What Yahaya Bello’s S/Court Victory Means For Us

By GWG Staff

The Supreme Court on Monday morning upheld the election of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as the Governor of Kogi State.

The judgment followed the appeal by the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP’s candidate in the November, 2019 governorship election, Musa Wada, protesting against alleged irregularities that trailed the election and compilation of results.

The judgment was delivered by a Supreme Court panel comprising the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Justice Tanko Muhammad, with Justices Olabode Rhodes-Vivour, Sylvester Ngwuta, Kudirat Kekere-Ekun, Inyang Okoro, Amina Augie, Uwani Abba-Aji as members.

The judgment has great importance for politics in Kogi State among which are:

• It certifies Governor Yahaya Bello as the ultimate political supremo in Kogi State and positions him to direct the policies and politics of the state for the next three or so years. In that position, Alhaji Bello would be able to bring great influence on who succeeds him.

• The affirmation of Governor Bello as winner of the election would surely leave sour wounds in the hearts of those who felt they were victims of the election. Of particular interest would be the widower and children of the PDP woman leader in the state, Mrs. Salome Abuh who was burnt alive during the election last November. The perpetrators of the incident have not been apprehended.

• The election incorporated the new terminology of tatatatata election into the country’s political phraseology and practices. It is instructive that a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress, APC in Ondo State, Hon. Isaac Kekemeke was heard in a viral recording informing of tapping into the schemes of Governor Bello in decimating the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP in the Ondo State governorship election.

• The PDP would have to rework its art in Kogi State especially given insinuations that the party entered the election as a divided house. The PDP’s longstanding leader in the state, Governor Ibrahim Idris was outwitted by his son-in-law in the PDP primaries leaving him disenchanted and with little fighting spirit in the approach to the elections.

• Governor Bello having emerged against the narrative that only the Igala can produce the governor of the state may in due course now work to ensure that power shift could as well go to the Kogi West Senatorial District, the only senatorial district that is yet to produce a democratically elected governor of the state.

•  The judgment is bound to be received with mixed feelings in the state. while supporters of the governor would rejoice, human rights activists and opposition would be in a sorry state. Of particular interest would be the lot of Ms. Natasha Akpoti, the candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP who stood against the governor despite being from the same Igbira tribe as him. She had reported physical attacks against her in the run up to the election. She would now be the subject of emotional taunts over her insistence of challenging the governor at the election and in the courts.

• Given the negative image in which the governor has been portrayed in the first term, the affirmation of his victory gives him a strong basis to work to not just burnish the image, but also to leave a lasting legacy that would be an inspiration to not just his followers, but also a legacy that would endure for generations.

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