Yahaya Bello’s provocative offer

Barometer

 

In an address on October 19 this year, the inimitable Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State appeared to have brought to an end a deep reflection on the state of things in the country over which he was willing to pontificate. Although this is recent history, it is necessary to recall the navigational direction of Nigeria’s troubled waters in the address. Some officials of the Special Anti-Robbery Squad had shed one person’s blood too many in Delta State, prompting the youths of the country to fly into a collective rage which frightened state governors and the presidency. In fact, the unblushing federal government, which had jeered at the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and encouraged lecturers to take up farming, was suddenly keen to shelve jesting and reconcile with the body so that students could resume and stop protesting. Some governors, at their wits’ ends, simply joined the protesters. In fact, earlier that day, in neighbouring Edo State, prisoners had taken flight from the humdrum life of incarceration.

What the nation therefore needed to escape going to the dogs was for Mr Bello to emerge from his meditation and grant what he must have believed to be a sagey interview on that fated day. Said the sage-governor: “I volunteer to be the leader (of the EndSARS youths) that will push down all of the demands and make sure it is met. All the governors need to take charge in their various states and ensure there is law and order. This is what we swore.”

The steely glint in the governor’s eyes proved his comments were no mere badinage and that he was serious about the whole thing. In fact, left to him, he could put the protesters wise concerning how they should go about the protest. It was left to him, so he did it. He had delivered an address earlier that day where he noted that troubling the taciturn President Muhammadu Buhari on the state of the nation’s power supply was the solution to the Gordian knot. He disclosed that some $16bn had gone into the pockets of a miniscule few, who had made it their hobby and lifework to feather their nests at the expense of the people’s collective patrimony. This money must be recovered, Mr Bello preached. His laborious excursion on the EndSARS issue was not only exhaustive, it was forgettable, so much that the youths took the hint and forgot all about it, save for his leadership proposal.

After the general mockery, Mr Bello was left alone to his fantasies  proof that his serious proposal was not taken as seriously as he would have liked it to be. There is no doubt that his daring offer was as a result of the amorphous structure the protesting youths had decided their protests would take. This did not sit well with the governor who believed that the protests would be hijacked, and he has since made repeated calls for the leaders of the protests to show face. The youths being unyielding in that regard, the offeror-governor has since denounced the protests as being politically motivated despite the genuineness of their agitations.

Although he will not apologise for even venturing to suggest himself as a potential leader, the truth remains that he should be worried. He may not possess the comic mien of his fellow Kogi politician, Dino Melaye, yet he is not taken any more seriously than the entertaining and controversial former lawmaker. From all indications, his lack of credibility is not a contrivance of only the media. As recently as September, he was the disgruntled recipient of a visa ban from the United States of America. That cloud will continue to hang low over his name.

Mr Bello, often dismissed as a casuist by the public, was however right. His predictions proved correct, to wit, that the protest was hijacked to the petrification of the youths. In fact, had his call for state governors to take charge of the situation been taken more seriously, perhaps the situation might not have degenerated as it did. State governors should have united, pressured lawmakers into more activity, and even coaxed the presidency out of its callous oath of silence. While Mr Bello should have allowed distance lend enchantment to his fantasy about leading the EndSARS protest, he needs to rethink his politics, his legacy, and his public image lest he be continually dismissed even when his interventions are useful.