While he has continued to recklessly burn the State’s resources on a frail Presidential ambition, one thing to be mindful of is that Nigeria, as an unpredictable country can corruptly do the unthinkable because the few power drivers, according to old and modern history are more interested in a character who would rather protect their lust and interest(s) than the good of the country.
No doubt as it stands today, Yahaya Bello believes the fate that got him into becoming Kogi State Governor in 2015 after he criminally inherited votes of his then party’s candidate, late Prince Abubakar Audu who had shockingly passed away few hours before the announcement of the results of the then gubernatorial election even when he (Bello) wasn’t even a running mate to the party’s flag bearer (Audu), would work again for him to become Nigeria’s 7th democratic president since the country’s return to democracy in 1999.
Howbeit, what a Yahaya Bello’s presidency will mean for the country and its people is that a complete fascist is enthroned to wreck the nation of what ever good that is left of her.
Bearing every attribute of a fascist which ranges from a far-right, authoritarian, ultranationalism gagged by the attributes of a dictator who derives pleasure from suppressing opposing voices through balkanization of decency, fundamental rights, morality and leadership etiquette, Yahaya Bello assuming he becomes Nigeria’s president, my prediction will be a torn nation crawling on her knees in sporadic form, because this young man’s immediate reference would be a state (Kogi) where he is currently the governor.
As of today, Kogi State is among one out of the over 25 States in Nigeria where Education, Employment, Healthcare, Economy, and workers welfare has plummeted to a very difficult-to-redeem situation. The unprecedented rate of corruption has irked the economy of the State such that infrastructural development, social security, and human capacity development has nothing good to talk or write about.
Governance practically is of no meaningful essence to an average Kogi civil servant whose monthly salary does not make up for his/her basic living standards because of a Governor who would prefer to hoard and use the State’s resources meant to develop the State for political jamboree which has continued to impose a fractured, and fragmented salary system for the State’s civil servants.
Yahaya’s selfishness would lead to an expanded, and implosive poverty, division, and insecurity for the entire nation in the true face of who this fellow is exactly.
But for the corrupt system of governance in Nigeria and the so-called immunity clause protecting rogue politicians, Yahaya Bello and his likes should never be allowed to hold any public office of trust in the country.
Youth leadership does not share the same definition as corrupt leadership.
*Austeen Anibe Otene*
