Axis Of Political Evil: Untold Stories From Bayelsa, Imo, Kogi

Voters go to the polls to elect governors in three Nigeria states that rightly or wrongly qualify as the axis of political evil in the federation.

It is as such no surprise that in the approach to the election in the three states, few journalists showed interest in physically covering the election. Even more, fewer indigenes of the states who registered to vote at home went home to vote.  

Imo, Bayelsa, and Kogi have individually won recognition for political notoriety, nay, groundbreaking constitutional events in the country in recent times.

Kogi State in 2015 drew the attention of the country when in the midst of the governorship election the All Progressives Congress, APC candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu died even before the election result was announced.

The constitutional melee arising from a candidate who was leading dying was never envisaged. In the ruckus that followed, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu who was a major ally of the late Audu and had presented his Man Friday, James Faleke as the running mate thought that the results should be declared and the running-mate take over.

However, the Muhammadu Buhari camp just settling down to power in Abuja had then commenced the difficult job of cutting Tinubu down, and bringing in his protegee as governor was certainly not on the agenda.

That election which was also the first major election conducted by the Mahmood Yakubu INEC was also surprisingly declared as inconclusive despite the clear victory for the APC. The pause for a supplementary election enabled the ‘fencing out’ of Faleke and the emergence of Alhaji Yahaya Bello who placed second in the APC primaries months earlier. At that time, Bello was more popularly known as Fair Plus on account of his transport business.

The controversy from the Kogi election debacle led to the constitutional amendment that now provides that in the event of the death of a candidate on election day, a new primary be conducted to select a new party candidate.

However, it is trite to say that the bad blood between the Tinubu/Faleke camp and Bello in 2015 festered for a reasonable time until after the 2022 convention. That was after Bello with his whole heart turned from a rival to an apostle for Tinubu and helped him to mobilise for the 2023 presidential election.

Your correspondent understands that it was because of the sincerity that Tinubu saw in Bello that he allowed him to produce the minister from Kogi, and with it, ditching Faleke.

However, Kogi is registered in the hearts of many for the 2019 election reports of violence more popularly famed as Tatatatata that was climaxed by the killing of the PDP Woman leader, Mrs Salome Abuh.

While Bello has won adulations over his role in stemming the tide of sectarian and religious violence in Kogi, and in particularly uprooting the vestiges of Boko Haram from the state, he is yet to win the confidence of many of his political rivals in the elimination of political violence.

Bello who is stepping down after two terms in an audacious political move has brought forth his kinsman, Usman Ododo as his successor. His chances of success are not just being helped by the factors of incumbency but also by the cluelessness of the divided opposition in the state.

Bayelsa State may seem the state with the less controversial governor of the trio. Douye Diri styles himself as the miracle governor who was pronounced governor by the Supreme Court two days before the handover from the former administration.

Diri surprisingly came second to the popular APC candidate, David Lyon in the 2019 election.

However, Lyon’s victory was annulled by the Supreme Court while he was doing a dress rehearsal for the inauguration on the basis of the irregular documentation of his running mate.

Lyon had emerged as the candidate with the goodwill of the political leader of the APC, Timipre Sylva, a former governor of the state who was at that time serving as minister of state for petroleum.

It was undoubtedly the bloodiest election in Bayelsa’s history. PDP elements claim that scores of their supporters were thrown into the sea in the Nembe area.

This time around, Sylva has taken the ticket for himself a situation that has put off many APC enthusiasts who thought that Lyon should have been reconsidered for the ticket. The minister from the state, Senator Heineken Lokpobiri, and even Lyon have been reported like many other APC chiefs to be lukewarm towards their party’s aspiration.

The political savagery of the political actors in Imo State was most recently brought to bear by the brutality visited on the president of the Nigerian Labour Congress, NLC, Mr Joe Ajaero.

Governor Hope Uzodimma was controversially brought to power as governor in early 2020 by the Supreme Court decision to lift him from fourth place to number one. That judgment which has won a position of infamy for the Nigerian judiciary gave Uzodimma the moniker, ‘Supreme Court Governor.’

It is alleged that his vicious plot to win credibility by force is what has led to the spike of violence in the once-peaceful heartland of Ndigbo, putting Imo squarely among the states that qualify as the axis of political evil in Nigeria.

Interestingly, the election in Imo State is being contested by three senators who were all in the Senate at the same time in 2015.

It is remarkable that going into this election and after the shambles of last February confidence in the electoral system is at its lowest. It is worse for the three states in Nigeria that are dubbed the axis of political evil. It is a pity that many Nigerians have now resorted to the submissive condition of seeing no evil, hearing no evil as the political rulers affirm the superiority of might over the ballot box.

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