Gov Yahaya Bello: A Chief Corner Stone Taken For Granted By His People »

To those of us who are knowledgeable when it comes to building a house, the corner stone of a building is not one to be taken for granted. It is the rock upon which the weight of the entire structure rests. It is a vital part of the building that is usually the largest, the most solid and the most carefully constructed in any edifice because of the important role it is saddled with.

For a very long time now, I have not been happy with the way the Ebira people from Kogi Central have taken and presented their own son, Gov. Yahaya Bello to the world. Between 1979 and 1983 that the late Alh. Adamu Attah was governor of Kwara State, many of the younger generations kicking against Gov. Yahaya Bello today were yet to be born. The parents of some of them were even yet to meet not to talk of them entering into the institution of marriage. The older generation too are not left out in this brazen hatred of this young man. Based on this truthful fact, many Ebiras (both the old and the young) have always longed to see and experience their own taking the reins of leadership once again but that never happened again before the Ebira people left Kwara State to join the newly found Kogi State in 1991.

Without talking too much about the “marriage” that brought the Igalas, the Okuns and the Ebiras together, we all know how the Igalas held tenaciously unto power. They never wanted any other part of Kogi State to take over the reins of power from them. As much as the Ebira nation tried, we only ended up as Deputy Governor. This was a position Patrick Adaba enjoyed so much as well as Philip Salawu that they thought they had come to the end of the world. Unknown to them, they were only spare tyres and their services were never needed till the tenure of those they deputized elapsed. Like the biblical children of Israel, the Ebira people kept on hoping against hope that one day a saviour was going to come to remove the shame of playing second fiddle in the state that was mainly created because of them. A person like late A.T. Ahmed tried hard to wrestle power from the Igalas but he only ended up serving as a Senator to his people. He died in a road accident while still trying to be a governor of Kogi State. The matter became worse to the point that Yomi Awoniyi became Deputy Governor and the Ebira people were reduced to Speakership role at the House of Assembly that its activities was rather epileptic as at then.

Gov. Yahaya Bello did not consult any soul in Ebira land before preparing and readying himself for the governorship position. He came from the blues and therefore, many thought he was going to faint in his journey but he came second in the Guber primary election and that was enough a result to make him the governor of Kogi State when death visited Prince Abubakar Audu who had already won the election. What happened then till today remains a mystery. This is to tell us that God works in manifold ways especially when he wants to lift a man to an exalted position.

The entire people of Kogi State have enjoyed the leadership of Gov. Yahaya Bello. Only a dunce will say the governor has not affected lives positively. Gov. Yahaya Bello has worked on roads, built hospitals, improved the standard of education to the point that students in higher institutions within the state now know when they will graduate as they are not affected by any strike action like their other counterparts in other tertiary institutions. He has created and given out jobs in the state more than any other known governor in the history of Kogi State. My wife is one of those that gained employment during the era of Gov. Yahaya Bello and she was taken based on merit without us needing a godfather. Gov. Yahaya Bello is a rare political figure that has helped the children of nobody to become somebody. This is one solid reason that has made him to always scale the traps of the enemy as much as the evil one tries to knock him down. Our divine God who sees everything in the open and secret shields him from their evil machinations still, they have not seized to wish him bad luck. If not madness, how will the owner of a house (the Ebiras) reject their son that outsiders are joyfully celebrating as a corner stone? If truly a prophet is not honoured among his own people I do not think such should affect Gov. Yahaya Bello.

Despite the magnificent world standard Reference Hospital he has built in Ebiraland and the ivory tower named Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), Osara, many Ebira people still have the guts to be kicking against Gov. Yahaya Bello. I expected the whole Ebira nation to have processed through trekking from Okene with singing, drumming and dancing all the way to Lokoja to say thank you to Gov. Yahaya Bello for helping them as a nation and same time replying the insults of those who thought the Ebiras will never rule Kogi State. To the best of my knowledge, no part of Ebiraland, be it clans, religious bodies and association have thought it wise till today to come as one body to appreciate Gov. Yahaya Bello. Some myopic minds are even happily referring to CUSTECH at Osara as a secondary school that will soon fade away. Still, some are of the opinion that the money used in building that well equipped hospital and the road networks across Ebira land ought to have been shared to individuals. It will shock you that these buffoons are rather okay seeing the relics and decaying structures of Alh. Adamu Attah’s projects that he brought to Ebira land when some of them were still bathing in the rain as kids. Many also hate Gov. Yahaya Bello in Ebira land because to them he is from a small clan know as Ehebe. We have heard this severally with some of them saying it is a clan that cannot fill a pick up van when packed together. These gullible set of people least expected Gov. Yahaya Bello from this clan to have this great chance of becoming a governor. Unknown to these wolves in sheep clothing, God has always elevated those set of people looked down upon by those who think they are the big guns. The Ehebe Clan is a perfect example. Sad enough, there are those who have eaten much from this Gov. Yahaya Bello’s government with their stomachs so big as a goat that has drank water used in washing beans that are part of this nonsense. God will surely pounce on them and judge them ferociously.

Still, many of those who hate Gov. Yahaya Bello with passion among the Ebiras thought he was going to fail woefully in the just concluded general elections in Nigeria. Yet again, God disappointed them and now they have now hid their ugly and demonic faces in total shame. Gov. Yahaya Bello as the leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Kogi State won the Senatorial seat of the Central, of the West and of the East. He settled down and worked on how to down the tools of destruction that his haters were always wielding. He gallantly won Kogi State for Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu the President Elect. This is how to be loved by the divine God. When men and women of evil minds continue to strive to hack him down, God sits in His majesty in heaven to kick them off with His toes.

Sad enough, many hate Gov. Yahaya Bello so much that they have thrown caution to the wind not minding what their uncouth behaviours can cause their father land. If not, how on earth will an old man already having grey hairs as far as his private parts region due to old age sits down to arrive at a useless decision of purchasing the Guber primary election form for a man outside the shores of Ebira land. He did not buy it for himself. He once contested and tried a bit and everyone believes he can build upon his first attempt but he rather now preferred to be a Deputy Governor under another tribe in Kogi State. *Should you are not aware, he did this because of his wanton hatred for Gov. Yahaya Bello and that he was head over heels in love with the person he took his personal money to pay for fiber primary form.

Lastly, the folly of the Ebiras who hates Gov. Yahaya Bello was further made to look stupid when the Supreme Court ended up judging in favour of all the states that took the Federal Government and the Central Bank to court over the hardship caused by the naira swap. I almost cried when the Press asked Gov. Yahaya Bello to talk after the judgement. He spoke eloquently. I was proud to be an Ebira when I saw how Gov. Yahaya Bello picked his choice of diction to answer them and also to talk to Nigerians. He said, “the law is not a respecter of anybody, not even the President. How many of those who wants evil to always happen to Gov. Yahaya Bello have the grace and the opportunity to even mention the name of a Councillor in their Wards? We have a young man in Gov. Yahaya Bello who will soon become the Chairman of the Governors’ Forum with much sense and the urge to always fight for the cause of the masses yet some people with dark hearts are hell bent on seeing his downfall. Every business Gov. Yahaya Bello has veered into till this moment that he is a governor is always geared towards helping the plight of the masses. The blockheads thought the Supreme Court will throw away the case of which Gov. Yahaya Bello was one of those that took the lead for them to dance their wicked dancing steps but God shut their mouths with that victory of a judgement.

Now, it high time for those who hated Gov. Yahaya Bello to repent for their own life to become blessed and favoured as his. No amount of your wicked thoughts will see evil happen to him because God genuinely loves him and also taking care of him. His last interview on Channels TV made me to know that he was also after protecting his name. The dividends of democracy is what Gov. Yahaya Bello has shared to all and sundry. So long you ply the roads, your children go to school, you visit the hospital and you take salary or you have a relative taking salary or pension, then you are also a partaker of the good work he is doing. Gov. Yahaya Bello cannot visit each house to be sharing money meant for developing the state. Stop believing all lies about him especially the ones cooked by the EFCC as all liars will have their permanent abode in the lake of fire which burneth with brimstone.

Gov. Yahaya Bello is a Chief Cornerstone whether some Ebira people like to hear this or not. He has come to bring succour and salvage the situation of helplessness that even those ahead of him could not find a lasting solution. May the Ebira nation not gnash their teeth after he completes his tenure. Never you try to hate a man who gathered his hard earned resources to become a political leader just to add flavour, progress and development to your life and community. The repercussion of such is always dangerous and it is the Law of Karma that gives such reward to haters. May Gov. Yahaya Bello continue to succeed amidst all odds by God’s divine grace. Amen.