Opinion: Governor Yahaya Bello made a costly mistake going after Dino Melaye

by Isa Eneye Mubarak

 

“Hatred is gained as much by good works as by evil.”

 

Kogi state has never been blessed with good leadership as far as I’m concerned, it is just unfortunate Governor Yahaya Bello’s flaws are highly emphasized and overstated due to the unecessary and needless enemies he created for himself, simply because he’s arrogant and lacks political skills.

Buhari is a good person, but when it comes to playing politics, he’s not that good. Likewise, Yahaya Bello is not a good politician, he doesn’t choose his battles carefully. I don’t know who the people advising him are, but it’s either they’re not doing a good job or he’s simply not listening to advice. The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him.

He dissipates so much energy on needless ventures rather than focusing on governance. His aides are not helping matters also: one controversy follows another; misinformation and lack of coordination.

Ignoring Dino would have been his best move, if not befriending him. Dino is known for his big mouth, he shouldn’t have taken him seriously. Dino, actually, would’ve been a strong ally. But now he’s a formidable enemy.

Dino is someone who can be bought literally, forget his “fighting for the people” hypocrisy, GYB would’ve simply agreed to his request on who to appoint as Okun administrator or whatever their issue is. If the Governor’s intention is to win next election, it would’ve been the best move, Dino would have gladly campaigned for him like he did before.

Governor Bello obviously has no friends (with a few exceptions). Kogi APC is not on his side, and shouldn’t even be. There are 3 senators in Kogi, 2 of them are PDP, only Dino is APC, yet GYB wants to have him recalled. It’s not in any way a logical move to do and APC can’t possibly support him.

The workers and students are not happy with Yahaya, with the screening being the root of all evil in his administration, then the strikes! Though the demands of the lecturers are a little bit inconsiderate, he is the governor, it’s his job to compromise on their demands. Governor Bello, people will not consider your stance as the governor, they’ll sympathize with lecturers, instead.  in my honest opinion, Both GYB and lecturers share equal blame. GYB has compromised, it’s time for lecturers to follow suit.

However, in my honest opinion, both GYB and lecturers share equal blame. GYB has compromised, it’s time for lecturers to follow suit.

I don’t know his plans for the next election, but I want to believe he has a plan to change all these. If not, he can kiss Lugard House goodbye. Kogi is a civil service state; the workers and students comprise almost 70% of voters. If they’re not happy with you, there’s a problem.

When controversies and hunger trumps reasoning, no one will care if you built roads, or increased the revenue of the state, or did not marginalise anyone. Workers welfare should have been Bello’s utmost priority, otherwise, people won’t notice any good thing. It is only when the stomach is filled, one can see things clearly.

Losing a considerable amount of support of his own people (the Ebira people), is a grave danger Yahaya should be pondering seriously on.

Honestly, he has a long way to go, but I really pray he set his house in order before it’s too late. I don’t care about him per se, but he represents a people. If he fails, we fail, and that will create more problems and difficulties for any Ebira man who intends to run again.

So it’s not in our best interest for him to fail- or anyone else’s, as some are hoping for. I wish the circumstances were different, but I’d rather not vote, than vote against him. He might not be a political genius as one might’ve hoped, but so far he’s not marginalising any tribe in the state as the previous administrations have been experts on.

In my book, he’s doing fairly well (well, that is if we decide to forget the screening nemesis).

“Men in general judge more by the sense of sight than by the sense of touch, because everyone can see but few can test by feeling. Everyone sees what you seem to be, few know what you really are; and those few do not dare take a stand against the general opinion.”

Niccolò Machiavelli, The Prince.


Op–ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija

The author tweets @IsaMubi3

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