now emerging and still embark on delivering ambitious developmental projects like they have done in the past years.
We are however not entirely at sea as to what would have driven Senator Dino to such desperate measures of dispensing outright falsehood just to get the attention of the government. He may, like some other indolent actors in the polity, have been hugely disappointed by Yahaya Bello who as a matter of policy does not distribute Kogi people’s collective patrimony to the kinds of ‘politicians’ who Dino suggested in his piece to have been shut out of Government House.
For the umpteenth time, we wish to remind Senator Dino that being a politician does not render anyone incapacitated and unable to earn an honest living through hard work.
If Senator Dino will only acknowledge Yahaya Bello’s sterling performances when he is paid money that he has not worked for, then this administration is willing to make do with the approval of the over three million other Kogi people who toil daily for their livelihoods.
For the records, Governor Bello and his in few years, have done what several governors could not do in eight years. He has delivered several road projects across the state, Many other road projects too numerous to mention that are in advanced stages of completion. Education is at the top of the Thematic Areas of the New Direction Agenda: The administration has embarked on the following projects in the educational sector:
There is ongoing construction of GYB Model Primary Schools across the 239 Wards of the state, remodelling of our legacy schools across the state to meet international standards, construction of 50-bed capacity hostel at Government Girls Secondary School, Obangede, construction of Library Extension at Kogi State College of Education (Technical), Kabba, completion of the hostel project at Government Science Secondary School, Icheke in Omala Local Government Area. Also, is the restructuring of the Ministry of Education and its agencies to guarantee a good education for the people of Kogi State, several ongoing projects at the Kogi State University, Anyigba and the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja Employment and Empowerment
Apart from the employment in Forestry and Vigilante service, the government has also employed health officers, law officers and other categories of the workforce. The State Government has also set up a fund through which it has been paying tuition fees for indigent students across the state, thousands of youth and women were trained and empowered through the Office of the Special Advisers to the Governor on SDG and Job Creation. The State Government has also sponsored the management of critical health conditions both at home and abroad. The fund has helped save many lives.
The Kogi Development and Property Authority has commenced the implementation of reforms that will restore sanity in the state-owned housing estates while several public schools are in the process of being reconstructed in the coming months. The design of the 20 new mini stadia in Kogi State has been done and on completion, will serve as platforms for discovering and developing sporting talent across the state.
Space will constrain me to mention several other developmental efforts for which Yahaya Bello is now fondly called the “Wake and See Government” by his people.
Sign:
HON. AHMED ATTAH
Special Adviser to Governor Yahaya Bello on Special Duties, APC Zonal Chairman Kogi East & National Chairman, Nigeria Youth Initiative for Good Governance & Rule of Law.
0806 856 7120