Events leading to the 2023 Presidential election in Nigeria was a mix of tact, outplay, manoeuvres, intelligent planning, strategic engagements, vigor and determination with the ultimate beneficiary being no other than, His Excellency, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the Jagaba of Borgu kingdom.
To say, it was an easy have for the Jagaba is simply trying to oversimplify a very complex situation.
His Excellency, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, knowing the terrain as one who would make for a political Field Marshal, never left any stone unturned. But, his victory didn’t just come without a share of its own saboteurs, backstabbers, blackmailers and evil machinations.
One of those who now crave the fraternal relationship of Mr President but who never wanted him on the seat was Yahaya Bello, the immediate past Governor of Kogi State.
We will recall the barrage of insults the ex Governor and wanted candidate of the EFCC University, Yahaya Bello threw at Tinubu both in words and in actions.
We must equally recall the record low performances of the former Governor both in delivering Governance to the good people of Kogi State and in delivering electoral victories for the APC, his party.
When news filtered in that ex Governor Yahaya Bello was hobnobbing with one of the major candidates of the opposition to the level that he reportedly donated hundreds of millions to his campaign and as well promised to deliver his senatorial district to the opposition candidate, not many people believed he could take his hatred for Asiwaju to such heights. But , alas, it was made manifest in his performance for the APC and Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu even as a seating Governor who claims to have the whole of Kogi State in his pocket. But the following comparative analysis of the 2023 Presidential election results will force doubters of the news to either apologize or take Yahaya Bello for who he is, a very dangerous hypocrite going forward.
Yahaya Bello is from a senatorial district that has 5 LGAs out of 21.
And in the Presidential election of 2023, he lost 4 out of 5 LGAs in his district to the opposition’s PDP.
His LGA, Okene, only manageably gathered 22,037 votes for the APC (Asiwaju) to win in Okene.
Now, in the same Okene where Yahaya Bello struggled to gather less than 23,000 votes for Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu in the Presidential election, he manipulatively wrote almost 139,000 votes for his brother, Ododo Usman to be declared winner of the Governorship election.
A critical mind would therefore ask, what went wrong with the presidential election in Okene?
Don’t tell me about turn out because it will indict Yahaya Bello the more because, it is simple analogy that, if he truly wanted Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu to be President, he would have equally mobilized the almost 139,000 people he claimed voted for his brother, Ododo Usman in the Governorship election as well.
The danger Yahaya Bello’s reckless manipulation of election results in his senatorial district in the last Governorship election is better left imagined.
Now, above scenario has further exposed Yahaya Bello’s claim that he decides the electoral pendulum of Kogi State.
Would any sane man claim to be master of the public when he clearly isn’t one in his home?
Any who is therefore tricked by Yahaya Bello to believe he and Ododo can deliver Kogi State for him in the presidential election runs the risks of loosing Kogi State by almost 90% because, the last Presidential and Governorship elections in the State are a credibly unbiased test case.
Alhaji Ibrahim Danjuma Omeiza,
National President, Kogi Youth Frontier For Good Governance.
