BELLO: NO CONDITION IS PERMANENT
By Kennedy Ogenna
Perhaps it was inevitable that Yahaya Bello’s post-governorship era would be accompanied by high drama and low public sympathy. After all, for 8 years he held Kogi State in his clutches and turned the state’s purse into his family’s personal account. He is running from EFCC over an alleged 80 billion naira public theft. Yesterday he was a man to be feared. Today he is a man living in fear. No condition is truly permanent.
For many Kogites who survived Bello’s monstrous regime, his ignoble ordeal is no more than he deserved. Like so many tyrants, he was obsessed with his governorship position. When he looked in the mirror he saw a reflection of great men of the ages: Nebuchadnezzar, Hammurabi, Saladin.
Bello’s more enduring legacies are also more mundane. By manipulating and clobbering the opposition into submission, he prevented the natural emergence of new generation of leaders, so that the state is now run by his political mentee and neophyte without experience or skill to govern.
This explains the executive cover provided for him by governor Ododo when EFCC recently came calling. I would compare his legacy to what Romans did after they conquered Carthage: ” He put salt in our fields, and it will be generations before we can grow anything good.”
Yet Bello’s potential trial has allowed his cronies to portray him not as a rogue and abusive former governor but as a victim, mercilessly hunted by a vengeful government. They say that the manner of his prosecution call or persecution is imperfect. But the critics can’t have it both ways. Firstly, some of them told us that nobody is a saint and that we couldn’t expect Kogi under Bello to be a Jeffersonian democracy. Now they feign outrage that Bello’s prosecution call didn’t live up to the Jeffersonian standard. Of course the prosecution method may not be imperfect but compared to what? The thoughtless legislature and judiciary that crawled into his executive pocket while he held sway?
Last night on Arise TV, I watched one of Bello’s supporters struggle to dismiss the fact that his prosecution call was an achievement of a developing democracy fighting corruption and abuse of public office. He was eager to deprecate the fact that Bello is wanted by the law of his nation with a chance to defend himself. He was willing to pretend it was no big deal to see a bad leader brought low, to see corruption punished and justice done.
Why? Because to dwell on the time and performance of the running Bello remind Kogites of the fundamental justice of his prosecution call. It might cause EFCC and other anti-graft agencies to wonder why, having made efforts to clean the Augean stable, they should be so quick to give up on accomplishing more. It might cause them to hesitate before succumbing to despair when confronted with the challenges of money laundering and brazen embezzlement of public fund. It might cause them to wonder whether thievery might not still be successfully replaced by integrity.
To lose against Bello or abandon his possible prosecution would have real consequences. To succeed against him would also have real consequences. The forces of anti-corruption could regain momentum in the country. Abusers of public trust could be set on the run without testing the office. Individuals and the nation might decide that it is once again wiser to be a friend of democracy than an enemy.
Why, the Tinubu presidency might even turn out to be a success! What a thought!