Between the two major contenders for the November 16 governorship election in Kogi state, there is every need for objective analysis and assessment of the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Yahaya Bello and that of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Engineer Musa Wada, from the positions of strengths and weaknesses because both candidates are clearly the leading hopefuls in the run up to the election.
Looking at Governor Bello from position of strength is the incumbency factor which confers on him an advantage.
As a sitting governor, he has the support of most political appointees like commissioners, special advisers, board members at federal and the state levels, local government chairmen in the state and, of course, the legislative arms both at the National Assembly and state assembly where 25 members belong to the ruling party.
There is also a strong notion among some APC members that ‘federal might’ would be deployed to aid in winning the election and secure a second term in office for him. Also GYB as sitting governor, he has a large purse; therefore, has plenty of resources to throw around with which to seek support of some people and do vote-buying, if possible.
On the other hand, Engr Wada’s position of strength lies in the fact that his party has been dominant in the state and produced the governors since 2003 until 2015 when it lost the baton of leadership in a very controversial way. Therefore, the party has strong existing political structure across the 21 local government areas in the state.
Another position of strength for Engr Wada is that he does not have any political baggage; no corruption case hanging on his neck as a retired civil servant.
Also, before he ventured into politics, he was well known by many people in the state especially in Kogi-East where he hails from and given the circumstances that surrounded his emergence in the PDP primaries, he does not have a known political god-father that can impede on governance of the state, if elected. Another strong factor in his favour is the fact that he is well-educated and has vast knowledge of administration coupled with the fact that he is known to have unquenchable desires to render service to the people.
He is from Kogi East where the bulk of votes for the state governorship slot reside and lastly is that GYB’s administration is acknowledged to have received huge fund from the federal government in the name of ‘Bailout fund’, ‘Paris refund’, ‘Infrastructure fund’, ‘Ecological Fund’ and ‘Internal Generated Revenues’ yet civil servants, teachers and pensioners in the state are owed salaries for months and in the same vein, the government has not completed any infrastructural projects aside from the Revenue House in Lokoja.
In fact, since he came into office four years ago, neither President Muhammadu Buhari nor his vice, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, has ever commissioned any project executed by his administration. This is a source of strength of campaign for Engr Wada.
Now, even though Governor Bello inherited an outstanding salary of two months, President Buhari upon assumption of office met this debt burden across the states. Many state governments owed workers’ salaries but bailout funds made it possible to overcome the challenges.
However, Kogi under Governor Bello received the bailout fund but failed to pay the workers promptly and in some cases no payment at all. In the name of endless screening exercise, he oppressed the civil servants, teachers, pensioners and the good people of the state.
In the aftermath, the state became a place of attention as workers cried out with some committing suicide. A director, Mr Soje, hung himself because he could not fend for himself and family due to non-payment of salary. Many died in the course of travelling to Lokoja for the screening exercise that was simply a conduit pipe and denigration of civil servants.
Also, despite the huge resources that Governor Bello received, there was no project to his credit in the form of roads, housing or solid minerals that litter across the state. Education did not fare better as GYB was ensued in bitter acrimony with lecturers at the state-own university. He did the unthinkable by proscribing ASUU, just to display arrogance. Many professors and senior lecturers left the institution once reckoned as one of the best in the country under Prince Abubakar Audu.
Governor Bello belongs to Egbira ethnic group and since he came to power due to the death of Prince Audu, he erased the foot prints of his predecessors in different ways ranging from the destruction of architectural master pieces like the roundabout and arrest of Mohammed Audu, first son of the late politician on thump up charges.
GYB did not hide his deep hatred and animosity towards the Igala people as can be seen from his appointments, aside the so-called chief of staff who is now a contentious deputy governor. As a matter of fact, key commissioners were only reserved for Egbira and Okun people. Certainly, it was not the Egbiras and Okun that gave him majority of the votes in the All Progressives Congress (APC) primary election in 2015 by which he took the second position.
GYB has displayed crass ignorance of governance by choosing the path of oppression, dictatorship and pretentious hate for a section of the state. He is attempting to divide and rule Kogi East so as to incapacitate them politically but from all indications it is a mirage, because his supporters cannot give him up to 15% of the votes that will be cast in Kogi East in a free, fair and credible contest.
Unfortunately too, GYB does not have a grip on Kogi West Senatorial District where Senator Dino Melaye represents before his election was nullified. At the moment, two House of Representative seats that were deemed lost by PDP have been overturned by the Court of Appeal. These were those of Honourable Shaba of Lokoja/Koton-Karfe Federal Constituency and HonourableTijani Yusuf of Kabba/Ijumu Federal Constituency.
On the other hand, the weaknesses of Engr Wada are that he is a very independent-minded person and would not have become the candidate of PDP if he never possessed this attribute as he contested the primary against all odds. He was persuaded by elders and younger men to step down for his elder brother, the former governor and another contestant, Abubakar Idris, son for former governor, but he declined.
He does not have the resources to withstand GYB, however, his campaign is like a movement as volunteers are many because of the strong desire for change of government for the better. Even though money for logistics and so on and so forth is necessary, it has become people’s project and that means individual donation is now driving the campaign.
The power of the people to get freedom from oppressive leaders is legendry in human history and about to be repeated. This time, it is about revolting against a young leader who came to power through providence but disgraced the very people who are the essence of political leadership and democracy.
Engr Wada’s seeming weakness has however been eroded by the prevailing situation in the state.
Therefore, in comparison, while the strength of GYB is rooted in using anti-democratic forces to change the will of the people, Engr Wada is widely accepted not only in Kogi East but in other senatorial zones. So, in a free and fair contest, GYB is not popular enough to get 25% of the votes across the three senatorial districts.
Valentine Opaluwa, author/social commentator, writes from Abuja
