Part one

Nigeria is suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

I doubt if it has been medically proven to affect countries as an entity instead of individuals, but I implore you, the reader, to permit me to make this claim. After all, I have proof.

It is evident in the manner in which everything goes left as a result of tribal and religious differences. It is evident in just how much Nigerians from different parts of the country rush to call upon one time in their history when they feel they were cheated. It is evident in the way and manner in which we have refused to let the past go, and in many ways, have let the past dictate the present.

There are so many instances.

The Biafran War, for example, was estimated to have consumed over Three Million lives. It shattered many and annihilated the belief of the rest in the entity called Nigeria, and despite the many calls for reconciliation and resettlement that followed, many from the Eastern region consider themselves a “small dot” in the larger, more important circle of influence – fuelling a constant call for secession.

The Yoruba nation feel they were robbed of a true democrat in the late MKO Abiola, whose election remains the benchmark when “free and fair” electoral processes is of reference. I often heard my Father say, with a tinge of pride and despair, how Abiola won in “Kano”, the home of his opponent, Bashir Tofa. The whole statement seemed to be filled with despondence at what could have been, what transpired, and what we are left with today. It is the root cause of some of the unrest witnessed in the West: a dissatisfaction deeper than insecurity, eating away at the foundations of our country’s unity.

The Hausas will tell you, categorically, how their allotted time in power was cut short by the dastardly acts of the 1966 coup that led to the death of the Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa and the Premier of the Northern Region, Ahmadu Bello. The fall out eventually built the stage for an even more terrible coup against the government of Major General Aguisi Ironsi, an Igbo man. It was termed a quest for revenge.

An eye for an eye.

The three major tribes retain the ability to evoke just the right pathos to an unbiased researcher of history, and if you do not hear the stories of others, you will be inclined to pick a side.

In retrospect, it is easy to see just why the animosity between us has remained. The onus was laid upon each President that has ruled since 1970 to spearhead a nationwide call for peace and understanding. Pursuing peace was visualized by many as weak, and more energy was spent chasing after the riches that occurred after the dawn of the oil boom.

This ingrained attitude has travelled over 50 years, and in 2021, barely two years before another Presidential election that will usher in a new face at the helm of Nigeria’s affairs, the ghost of past disagreements has started to bare her claws once again.

Nothing has changed.

If Nigeria is to move forward, we cannot afford to continue like this. This is why many amongst us are shouting for someone who will be able to handle the mantle of leadership with the levelheadedness required of a country joined together by a miscellany of tribes and beliefs.

Difficult to find, but like the Bible says in Matthew 7:15, we shall know them by their fruits. That verse further speaks on the unlikelihood of harvesting “grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles”.

In layman terms, if we want a united country, we must elect a leader with a proven track record of uniting those he has been elected to govern.

PART TWO

Secure.
Unite.
Prosper.

Three words that make up the foundation of what is proving to be one of the most exciting political campaigns in recent years. It is no longer news that I love politics and the intricacies that come with it, which is why I excitedly follow political stories that, in one way or the other, have the potential to become legend.

This story is proving to be more exciting than normal.

As usual, the polity has started to heat up, bearing at the center the desire to occupy the soon-to-be vacant seat of the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

We have started to observe political transfers from one party to another, and even though we are yet to get to ‘peak’ transfer season, 2023 is already generating a political atmosphere that will become stuff of legend.
The Atikulators are making their steady, repetitive rhetoric. Saraki keeps making moves, Amaechi is silent but a structure is being erected across the country. Osinbajo is focused on his job whilst people are making moves on his behalf. Tinubu, as always, remains omnipotent when the political calculus is being integrated.

Right at the center of all this lies a bespectacled, gap-toothed, 5’8” ever smiling Governor of Kogi state, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello.

Yahaya Bello provokes a reaction amongst people that is difficult to understand. People who are, by all rights, “seasoned” politicians have realized, to their dismay, that this is a man who knows his onions politically, and is using a record of fantastic performance at State level to back it up. Some think he is on a lost cause while others assume he is making a push for something else.

Yahaya Bello triggers all these reactions with ease, and he uses this cloud of uncertainty to push forward. In six months, he has overtaken almost all his contemporaries in the race, and this “joke” of a quest is no longer funny, especially to the so-called political elites.

The Nigerian political terrain has always seemed to consist of the same characters. Over time, we could always predict whom one party would field. They retained the popularity of the masses, and even when they eventually lose out, they spearheaded the customary run through the judiciary before settling for another potential political season.

Who becomes President has become a game of “wait-your-turn” amongst friends and foes alike. A selected few upon which Nigeria’s lofty hopes used to rest, until now.

Yahaya Bello has thrown a spanner in those plans.

Unlike the normal “chew and toss” politicians that have often characterized Nigeria’s political arena, Bello’s quest, like an undercooked “ponmo”, is one hat that has been tossed into the ring that is proving difficult to remove.

Yahaya Bello has not let the diverse opinions of various political gladiators define his goal, and has continued to press on diligently. At the moment, it has become evident that he will, in one way or the other, play a major role in who eventually emerges as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Knowing the man, it will come to me as no surprise if he leaves mouths agape in one year and seven months from now. It is what has defined his political career.

Surprise.

What both parties agree on however, is his core belief and practices: Both of which he has used to change Kogi State, and for which he has expressed the desire to employ in the running of the Nigerian State.

Secure.
Unite.
Prosper.

SUP

Three words, three letters, each massive in its own right. Yahaya Bello is a master in providing these, and I will show you how.

PART THREE

Secure

As long as there is a road that leads there, crooked or straight, Yahaya Bello will follow it.

Try as you may, as a leader, whenever you find the means to circumvent the travails experienced by people you have been elected to govern, solving whatever problems they might be going through becomes a little more difficult.

Nigeria is a difficult country to rule, and if you surround yourself with the bubble of comfort that comes with certain leadership positions, you will never be on the same page with the people.

I stand to be corrected, but there is nowhere Yahaya Bello travels to in Nigeria that he has ever gone by air.

As long as there is a road that leads to his destination, he will follow it. Many times, his convoy has saved a lot of Nigerians from the hands of dastardly criminals who were intent on inflicting pain and destruction, and whilst these acts never make the news, what is more important is the rationale behind the movement.

There was a time in this country when the Abuja-Kaduna expressway was a beehive of kidnappings and armed robbery, and instead of tackling the issue head on, those in charge simply used the train; or flew.

A failure of leadership.

When he took over the governance of Kogi State and was faced with a litany of challenges bordering on insecurity on every side, Yahaya Bello insisted on going for major operations himself. He was there to see the evils inflicted on the people by banditry in Omala, and when his car got stuck and couldn’t go again, never to be deterred, he stepped down and walked the rest of the way.

He was there to supervise the capture and subsequent destruction of the buildings of the once legendary Kogi State kidnapper, Zakariyau, alongside many other similar security operations in Kogi State. He was in the brushes severally, dressed in full regalia to motivate the troops, and has never missed the opportunity to visit places where insecurity laid her fatal fangs, encouraging the people and promising recompense.

His promise, like a phoenix, never returns without result.

Yahaya Bello understands that in order to save the people, you must feel their pain first. His own Mother, now late, Hajiya Bello, was kidnapped a few months before he became Governor, further reinforcing his desire to clear the state of criminal elements that had fed fat off the tears of innocent Nigerians. He came in and has become the menace to the menace.

Yahaya Bello is hands on. Young, strong and rugged, intelligent and focused. He is the darling of security architects and heads, providing them with what they need when they need it. Little wonder criminals think twice these days before stepping on Kogi soil.

They know, as do we all, that it might be their last.

With this sort of track record, is there any doubt as to if he will have the capacity to curb Nigeria’s insecurity woes?

Unite

Ifeanyi Onouha, the Nigerian writer once promulgated that “the unity of Nigeria will only come if we, as Nigerians, overcome and overgrow tribe, materialism and selfish human nature”. Words on marble, as it lays plain the only reason why we remain resolute in our backwardness as a country.

There is no magic to it. We will do more as a country and a people if we are united.
Nigeria’s unity must become a non-negotiable agenda on the pledge of anyone aspiring to be her President going forward. The backs of the aggrieved must be rubbed and their desires considered until we come to a resolution which all parties consider to be satisfactory.

This cannot be achieved in five or ten years with the level of rot we have found ourselves, but unless the foundation of a building is laid, how will it become a skyscraper?

I have lofty dreams for this country, as do many others, and it will never be achieved if we are not united.

I often fault people who consider the economic plan of an aspirant before his/her plan to unite the people. Several occurrences have proven that the latter is of far greater importance than the former. We have seen how the tribulations of the militancy crisis impacted Nigeria’s economy, and how the strike between the Northern farmers impacted the availability of food in the South. We have witnessed the destruction of properties worth billions across the country due to a lack of understanding between people, and we have refused to learn our lesson.

It took 11 years to build the World Trade Center. It took only One Hour and 42 minutes for it to come crashing down.

Reference.

Yahaya Bello knows this so well. It is impossible to speak of the old Kogi without highlighting the thousands of lives wasted due to conflict. The Igalas did not trust the Okuns, and the Okuns did not trust the Ebiras. Kogi endured, for many years, a repetitive circle of conflicts that looked destined to be continue ad infinitum. Some of these lives were destroyed for something so trivial, it begets wonder. How can one make progress when a little misunderstanding can destroy years of hard work?

Kogi’s past leaders did not care because it served their agenda. Kogi’s current leader is determined to destroy that notion.

One thing about unity is that it lays bare the desires of the scornful. Whenever you see a supposed leader preaching hate towards another, he/she is an aggrandizing, self-serving maggot intent on leeching off of unrest.

Through the EBIGO agenda coined and put to astounding use by Governor Yahaya Bello, everyone in Kogi knows that their opinion matters. They know that projects will be shared equally across the three zones, and so will appointments. They know that irrespective of tribe or religious inclination, if you have something reasonable to offer, the new Kogi will give you a listening ear. They know that nepotism and tribalism will get you thrown out the door faster than you can imagine, and they know that the same Bello, a devoted Muslim that built a Chapel, the first of its kind after 28 years at the Kogi State Government house, donated buses to several churches for their use and built befitting homes for Pastors will never stoop so low as to disregard the opinion of anyone.

They know this in Kogi, which is why Nigeria needs to know the same.

Prosper

Once a structure is built on a united front that is secure for investors and immigrants, prosperity is inevitable.

Nigeria is losing billions daily because investors consider our shores to be unwise for investment. It is common knowledge that Nigeria, the giant of Africa is only considered as such because of her status as the most populous Black nation on earth, her innumerable mineral resources and her untapped potential. We will only begin to fulfill purpose when these two prerequisites are achieved, and if we are to thrust our hopes upon someone with a proven track record, there remains none more qualified than Yahaya the son of Bello.

Kogi, at present, has become a hub of construction and investment. This has happened despite the fact that it has, during Bello’s reign, received the lowest Federal revenue since 1999.

Historically, when put into comparison, the number of ongoing and completed projects in Kogi State under the New Direction government led by Yahaya Bello already tops the charts amongst previous administrations and he has two years left.
It is under the tenure of Yahaya Bello that Kogi State started making record revenue numbers.

Kogi, a state that was once totally reliant on Federal allocation, used to generate a maximum of 300 Million per month. It generates nothing less than 1 Billion Naira these days, marking the end of 2020 with a record 17 Billion Naira. This was the same year in which Covid-19 ravaged the world and crushed economies.
Kogi is currently constructing the first of its kind 300-bed Reference Hospital, first of its kind flyover in the capital city of Lokoja, first of its kind total redressing and construction of 80% of the roads within the Lokoja metropolis, first of its kind construction of NINE ultra-modern general hospitals in all the Federal Constituencies of Kogi State and many more.

Kogi is experiencing many firsts because they are being led by a man who put their safety and unity first above all else, hence the prosperity that has followed.

Nigeria needs a dose of the same medicine.

PART FOUR

The Nigerian story is in dire need of a jiggle.
Many successful countries around the world have similar stories, and it is centered around a time in their history when their people arose to make a change. If we must be considered amongst these nations, we must make a decision that will put Nigeria back where it belongs.

We have relied on sentiment for too long and it has gotten us nowhere, it is time for us to depend on something else: A proven track record.

Yahaya Bello has shown his capability and drive, yielding results left, right and center.

In saner climes, the path to his victory would have been clear as day, but we reside in a country where impunity has been watered and pruned for so long, it will not give in easily. We can make this change on our own.
It will not be easy, but it will be worth it.

Wake up Nigeria.
It is time for SUPper.