Bello: Now the real drama begins

The immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Mr Yahaya Bello, is truly a man of drama. He never went to drama school but he seems to act with exquisite skill between when the curtain opens and when it falls.

During the days of Covid-19 when Nigeria and the world were catching cold and doing everything directed by the medical authorities to stop the spread of the epidemic and the tragedy it carried in its wings Bello stood against the world and reason. People were dying in their thousands in and around Nigeria but Bello became an unbeliever, a naysayer, a dissenter, a prophet of doom who didn’t think that Covid-19 existed. And if it existed he thought it did not have the power to kill. And if it had the power to kill he thought, it would not kill people in his Kogi State. No one knows how many people from Kogi State formed part of the statistics of the dead, and the diary of disaster but they must be many.

Bello

Then Bello’s political drama. As a northerner, President Muhammadu Buhari was working on rounding off his eight-year term in office which was grandly facilitated by a southerner called Bola Tinubu, Bello thought that he, another northerner, should be the one to take over from a northerner in a country with multiple demographics. It did not occur to him that it was not a step that would unite and build a volatile country like Nigeria. He organised a huge parade at Eagles Square, Abuja to announce his candidacy. What did he think the south that produces the oil that feeds the country would think if a northerner was to talk over from a northerner who had just served for eight years? Would that bring unity and peaceful co-existence? It didn’t matter to Bello. Such an audacious and impudent gesture must have encouraged Buhari to dream about handing over to another northerner. Luckily some fair minded northerners saw the danger ahead and worked against that patently unfair plot. Today, we have a southerner as President who for fairness must do two terms despite the desperation of some partisan northerners. This country can only survive as a united unit based on fairness and equity only not on domination by one section over the other. No. That will not work.

More drama from the Bello School of Drama. When his term as Governor of Kogi State ended last year the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) thought he had a case to answer and invited him for a meeting. Bello refused to honour the invitation citing a subsisting court order. But why would a man who held a public office by the grace of Nigerians go to court to seek to be protected from being asked to answer for his deeds or misdeeds in office when his term ends? Everyone knows that when the term of a President or Governor, ends the immunity he enjoyed expires and he can be asked to give an account of his stewardship.

A few years ago when the then Governor of Ekiti State Mr Ayodele Fayose was rounding off his term the EFCC indicated that they would like to have a meeting with him when his term ended. Mr Fayose printed a T-shirt with the inscription “EFCC, here I am” or something like that and showed up at the EFCC office in Abuja. That kind of drama was desirable in the public interest. Fayose did not run away. He did not play hide and seek. He did not seek to hide in the toilet of his successor. He stood firm to deal with what he did while in office.

But Bello did it differently. He went missing and the EFCC declared him wanted. The Nigerian Immigration Service placed him on its watch list while the Nigeria Police ordered the withdrawal of his orderlies. Why would a man who occupied the high office of a Governor and also sought to occupy the higher office of President put himself in such a disgraceful position, court order or no court order. In the normal order of things if a man who has a good name is accused of a crime of which he is not guilty he should seek to defend his good name by showing up and having his day in court. If you are not guilty of a crime why should you go into hiding or why should you ask the court to protect you from being questioned or tried even if that is your right. You also have a right to clear your good name, don’t you?

When Mr Donald Trump, former American President who has just been re-elected was invited to New York to respond to charges of felony what did he do? He did not run away. He did not go to court to halt the invitation. Even if he did I am almost certain that no American court would grant such an order. What did he do? He went to New York and sat before the judge humbly, a former President. The judge made his pronouncement. That is how civilised systems work. If we want our system to work and work seamlessly we must do what is right, fair and proper. No tricks. No corner cutting. No hide and seek. No mago mago. No wuru wuru.

More Bello drama. Six months or so after he was declared wanted Bello appeared at the EFCC office with a large battalion of supporters or hirelings whichever applies. He was escorted by his successor Mr Usman Ododo. But curiously the EFCC did not arrest him. Instead they allowed him to go and turned up later at his residence with guns. That is evidence that there is no shortage of drama in this matter.

Now Bello has been given a 19-count charge along with his nephew Ali Bello who is now Chief of Staff to the incumbent Governor Mr Ododo. Others charged are Dauda Suleiman and Abdulsalam Hudu. All of them are alleged to have laundered N80.2 billion belonging to Kogi State.

More drama. On November 27, Justice Maryam Anenih had come into the court to take Bello’s plea and that of his co-defendants. She saw a huge crowd of supporters or hirelings whichever applies behaving in a very unruly fashion in the court premises. She had to leave the court premises abruptly.

As this case gathers momentum, there will probably be more drama either from Bello and his team and cheerleaders or from the EFCC. We don’t need drama. What we need is a quick and fair attention to this case that has gathered more attention than necessary. Bello and his co-defendants are by our legal system innocent until they are convicted. That is a statement of fact which must be accepted and respected by all concerned.

The other statement of fact is that Nigeria has become notorious for corruption. It has occupied a place of inverted eminence among the corrupt countries of the world. If it does not clean up its reputation by tackling corruption firmly it will not make much headway in its attempt to attract investors into our economy. If that happens then all the international travels by our leaders to court the friendship of potential investors will become an act in futility. Besides, our green passport will remain, globally, a document that is despised and disregarded.

The post Bello: Now the real drama begins appeared first on The Sun Nigeria.