It was a good friend who was monitoring the continued #EndBadGovernance protest that first referred to as my consideration to the scenario in Kogi State.
He mentioned he was stunned that regardless of the seeming unstable state of Kogi, and the clandestine plot of the opposition components within the State to pitch its instant previous Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello in opposition to President Bola Tinubu, residents of the State shunned the protest fully.
“I used to be anticipating to get reviews of protest, assaults on public establishments by hoodlums and capturing on protesters by safety brokers, however what I noticed about Kogi State was residents happening with their companies.
“Somebody will need to have pulled some strings,” my good friend mentioned, whereas expressing shock.
I advised my good friend that his final assertion was proper. Somebody certainly pulled some strings, similar method he has been pulling it since 2016. That somebody is Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, the one who as governor, restored safety in Kogi State.
Regardless of his ordeals within the palms of the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC), since he left workplace as governor of Kogi State, he has remained agency in his conviction that President Bola Tinubu’s Presidency should be supported by all well-meaning Nigerians and nothing should be finished to derail the President.
Yahaya Bello subsequently noticed the decision for protest by some teams as an agenda that should not be allowed to fly in Kogi State. He gave his full help to the State Governor, Alhaji Usman Ododo and rallied all the required stakeholders, particularly the youths behind him to make sure that not a single soul joined the protest within the State.
To him, “out and in of presidency, we are able to at all times obtain our needs in Kogi State as a result of we carried the individuals alongside they usually personal the federal government once we have been there and people who succeeded us are doing the identical.”
Most significantly, taking into account the tacit help for the protest by the 2023 governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Celebration (SDP) in Kogi State, Murtala Ajaka, who slightly than communicate overtly in opposition to it, urged President Tinubu to reshuffle his cupboard in order to point out to the protest organizers that he was listening to them.
To Ajaka, a significant shakeup within the presidential cupboard would assuage frayed nerves and restore the arrogance of Nigerians, particularly the organisers of the nationwide protest in President Tinubu.
He went additional to inform the President to warning or droop his Particular Adviser on Data and Technique, Bayo Onanuga, accusing him of utilizing his utterances on social media to create enemies for the president than associates.
Ajaka mentioned; “As a Particular Adviser, Onanuga needs to be working in direction of fostering unity, and guaranteeing that the federal government’s insurance policies are communicated successfully to the Nigerian individuals.
“Nonetheless, the actions and phrases of Onanuga appear to be doing fairly the alternative. His rhetoric has been divisive and inflammatory, creating adversaries for the president and his administration throughout the nation.”
Additionally, three days in the past, Ajaka raised a false alarm, saying that Yahaya Bello and Governor Ododo had perfected plans to decorate individuals in SDP uniforms to protest in Kogi State. This was greater than 10 days after the SDP Nationwide Chairman, Shehu Gabam, had come out publicly to say the occasion had endorsed the protest.
Talking with newsmen in Abuja on Wednesday, July 17, Gabam disclosed that his occasion (SDP) had endorsed the protest to point out solidarity with Nigerians.
Contemplating the utterances and antics of Ajaka, a Governorship candidate of the SDP, who goes about presenting himself as favorite of the President to the individuals of Kogi State, it was sufficient for Yahaya Bello to see clearly the plot to make use of Kogi State as a launchpad for the protest within the North-Central.
That is extra in order that Kogi State serves as gateway to the Federal Capital Territory, and the one State in Nigeria that borders ten different States.
It then turned mandatory for Yahaya Bello to carry his political wit to bear and that the previous governor did by giving Governor Ododo the wanted help to make sure that nothing was finished to disrupt the every day actions of the individuals of the State.
At the moment, his effort is being praised, even on flagship packages of Nationwide Tv like Tv Continental’s Journalists Hangout.
Whereas analyzing the nationwide protest, a high journalist and the Writer of World Excellence Journal, Mayor Akinpelu, singled out Kogi State, saying he was not stunned that there was no protest within the State, due to how Yahaya Bello dealt with the difficulty of insecurity within the State when he was governor.
Akinpelu mentioned; “I’m not stunned that there was peace in Kogi State at this time. Keep in mind Kogi was horrible by way of kidnapping and different crimes. I bear in mind a high journalist telling me then that by 6pm, he should be in his home as a result of the State was not protected.
“Nonetheless, over time, Yahaya Bello was capable of cut back insecurity within the State.
“Whether or not you want him or not, that is without doubt one of the issues you need to give to Yahaya Bello. He was capable of put in place a safety structure that lowered crime in Kogi State. And I’m positive the current governor can also be utilizing the identical template. They’ve been capable of put a safety structure to scale back crime.
“I’m subsequently not stunned that on this protest, Kogi individuals simply determined to remain at residence, like different States.
“That we didn’t witness the form of incidents that occurred in Kano, Kaduna, Katsina and Niger States in Kogi State, we have now to commend the current governor and his predecessor.”
For me, I can’t agree with him much less.
I agree that with Yahaya Bello’s magic palms of peace on his successor, on sustenance of peace in Kogi State, there shall be no lip service and buck passing. Relatively, it is going to be merely sitting down in Kogi to do what needs to be finished and Governor Ododo, is bound making use of that template to maintain the State in peace.
Adejoh, a public affairs analyst lives in Abuja
