YAHAYA BELLO: NATIONAL CAKE »

By Sam Aina

The national cake, as it is often called, has been feasted upon for far too long.

A common phrase in the Nigerian lingua, the national cake simply connotes the sharing of Nigeria’s vast resources among a select few, often leaving the general public languishing in a never-ending cycle of socio-economic opprobrium. Year upon year, there appears to be growing discontent and rising distrust between the government and the people.

You cannot blame Nigerians for constantly viewing all politicians through the singular lens of packaged criminals, however, even amongst locusts, butterflies exist.

In one of my earliest monthly pieces, I described Nigeria’s core problems as basic which a little right-minded approach can always solve. I also highlighted how, to my own understanding, the blockade against good governance has always stemmed from the inability of Nigeria to transition seamlessly from one great leadership to another. Nigeria is a country where laudable initiatives are often launched within several governments. The major problem has always been the inability for successive governments to build on the gains and cover the weaknesses of past governments.

We cannot continue to replace round holes with square pegs and expect magic.

When the late Dora Akunyili handled the affairs of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), she became a household name. It doesn’t mean that she did not have her own shortcomings, but she was able to reposition the ministry to a level at which efficiency became commonplace. I can also say the same for a host of others who have handled public service with the dedication and efficacy it deserves.

Nigeria has been proven, albeit sporadically, to still inhabit the disposition of working.

I was looking at the list of Presidential aspirants just a few days ago and something quite glaring struck me: none of them were without past political assignments. They had all been, presently or at one point or the other, bestowed with the opportunity to rule in their different capacities, and the results are within a few clicks of your phone buttons.

Even though the social media space has been awash with false news and misrepresentation in recent times, it is still the easiest method to check for the abilities of whoever it is that thinks he can rule a country as gigantic as Nigeria.
If you are promising security, did you secure your territory during your time in government? If you are promising free education and free WAEC fees, did you do the same when you had that same capacity in the past? If you are promising equality and unity, will your record show how you promoted the same in your past assignments?

We need to wake up.

Nigeria will work, and for it to live up to expectations, we must have a change of reasoning. We must recognize and demand for good governance from the local government level up to the state and then the Presidency. Accountability must become the order of the day. Infrastructural developments must no longer be celebrated as a miracle, it has to become a right of every tax-paying Nigerian.

We have become used to self-aggrandizing, covetous, disgraceful and paper-over-the-cracks sort of leadership.

I know that I speak for millions across the country and abroad when I see the same folks who could not achieve what they are now promising when they were presented with the opportunity of leadership. A great leader must, above all else, be equipped with the facts that made up their previous office.

It should no longer be enough for people to make promises.
You should no longer be able to ride on the promise of a changed attitude. You should be able to give what your record can justify appropriately.

Which reminds me of the infamous Tai Solarin story.

In his day, Tai Solarin was widely regarded as the biggest social critic in Nigeria. When he spoke, government officials scrambled to hide their faces in shame. He was fearless and highly disciplined, unassuming and blunt. He was so disciplined that he had allegedly resigned as a Commissioner in the year 1977 after he was caught driving without a license. By all standards of measurement, he was the type of man who should be in positions of power.

General Babangida, who had become tired of Solarin’s incessant direct attacks, allegedly invited him over to his office for a chat. He asked him what he wanted and Solarin blasted the government led by Babangida of impoverishing poor Nigerians due to their less than considerate policies which he thought, and was widely regarded, as pro-rich and anti-poor. Babangida, perhaps out of sheer wisdom or the need to simply shut the mouth of his greatest social adversary, asked for his advice on what to do to help the poor Nigerians.
Solarin proposed the establishment of “The People’s Bank”, whose sole aim would be to offer loans to enterprising Nigerians, with the vision being the emancipation of millions of Nigerians from the twisted fangs of multidimensional poverty. Babangida immediately nominated him as the pioneer Chairman, and Solarin was finally put in a position where he could make an impact through the enactment of favourable policies.

How wrong he was.

Solarin allegedly approved loans and continued to approve for thousands of less than privileged Nigerians. In the end, he was forced to resign when more than 95% of those that took the loans failed to pay back, and when he went to Babangida for help, he was allegedly chastised for offering solutions to a problem whose magnitude he had not dealt with in the past.
Whether the story is true or false is irrelevant at the moment (as the man himself painted a different story), but it plays a crucial role in painting the scenario I desperately desire for you, the reader of this piece.

If you, as a Nigerian, is asked to outline Nigeria’s major problems as of today, it will not be out of scope to mention insecurity, disunity, poverty and corruption. If you were asked to dig further, you could mention nepotism, class divide, a distinct gap of understanding between the government and the youthful population and finally, gender inequality. Another Nigerian might answer using a different set of vocabulary, but in the end, the answers would not be far from each other.

We already know our problems, why do we keep supporting people who have no clear cut solutions to these problems? Why would you openly support a person who has no record of solving what he promises to deliver? Why, I ask myself every day, will I, as a young Nigerian, stand behind people whose ideologies are far apart from the needed patterns needed in the current dispensation?

Finally, why will Nigerians support aspirants who care more about the title “Mr. President” than whatever changes they seek to implement when they finally grab the dangling Villa baton?

The Presidential seat is no one’s birth right. It is not an antique, to be passed around within a select few like a family heirloom. I have even heard talk of a “gentleman’s agreement” between some select individuals. This is the lives and livelihood of over 300 Million Nigerians across the globe that we speak of.

We must do better.

Over the years, we have allowed the Tai Solarin’s of this world hang unto leadership roles when their past results pale in comparison to what they can really achieve. Many have their personalities and attributes aligned in perfection with other portfolios in government, but they were pushed into the Presidential tussle. A few of them won against all odds, which is why we find a lack of motivation in many of our past Presidents, the results being a woeful performance in government across many indices of assessment.
Most dangerous however, is that it breeds leaders who – knowing fully that they do not possess the answers to the cries of Nigerians – focus on taking their own bite off the national cake. It is akin to the story of a farmer who foresees a bountiful harvest from a bag of yam seedlings, and another who has no idea how to achieve this, and hence seeks to roast the seedlings for his personal consumption.

How many of Nigeria’s dreams have been roasted on the hills of ineptitude and greed?

No more.

People often ask me why I speak so highly of Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state. They marvel at my portrayal of a man so maligned in the media space, it is a wonder he has been able to retain his focus. Many Nigerians are however, beginning to see for themselves what he represents, and how his early throw of the hat into the Presidential race might just be a stroke of genius which divinity intends to use to correct years of bad leadership.

I always say that although his age serves as a breath of fresh air from what we are used to in this part of the world, Bello possesses a certain skill set which will fit quite seamlessly into our current predicament as a nation. I mentioned earlier how almost every Nigerian will have the same answer to a question on what they think best represents our core struggles, and how we have continued to recycle leaders who have not possessed, even in their past assignments, the desire nor the ability to solve similar issues.

Bello is not one of those people.

He has based his campaign off of the desire to secure, unite and prosper. If you ask the man today, he will proudly explain to you how he has, in just six years, successfully turned Kogi state from the kidnap capital of Nigeria into one of the safest states in Nigeria. He will explain to you how, due to his spotless records on bank robberies in the state pre-2021, politically motivated attacks have been conducted in Isanlu, Egbe/Odo-Ere and just last week, the Okene Police station. What the attackers did not factor into the equation was the gallantry of the man superintending over the security of the Confluence state, and like his now famous phrase, they went back “in their zeros”.

Words backed up with action.

He has said that the unity of his people represents his greatest achievement till date. He will tell you, if asked, how he has extinguished the incessant tribal clashes across the state. He will tell you that for the first time in Kogi state history, government appointments have followed the Federal Character, with even non-indigenes with a sizeable population across the state and the People Living With Disabilities (PLWDs) smartly captured. Bello will tell you that he was and still remains the first Governor of Kogi state to appoint a different tribe and a different religion from his own as Chief of Staff in his first tenure. He will tell you many things, and if you check well, you will find his words true and in line.

Action backed up with results.

He has, slowly but steadily, attempted to change the age-old Kogi story. Like I said before, an answer from the man will probably point out to inquisitive readers of this piece how he has been able to cut down, rather severely, the infrastructural deficit in Kogi state. He will tell you how he has been able to start pulling major investors into the state. He will tell you how he has attracted them with the security that has been a signature of his government. He will tell you how the Internally Generated Revenue of the state has been drastically improved. He will also have you know that, as against the old order, Kogi has now ranked highest in the World Bank’s assessment for transparency and accountability on its policies and grants, which have greatly improved the standard of living of her people.

Results evident amongst the people.

For every boastful remark is a litany of result to back up his claim. I am yet to find another aspirant with the sort of record which Bello possesses in terms of service delivery and promises fulfilled. He has shown, rather countlessly, how prepared he is for a greater assignment if given the chance. His record also shows that he will not be out to eat the national cake.
Instead, he might just be the one to start rebaking the gaping holes eaten up by the cancerworms.

I will be giving him my support.

You should too.