Yahaya Bello: When A Lion Moves With Power And Subtility

The primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC to choose a flag bearer for the party in the November governorship election in Kogi State was ongoing as at press time yesterday.

Though the result of the election was yet to be declared, what was incontrovertible was the fact that the man who has been most mentioned in the past eight years as a possible successor to Governor Yahaya Bello will certainly not emerge winner.

Mr Edward Onoja, the outgoing deputy governor of the state and for most of the first term of the Yahaya Bello administration, the ultimate political fixer for the government, withdrew from the contest late on Thursday.

That was after years of nurturing the dream of succeeding Bello the man hailed by his supporters as the White Lion.

As the contest got underway yesterday with Onoja and other allies of the governor dropping out for the favoured Usman Ododo, auditor-general of the local governments, there were suggestions that Governor Bello was devious and indeed wicked to have overlooked his enduring deputy as his successor.

Besides Onoja, the two others who had been most mentioned as likely successors within the Bello inner circle were the Chief of Staff, Abdulkareem Asuku and the Accountant General of the State, Jubril Momoh.

However, the governor truly like a lion had moved with stealth and power to choke life out of potential rebellion in his inner team by bringing out his favoured successor at the last minute.

It was at a time that those within the team who had any thought of rebellion could hardly do so within the frame of the election time-table.

So not surprisingly, immediately after the decision was taken, Onoja, the erstwhile chief of staff at the inception of the Yahaya Bello administration tamely issued a terse statement on his twitter handle appreciating God and then the governor.

He couldn’t have done otherwise. He had once been quoted as saying that not even Satan could separate him from Governor Yahaya Bello!

Onoja had in 2015 trudged through the campaigns with Yahaya Bello as his campaign manager. After the twist of fate that removed Prince Abubakar Audu and brought in Bello, Onoja made himself chief of staff.

There are many anecdotes of how he allegedly made his office the engine room of the administration. So many good and so many, many bad things have been said of how he allegedly fenced out potential rivals notably from his Igala stock from the Bello administration.

The most notable victim was the erstwhile deputy governor of the state, Simon Achuba who was removed from office in circumstances that were far from altruistic. After the removal, Onoja took the office for himself.

The gist was that after he became deputy governor that attempts were made to transfer the many functions of the chief of staff to the office of deputy governor where Onoja now occupied. However, Asuku the new chief of staff was said to have fought off the move meaning that Onoja now promoted himself to irrelevance.

It was not surprising that as deputy governor with newspaper reading about the most regular activity in office that Onoja, the very man around whom the government of Kogi revolved around just months ago, had to enroll in school as a way to keep off boredom.

Remarkably, three years ago he took a post-graduate programme in Conflict Resolution at the Federal University, Lokoja.

How his new degree in Conflict Resolution has helped him in managing his descent from grace can only be a matter of conjecture.

However, like all other elements in the Yahaya Bello entourage, Onoja has little room for manouvere. Indeed, many on twitter were saying yesterday that the deputy governor has come to the end of his political odyssey.

For a man who wielded much power just few years ago to exit the game without a fight shows the political sagacity of Governor Bello. Indeed, as the events panned out on Thursday, your correspondent could only wonder that Bello may after all be living up to his nickname as the White Lion. Like a lion he moved with power towards the prey. We have also seen many videos of lions moving with subterfuge as if not interested in a prey, walking with tact until they are near the prey before they pounce and asphyxiate the prey.

The decision by Bello to apparently back Ododo against the leading aspirants has shocked many as only very few saw it coming. While it may have been the less contentious decision within the inner circle, it opens the governor to the allegation of retaining power in his Kogi Central Senatorial zone.

While some argue that zoning is not an issue in Kogi given the 16 straight years the governorship was held in Kogi East, the decision of the Kogi governor has only heightened the permutations for aspirants riding on the wave of power shift.

What will come out from the APC primaries if the governor has his way and then the outcome from the PDP primaries will be a spectacle for many in the months ahead.

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