Yahaya Bello: The Outsider On The Inside »

Anthony Kila

Today we look at an aspirant who has declared his intention to contest for the position of president of Nigeria and he is currently seeking to be the flag bearer of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). His name is Yahaya Bello and he is the current Governor of Kogi State in the North Central Region of the country. Bello is a trained accountant, turned businessman, turned politician, turned governor. He is known as the youngest Governor in Nigeria and he is currently serving his second term as governor.

In a country where it is generally assumed that politics starts and ends with and between the two major parties: the leading opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the APC, one would think Yahaya Bello should be ordinarily and automatically considered an insider but that is not the case at all. The dynamics of partisan politics in Nigeria seem to operate in a way that gives priority to age-based deference over brilliance, group affiliation over stardom and identity politics over functional merit. Yahaya Bello comes from a minority ethnic group in a minority region, in his APC, he does not belong to a visible power block, the media does not seem to consider him their darling either, it is therefore easy to see why his candidacy is that of an outsider on the inside.

Like him or loathe him, there are two things that no one can take away from Yahaya Bello, one is his courage, and the other is tenacity. Those close to him like to count four traits, they also talk about his vision and diligence. It is easy to forget, but factual records will note that towards the 2023 elections, Yahaya Bello is the first to openly indicate his intention to run for president. Whilst others were being pushed and promoted by support groups and bidding their time, Yahaya Bello was the first aspirant to come out in 2021 to admit his intention to run for president. Though the reaction of the established power has been to publicly ignore him and, in some cases, brief against him, Governor Bello has tenaciously kept at his game. He has continued to assemble people who have won landmark elections before and those that symbolize hope for Nigeria.

There are authoritative voices that insist that the very vocal former aviation minister, Femi Fani-Kayode joined the APC because of and to support the Yahaya Bello presidency project. Bello’s whole campaign seems to be built around an updated version of the Hope 1993 campaign of the late MKO Abiola, the president that was never allowed to rule. Yahaya Bello’s campaign is tagged Hope 2023 and central to his campaign is the former Director-General of the Hope 93 project, Dr Jonathan Silas Zwingina, who now serves as the Yahaya Bello campaign national coordinator whilst MKO Abiola’s own daughter, Hafsat Abiola is Bello’s campaign DG. A lot of the themes in Hope 93 are similar to the ones in Hope 23, which tells you a lot about how much progress the country has made since 1993.

Yahaya Bello himself is quick to correct people like me that his campaign is not just symbolic or visionary but built around cogent plans and achievements. He has built a website (kogipedia.net) whereas governor of Kogi state, he lists his feats in agriculture, economy, education, health, infrastructure and inclusion. Those close to the governor insist that inclusion is not just about gender or group representation in his government, they point out that no governor in the history of Nigeria has had so many people from outside Kogi state and from outside the North Central Region feel at home and become a member of a state administration. They argue that in his Kogi State, Governor Bello is already governing a mini-Nigeria with equity, fairness and justice.

To prove that his claims to being a champion of good governance are not just electoral propaganda but based on a solid record of verifiable achievements, Yahaya Bello has, in an unprecedented way, issued a challenge with a tag: He is willing to bet against anyone that can dispute any of his achievements as governor as posted on kogipedia.net. The fact that no one has taken up that challenge or won the bet so far puts Governor Bello in a good light.

Regardless of his acclaimed and documented achievements, Yahaya Bello has two major hurdles before him. He has to persuade the close to 8,000 delegates that will decide who will bear the flag for the APC at their party primaries due in May 2022 that he should be their flag bearer. He then has to convince millions of Nigerian voters in 2023 that he is the best man for the job of president of Nigeria. These are two unenviable tasks: He does not seem to belong to any visible power block in his party and he comes from a minority in the country.

Yahaya Bello is however undaunted, he reminds all that he got into power and became governor without the support and against the wishes of many of the power blocks in his party and that many people did not want nor expect someone from his ethnic group to become governor in his state. He argues that he has focused on governance thus far with success and he is planning to showcase what he has achieved as governor to convince all that he can successfully lead Nigeria.

Join me if you can on Twitter @anthonykila to continue these conversations.

Anthony Kila is Centre Director at CIAPS Lagos.