By Comfort Obi
This would have been laughable if it was not embarrassing; if it didn’t make Nigeria look, well, how does one put it without denigrating one’s country?, stupid and ridiculous before the World.
Tell me, how does anybody explain that for months, a man who, allegedly, ripped his poor State of the sum of over N80 billion is “doing guy on top of it?”; is making a ridicule of an anti- graft agency, and of the Courts?
He rubs his untouchable status in, has a good laugh, walks with an infectious swagger, thumbs his nose at the system, and arrogantly asks: “What can you do”?
This is the story of former Governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello. Bello the Emperor. The lion of Kogi. The guy who still owns Kogi Government House over one year after he left the seat. The political godfather of Governor Usman Ododo, his successor and godson who bows and grovels before him; the Governor who follows the lion like his Personal Assistant, just short of carrying his bag.
Between 2016 and 2024, Bello, a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, was the Governor of Kogi State. And what a Governor he was.
In fairness to him, a number of his subjects say he improved the lot of his State in the provision of infrastructure but he stained that by his tempestuous temperament. He bestrode the State like an Emperor. He was intolerant. Intoxicated with power. He dealt with whoever crossed his path. There was no borderline. Deputy Governor. Chief Judge. High profile Traditional Ruler. High profile politicians.
As Kogi State Governor, during the Covid 19 wahala, he disputed the once dreaded disease existed. He barred the vaccine in the State. It was a taboo to mention it. When a Federal Ministry of Health Committee (or whatever) visited Kogi for a sensitization exercise on COVID, he detained members of the Committee at Government House. When he released them, under pressure, he made sure that the sensitization program, for which they came, did not hold. Thugs, strongly alleged to be from Bello, stormed the venue of the exercise, a hospital environment, and reduced everybody to an Usain Bolt.
But that was not Bello’s most weird behavior. Check this out.
During the 2023 National Assembly Election, to stop Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan, now a Senator, from winning, he blocked the road leading to her area with very high heaps of sand. He defended his crude action by saying it was for security reasons; that it was to stop thugs from assessing the area. When INEC declared his preferred candidate winner, the Courts saw through the charade and returned Akpoti-Uduaghan duly elected.
However, nothing beats all the above more than the unsavory dish Bello has been serving us these past few months.
This, as you know, started when the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, invited Bello to its office for some clarifications on the finances of Kogi State under his watch. If you have been following events in the country since former President Olusegun Obasanjo established the EFCC, you would noticed that every former State Governor, almost, has come under the searchlight of the Commission. It has become so familiar that it is, almost, a crime to be a State Governor. It is like, from Government House, the next destination is EFCC.
Here’s the ritual.
They are invited. They go. They get interrogated.
They get detained. They are arraigned before a Federal High Court. They are granted bail. And, “fiam”, they go on to live their lavish lifestyles. They become political godfathers. Or end up at the Senate. The irony: they take part in the screening and confirmation of any new EFCC boss. Ask the Commission’s former boss, Ibrahim Magu. But perhaps, the most interesting was that of the immediate past Chairman, Abdulrasheed Bawa.
Just before the immediate past Governor of Zamfara State, Bello Matawalle left office, Bawa was on his neck. He gave Matawalle notice of his imminent arrest once he leaves the Governor’s seat. Matawalle fought back, and heaped bribery allegations against Bawa. To cut the long story short, what Bawa wished on Matawalle soon became his lot. Bawa was sacked from office, detained for many months, while Matawalle was appointed a Minister to no less a Ministry than Defence!
But Emperor Bello refused to follow this path of former Governors. Following it, he felt, would strip him of his Emperor status.
So, to keep his ego, Bello decided to make a mockery of two very important institutions in our country – the Judiciary and the EFCC. Now, no thanks to him, not a few people are calling for the sack of the EFCC Chairman, Ola Olukoyede. They are calling for a total reorganization of EFCC, and they are holding the leadership of the anti-graft agency responsible for Nigeria’s current embarrassment.
Here’s why.
The EFCC had invited Bello soon after he left office as Governor to help clear some grey areas in the financial status of Kogi State under him. Bello ignored the invitation for as many times as it was extended. Instead, he had his eyes on the National Chairmanship of the APC, just after his aborted ambition of running for the Presidential seat of Nigeria. See, the Emperor seriously wanted to extend his kingdom from Kogi to the whole of Nigeria!
But I digress. I was talking about how and why Bello put us in this sorry situation, a situation where the World is looking at us with mouth open.
So, Bello refused to answer to the EFCC summons. Frustrated, after months of waiting, EFCC Operatives, in April, tracked him to his Abuja residence. They cased the house. But Bello refused to give himself up. Then, his “boy-boy”, Governor Ododo arrived, went into the house, and after conferring with Bello, Ododo spirited him away while the EFCC Operatives looked on helplessly. The Governor has immunity, and nobody could have stopped his car to arrest Bello.
Now, in more civilized countries, that should have marked the end of Ododo’s political journey, his Governorship. He would have been forced to resign as a Governor for helping a suspect evade the law. But not here. Instead, Ododo, allegedly, kept Bello in a safe house, to apparently, the knowledge of Ododo’s Security details.
Nobody saw Bello again. When the EFCC arraigned him before a Federal High Court, he refused to show up. For about three times, he shunned the Court even when his legal team assured the he would appear.
At a point, he asked that he be arraigned at the Federal High Court, Lokoja. He had a choice!
Before then, the EFCC Chairman had offered Bello a VIP treatment. He told Bello he would be allowed to drive into the EFCC Headquarters through the gate only he, the Chairman, uses. He offered that Bello’s interrogation would be on his (Chairman’s) floor.
Now, dear reader, compare the offers to the treatment given to former two-time Governor of Anambra State, Willie Obiano. Obiano’s picture, in boxers and singlet, while at the EFCC Headquarters, went viral on Social Media.
Yet Bello rejected the VIP treatment.
He went on to give another reason.
This time, he said an unnamed woman had so blackmailed him before the EFCC that he would just be locked up. Even when the Presidency urged him to surrender to the EFCC, Bello was not moved.
As this cat and mouse game continued, the EFCC declared Bello wanted. He became a fugitive in his own country. The lion was suddenly afraid of his own shadow. He disappeared. Nobody could trace him. This, also, put a question mark on the capabilities of Nigeria’s Security Agencies. How did Bello disappear just like that?, not a few people wondered.
Embarrassed, the EFCC Boss took it personal, almost. Bello’s shenanigan was too much for him. He swore that even if it was the last thing he would do, he must arrest and prosecute Bello.
But days stretched to weeks, and weeks to months. No sign or sight of Bello. Hopes were lost. Perhaps, he is a good student of Professor Wole Soyinka, and fled the Country through the famous “NADECO way”. Or, perhaps, the late “Alams way” who, allegedly, dressed like a woman and escaped from London back to Bayelsa.
But this other Wednesday morning, Bello appeared. Dressed in white, he was resplendent. Clean. Relaxed. Fresh. Well fed. And he headed to the EFCC Headquarters.
Bello did not go quietly. He went with a lot of pomp. A convoy of SUVs was his choice of transportation. And in toe was Ododo, Kogi Governor, who also wore white to complement his forever-boss.
Both of them strolled in casually, hand-in-hand. Bello was bright and all smiles. He was not nervous. You would expect that one who had treated the EFCC like an irritable mosquito, one who has an N80b alleged fraudulent case hanging on his head, would look sober. But no. Bello walked in arrogantly; without a care in the world.
That’s when the unexpected happened. The inexplicable drama. The confusion. There are two sides to this embarrassing joke. But they tell the same unbelievable story. A story of shock. A story of disbelief. A story of wonderment. A story that, well, leave more questions than answers. ‘Was it juju?, many wondered’
According to Bello’s Media Office, its Principal, out of goodwill, and in consultation with his family and associates, decided to, finally, report to the EFCC. The statement said he reported because he had nothing to hide, no case to answer, and because he was a good citizen who has a lot of respect for the rule of law. Imagine. They had the temerity to say Bello has respect for the rule of law. This is a man who had scorned court judgments, summons, and EFCC’s invitations.
And lest I forget, we were, also, reminded that Bello was the first Governor to set up an anti-corruption agency in his State. Great. In any case, the bottomline: They said he was with the EFCC.
But before anybody could digest this Bello’s “goodwill”, the EFCC issued a statement that Bello was not in its custody. The statement never quite said whether he was at its headquarters or not. They said he was still a wanted man. Bello’s end responded with “perish the thought.” They said that Bello was at the EFCC’s office, but was asked to leave. He wrote no statement. He was asked no questions. He was just asked to go home.
As we were trying to make head or tail out of this drama, the EFCC confused us the more. They stormed Kogi State Governor’s Lodge Abuja in the night in search of Bello. They, allegedly, fired live bullets. What if the “boy-boy” Governor was hurt, or even killed. I thought Ododo, like all Governors, has immunity, and his lodge, therefore, off-limits. Now, the Kogi House of Assembly is alleging that by invading the Governor’s Lodge in search of Bello, and by, allegedly, firing gunshots, the EFCC was on an “assassination” mission! Not true, of course, but what if there was an accident?
The questions are: Was Yahaya Bello at the EFCC’s office? If so, why was he not arrested? Was he not the same man the Commission declared wanted?
The EFCC’s explanation as to why he was not arrested confounds.
Not putting its name to the explanation, but letting the Media, especially, the Social Media, run away with quoting “reliable sources”, the EFCC pleaded guilty of allowing somebody on its wanted list to walk away from them.
Here’s their explanation: That Bello arrived with Ododo in a convoy of SUVs; that the Governor has immunity; that the manner of Bello’s entry to its office was against protocol; that he breached protocol!
My God! Who does those? Who says those? How did Bello’s arrival with Ododo stop EFCC from taking him into custody? Does the Governor’s immunity extend to Bello? What stopped the EFCC from asking the Governor out of its premises while Bello is taken into custody? And, if the Governor offered to stay with his “Oga to continue his boy-boy job”, they should have offered him a chair or a mattress.
If Bello broke protocol, nothing stopped the EFCC from taking him back to the gate to observe the protocols, and walk from the gate back to the reception.
Protocol? When the Chair earlier offered Bello to drive in through a special gate, the gate meant for the Chair only, was that not a breach of protocol? When he phoned Bello to tell him his interrogation would be on his (Chairman’s) floor, was that not a breach of protocol?
I might be wrong. But my reading is that the EFCC was taken aback by Bello’s sudden appearance before it. The authorities were probably upset and embarrassed that Bello denied them the joy, the satisfaction of arresting him, particularly, after he outplayed them in their first attempt to arrest him in April? Would that be why EFCC Operatives invaded the Governor’s Lodge in the night of same day to arrest him? But, again, the fox outplayed them, he out-foxed them. Or, is there something the public is not being told? Is there something the public does not know? Is this a case of the more you look, the less you see? A high profile negotiated appearance for Bello, just for show? Who knows.
Whatever! Bello, the Emperor, the lion-the lion! You try ooo! As the “Gen Zs” in my house would tell me each time I complain about my health: “Nothing do you.”
Obi is the Editor-in-Chief/CEO of The Source (Magazine), https://thesourceng.com. Email: comfortobisource@gmail.com, comfort@thesourceng.com
