I do not, as I have umpteenth times said, begrudge those who choose to praise Governor Bello today against their critical assessment of his bad governance yesterday. It is a good thing to extol, for the sake of one’s own personal benefit, the government one found to be diseased previously as a darling today even though much has not changed about the government. The golden words of wisdom say one should love one’s neighbor as one loves oneself, and not love one’s neighbor more than one loves oneself. It takes a man of sterling integrity therefore to be altruistic in a circumstance where one’s interest conflicts with the interest of the general public.
While you go about your panegyric obeisance, stomach filled with lucre and flatulent words of your own wisdom to hoodwink and even to fraudulently convince the people you think are nitwitted, you should remember that many people go to bed hungry, not for the sin they committed against God as Kogi State workers, but for Governor Bello’s heartless humiliation of the state workforce. If your parents were among those who suffer the insensitivity of Governor Bello’s unconscionable governance, would you still be proud of the Governor and still have your parents’ blessings? Think about the hungry and the suffering citizens.
Many teachers and other local government workers are paid percentage and hungry salaries that cannot even pay their fares to their offices let alone feed them and their families. While you are happy with your new-found favour, think about the dehumanised local government workers and primary school teachers.
While the Governor’s current red-herring political pursuit for presidency tickles your incongruous fancy, and you were employed to do an insensate Man-Friday job, think about the death and dearth of infrastructure in many parts of the state.
While it is safe for you to burn data from the comfort of your home and offices or it is easy for you to praise the governor as the king of security because none of your family members was or is kidnapped or robbed, think of the families that paid ransom through the nose from the wealth the Governor fails to create to free their relatives.
For the sake of informed appreciation of progress Kogi State has made so far under Governor Bello in the comity of states in Nigeria, and more importantly against other smaller states, think about the state of roads, housing, education and transportation of the state. Is the state, in its current rickety status your aspiration as a person should you find yourself in any postion of authority, or is your own stomach infrastructure your major preoccupation?
Odih Daniel Nuhu.