Bello-Onoja: A Template For National Model

When they met for the first time, I’m sure it was passive but in between time, nature has reconfigured what was an innocent meeting to a permanent intractable bond. From 2003 to date, a casual acquaintance has metamorphosed into a beneficial mutuality that is today a pivotal reference to what true friendship is. For Bello and Edward, it’s a friendship baked in the oven of impenetrable loyalty, love and unmitigated bond. A friendship that has become a vista for the measure of courage, impact and dream and an inescapable model for national governance.

Bello’s 18 years of uninterrupted mutuality is a weighing template that defines true friendship. Sustaining this long years’ voyage is sure a testimony of true love built purely on sincerity. Such union requires high level of trust and, at the least, understanding to steady the ship. In this day and age where connections are made with selfishness as its bedrock, the witnessing of a brotherhood formed on a shared ideology that supersedes the age-long barriers of religious and tribal differences must have been shocking for many onlookers. It is why, perhaps, when the desires of their collective dream was shared with the world about six years ago, many expected their goal, and their shared bond, to collapse like a pack of cards.

6 years later and a different story is emanating from this ever-developing blockbuster. Governor Yahaya Bello is on the threshold of recording another milestone: a large section of the populace are stoically in unison, urging him to take a shot at the Nigeria’s top seat, the office of the President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, come 2023. What started, as a daring audacity between two brothers in Kogi is now becoming a national wave as Bello propelled always by his twin brother Edward Onoja – the Chief Strategist is on the wing of another breakthrough. The intent is deep, the push is real as Bello takes another leap of faith laced in hope and audacity to venture where others dread to.

How two biologically unrelated blood came together to form bond, think ideas and make them realities is a concern of studies especially for studies of political interests and human kinetics. Propelled by a strong desire, they created a purpose and turned it into workable realities. We saw their marks in Kogi politics with how they used their ingenuity to change the political paradigm in the state, building a new culture of political inclusiveness and apparent equal playing turf for all aspirations. This duo dismantled the vicious grip of ethnicity and collapsed all traces of religious or tribal fautlines.

From all indications, the Kogi model is about to be implemented at the national level with the unceasing calls by Nigerians to have Yahaya Bello have a shot at the presidency come 2023. He has the panacea, he has the zeal, he is iron casted and has the vision to make Nigeria an egalitarian entity with everyone having equal rights of aspiration.

Life’s journies are embarked either alone or with a co-traveller; Bello found in Edward Onoja a companion and the voyage thus far for him has been pleasurable and evidence based in watering results. Like Siamese twins, the duo have found a compactible and rewarding pair in themselves. In his inaugural speech in 2016, Governor Yahaya Bello highlighted the divine role that was played in his ascension, the blessings and careful nurturing of his now late Mother, Hajiya Hauwa Bello and, in an uncharacteristic measure of how deep he understood and appreciated the role he played, thanked his friend and brother and soon-to-be Chief of Staff, Edward Onoja. In his words, Edward Onoja was, and still is, his “right-hand” man. He commended him for being a true brother and friend and stated, to the ears of thousands of youths who cheered him on, that “even though tribes and tongues may differ” in brotherhood they stood.

In 2020, his inaugural speech once again served to show just how much value Bello placed on his political partner. He described him as a “Godly politician, astute visionary and a talented strategist”. He commended him for his loyalty and stated that he, Edward Onoja, had proven his worth to him again and again over the years. He called him his “Siamese twin” brother who had enabled him to pilot the ship that is governance with a minimum of distractions.

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One man who has stood firm and stoically rooted in support of his friend turned boss; Chief Edward Onoja has remained an obstinate pillar of loyalty – who shares in the dreams of his boss and joins in making it a reality. We are witnesses to his strategic dexterity hence his reference as ‘Chief Strategist’, he sleeps and wakes Bello and goes to any length in realization of any venture that propels his boss. A gifted strategist, imbued with raw intelligence and unrivalled tact and wit. With this man, you can go anywhere and Yahaya Bello smiles to sleep amidst heightened aspirations with his twin excelon!

Edward Onoja’s unquenchable loyalty pays off as his boss continues to bestow unalloyed trust in his person and capability such that when a vaccum existed, he wasted no time in making him his running mate and then Deputy – a testament of reward for loyalty, hard work and diligence. In Nigeria today, Edward can conveniently be said to be one of the most popular Deputy Governors who enjoys the tacit support and confidence of his boss, having formed a formidable and compactible partnership with Alhaji Yahaya Bello.

He has since migrated from being the famous “Chief Strategist” to becoming the “Chief Pusher” of the Presidential movement come 2023. A man who has often relied on divine guidance, Edward Onoja has proven over time that he is an embodiment of loyalty to the Yahaya Bello cause. It is this divine guidance that has produced great results over time that led him to initiate a daily countdown to the date in 2023 where, as he often announces unequivocally, Yahaya Bello will be sworn in as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

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However, his detractors have failed to take a chill pill.

The expanse of a wicked mind cannot be underestimated. If left unchecked, it will be prone to hallucinations, concoctions and deliberate falsifications of events. The GYB-CEDO love story has been constantly maligned by falsehoods so great in their creativity, it begets wonder. Perhaps, after attempting and failing to puncture an ever-developing relationship, the only alternative remains to pollute the social media space with these falsehoods in an attempt to cause unrest between the lovers of both personalities. While this bears no semblance to the true picture of things, it shows how desperate people are willing to go to have the severance of that bond.

They know something that other people have trivialized.

The GYB-CEDO partnership delivered great results in the Presidential elections. The GYB-CEDO partnership delivered great results in all three Senatorial elections. The GYB-CEDO partnership delivered great results in 7 out of 9 House of Representative elections. The GYB-CEDO partnership delivered great results during the gubernatorial elections. The GYB-CEDO partnership delivered great results in all the Local Government elections. All in all, this partnership has secured victory in 97% of all the elections they have partnered upon.

You do not need to be a mathematician to understand the efficacy of such collaboration.

Perhaps, they think out of apparent trepidation, this partnership, if allowed to continue, will deliver Yahaya Bello atop the seat of power come 2023.

This is why they spread lies, and no matter how many times they do this, these two men have emerged even stronger amidst the storm. Barely two months into their second year in government, a spate of stories began to emanate from all quarters on a perceived disagreement between the two great friends. None more prominent than the ThisDay publication on the 26th of January, 2020 which announced a “silent war’ between the two men. Not one to be distracted, they continued on their business of bringing the dividends of democracy to the people.

However, when jobless people gather at newspaper stands, bad news or the mere perception of it is what sells the paper.

The bubble burst on the 9th of February, 2020 when, on an official trip to Abuja, Edward Onoja ran into the convoy of his Boss and principal, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who was on his way to Lokoja, the State capital. What followed shocked many who had imagined otherwise in their crooked minds. Much like two brothers who had not seen each other for years, cries of “Excellon” permeated the air, followed by a hug and a wide smile. Together, hand in hand and in a defiant show of their love for each other, they killed that notion before it could fester.

Determined as ever, they remain focused on purpose.

Maya Angelou’s wise words puts a distinct meaning to all this. She said, in one of her greatest promulgations that “I do not believe an accident of birth makes people sisters or brothers. It makes them siblings and gives them the mutuality of parentage. Brotherhood is a condition people have to work at.”

Yahaya Bello and Edward Onoja’s brotherhood is a condition that has been worked on over years of trustworthiness, dedication and several tests. Together they make the greatest duo in Nigerian politics since the advent of democracy. Together they continue to break down barriers, personifying and promoting their newfound style of politicking to a generation that is used to being sidelined, thereby generating a massive following nationwide.

It must now become noteworthy to propagators of doom that nothing can separate these two great men. Their love is greater than social media sycophancy or a constant show of watery affection. They began as acquaintances, conquered Kogi state politics as friends and are set to take on the entire nation as brothers.

That is the nature of their life’s trajectory. Siamese.

In the light of the looming presence of the 2023 elections and the current desires of the Nigerian people, there is no small guarantee that this trend is set to continue. Once one of them is given a new title, the other is crowned with his as well. After all, a Father does not name his twins on different days.

I will not bet against these men. You shouldn’t either.

Samuel Babatunde Aina.

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