Bello Asserts Self In Kogi As Deputy Goes To School

By GWG Staff

In a dramatic change of fortunes, the once-powerful deputy governor of Kogi State, Chief Edward Onoja who a few months ago dictated the pace and pattern of government has been pushed to the backwaters in the Yahaya Bello government.

The development, GreenWhiteGreen gathered, follows an apparent determination by Governor Yahaya Bello to take his fate in his hands as he projects a lasting legacy in his name at the end of his tenure in 2024.

 Onoja who was about the most dominant personality in the first term has as a recourse relocated to school for a Master’s Degree at the Federal University, Lokoja.

In a fitting depiction of his fate, Onoja chose to do a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution, a move some say would also imbue him with enough skill to withstand the onslaught to his once-formidable powers in Lokoja.

Sources reveal that the development could also prove a comical twist to the once speculated plot of Onoja succeeding Bello as governor in 2024.

Onoja acquired formidable power and influence in the first administration as chief of staff to the governor. The powers came in the wake of the reported backing Onoja gave to the governor as his campaign manager ahead of the 2015 election especially in Kogi East Senatorial District.

He was largely said to have been in charge in the running of the government and made much of the appointments in the first term.

Most of the political schemes of the government in that era were also reportedly traced to him. When the former deputy governor was controversially impeached, Onoja easily stepped into the office, a move that was believed to have strengthened his position in the Bello government.

His choice as running mate and the ticket’s victory in the November 2019 election was supposed to have further strengthened his position in the government.

However, sources say that that became his ache.

“As chief of staff Onoja acquired much powers to the office so that when he ‘rose’ from the office, he left the powers in the office for his successor.  He rose up to meet a deputy governor’s office that was virtually prepared for reading newspapers,” one source insinuated.

Onoja’s fate was sealed by the decision of Governor Bello to appoint his own man as Chief of Staff, a decision that put the new deputy governor out of sorts in controlling his replacement in that powerful office.

Abdulkareem Asuku, the new chief of staff and former director of protocol being a primary appointee of Bello’s has put his loyalty to the governor and his vision and not been cowed by the once formidable influence of Onoja.

 There have also been unverified claims and insinuations that Onoja as deputy governor may have used his lackeys during the first term to enhance himself financially but nothing has been officially traced to him despite the ongoing prosecution of some high ranking officials of the Kogi State Government.

Politicians also allege that other independent stalwarts of the All Progressives Congress, APC were said to have counseled Bello to build his legacy independent of Onoja, a moe he apparently took hook, line and sinker.

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