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| David Onoja. Chief of Staff, Kogi State. |
Hypocrisy
is well known detractors of a man claiming they are rating his performance. The
legitimacy and force of any rating exercise lies in the objectivity and
impartiality of its agency. Without freedom from bias, what we have are just
interested or guilty parties standing judgment in their own matter.
For
instance, if people like Dino Melaye claim they are rating Governor Yahaya
Bello low, such ratings, as the lawyers say, go to no issue at all and are
vitiated by malice and bias.
Another
example is when some individuals, including some persons who held sway in
government at all levels, some of them from as far back as when we were still
in kindergarten, still believe they should be calling the shots and deciding
for us in government. If they were that good and had all that knowledge, why
was Kogi so prostrate and in disarray when Governor Yahaya Bello took office?
Only
a fool does the same things the same way and expects changes. We need to be
objective and erase these sentiments unless we do not want progress.
Comparatively speaking, can any of these previous governors prove that in their
first 3½ years in office they came anywhere near the achievements GYB has
recorded in his?
Check
security, roads, rural water supply, electricity, health, education or civil
service reforms? Naysayers can travel down and take a tour of the state now
then compare and contrast with the recent past. Anyone who can find the
humanity to blind sentiments and judge from with the fear of God and in the
interest of the people cannot but arrive at the inescapable conclusion that
Governor Yahaya Bello and his New Direction Administration have started a
long-awaited renaissance in our dear Kogi.
Let
me give you some ratings which really matter and which display our milestones
in office:
In
2017, less than 2 years into GYB's tenure Kogi was rated one out of only 4
states in the federation deemed success stories in the SDGs by the United
Nations. We were invited to the 72nd UN General Assembly where we made a
presentation.
Governor
Yahaya Bello inherited a Kogi State that was the kidnap capital of Nigeria with
over 250 kidnap cases in 2015 alone. Less than 6 months into his tenure, it
dropped drastically. In fact, for a 6 month period from July of 2017 to early
January of 2018 we recorded no kidnaps at all. Till today, we only record
random and isolated cases.
We
officially became the 2nd most peaceful state in the federation after Osun, and
the most peaceful in northern Nigeria in 2018, as rated by the National Peace Index
(NPI).
In
the same 2018 we were rated the state with the second lowest crime statistics
after Kebbi by National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Our
enhanced security came at the cost of a Governor actually spending his security
vote and other appropriated funds on the provision of security for his people.
Over
200 and 500 brand new 4WD vans and motorcycles were purchased and distributed
to all the security agencies in addition to other gadgets and financial
support. We build a Forward Operations Base for the Nigerian Army and outposts
across the state. There is the formation of The New Kogi Vigilante Service.
Over 5000 Kogi citizen recruited, screened, trained and equip to ensure
effective and efficient Community Policing. A vital support base for the
already established Security Agencies.
In
appointments, for the first time the state enjoys equity in spread of
government appointment and projects. Tribe and religion play no role except to
ensure for proportionality. The youth have taken over and women occupy both
high profile positions and real influence.
Though
an Ebira man, Governor Yahaya Bello works with an Igala Deputy and Chief of
Staff, as well as an Okun SSG. First time ever for such spread. I am probably
the most empowered Chief of Staff in the whole country and I like to believe
that I have justified the trust which my boss deems fit to repose in me.
We
have Elders Advisory Councils across all the Senatorial Districts which provide
an outlet for the wisdom of the experienced elders to reach out and guide
government, especially in sensitive matters pertaining to the peculiarities of
each locality.
Our
Internally Generated Revenue has grown from about N350m monthly to over N1bn
simply by eliminating corruption and improving collection.
This
2019, we have been rated the 7th top performer among all the states and FCT in
basic education by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC). Over 375
basic education schools have been renovated or constructed from scratch across
the state. Our secondary schools have enjoyed the administration's magic touch
too, especially in enhanced learning materials. Several Tertiary institutions
were upgraded to the point they have received long outstanding accreditation
for critical courses.
Still
in 2019, the NBS rated us one of the only 9 states which reduced unemployment
at a time the rest of the country slid further into it. Where are those who
shouted up and down that the Governor's civil service reforms were a waste?
Even the vexed salary arrears have become history as the Governor kept his word
to pay up all arrears as soon as the bailout funds become available. They
bailout has come and the Governor has paid. Talk and do!
Governor
Yahaya Bello has brought electricity to nearly 100 communities across the
state, especially in the Eastern flank and the Lokoja/Koto axis of Kogi West.
On July 6th, the Governor inaugurated the Project Light Up Kogi East (PLUKE)
for accelerated electrification of at least 200 communities in Kogi East. The
project was provided for last year in this year's budget and the Governor has
set aside N1.5bn for it. It’s no longer news that Kogi East may soon be linked
in minutes to Edo via Aganabode bridge at Idah the headquarters of the Igala
Nation through a PPP arrangement.
The
second largest rice mill in Northern Nigeria is ready for commissioning at
Ejiba in Yagba East of Kogi West. We are anticipating 100,000 hectars of Palm
plantations in Kogi East, with Processing cottage ventures. HRM Atta
Igala confirms the setting up of 2 Cashew Processing plants in Kogi East,
finally the big one- CBN’s Approval to establish 500,000 Hectares Of Cassava
farms with corresponding Processing plants in 50 HUB engaging directly 500,000
Farmers. Are these not forward and upward signs for our people? Yet the blind
can’t see what GYB is doing. Blindness is worse if it’s that of the mind. It
has no remedy.
The
Governor has finally brought balance to the religious scales in the state as he
laid the foundation stone for the first ever Chapel in Government House, Lokoja
alongside an excited National President of the Christian Association of Nigeria
(CAN) a fortnight ago. Before then, Christians, Muslims and even traditional
animists alike have enjoyed his support for their lawful modes of
worship.
Kogi
East and in particular Igalaland has received special atte tion commensurate to
the size of her landmass and population. Apart from getting the lion's share of
all the efforts listed above, projects of key significance like the Igala Unity
House and the Project Light Up Kogi East is unique to us. We have several
cultural and unifying festivals banned over the years, some since colonial
times. Governor Yahaya Bello has restored them, both as a salute to us and as a
means of improving the tourism and culture profile of the state.
We
cannot mention all the projects, policies and initiatives one by one, but wherever
they are sited, they are for the use of Kogites and not the Governor or his
family. Whether we like it or not, good and bad governance affects every tribe
and senatorial district the same way.
In
Kogi State, Kogi East and in particular, the Igala, held sway for 20 of 25
years before Governor Bello. Yet, is our backwardness in development not worse
today than those of our 2 brother District to the West and Central of our state
on the indices listed above? Has the bad governance of the past exempted Kogi
East because her sons were in office?
Of
course, those who had the opportunity to govern, along with their families and
cronies, are wealthier today than King Solomon of old. They can buy the rest of
us combined in multiple folds, but does that help us because they speak the
same language as us? Meanwhile, do they even care a hoot about the sufferings
of our people so as to extend a little helping hand to anyone? Show me with
evidence how they helped in solving any of the indices of development above for
their little clan or village? Show me evidence! These people are
multibillionaires today courtesy of our stolen patrimonies for God's sake. They
can transform any village in Kogi East they desire into a Little Maitama or
Asokoro. Show me evidence!
Today,
are all of them - brothers, uncles, sons and aunts - not the only ones who can
afford the heavy cost of nomination forms? Them, and few retired this and that
and one or two serving so and so? My question prior to now is, is their quest
for a return to power not mainly to acquire immunity from their former looting
and impunity to loot further?
Okay
assume for a moment that looting is not exclusive to them and no one is a
saint, can any of them accuse GYB or members of his team of any scandal or financial
impropriety? If they could, do you think they would not have taken out hours on
TV and pages in newspapers to shout it aloud to the whole world?
Sometimes
I just sit and laugh at the joke we are becoming in the scheme of things on the
national stage. In the mad pursuit for localised ethnic agenda, are some of
those that by the grace of our vantage position we persuaded the Governor to
rescue from drowning in irrelevance on to positions of influence on the
national stage not the ones who have redefined perfidy before the eyes of the
who Nigeria?
What
was their thank you, “omaye”? Is it not a new definition and depth of TREACHERY
in the most crudest form? I shiver at the kind of wolves in sheep clothing that
we birthed in our LAND. Now I understand why they say you should let a wolf
dying of starvation in the bush die because if you feed and resuscitate him, he
will try to eat you the moment he gathers enough strength. What a shame.
So,
'Governor Yahaya Bello is not Igala' is the final frontiers to those who like
to make merchandise of us? So what? Can any of them deny his GOOD WORKS on our
PEOPLE and LAND? For months they wailed that our people are suffering for
non-payments of salary by Bello. Even when Wada confessed on Berekete Family
and ChannelsTV that it was a historical problem which forced his administration
to seek an N80bn bailout to solve, they still insisted that Bello must be
blamed. Now that it has been cleared up to date far and better than what Wada,
our omaye, dreamed, tell me if it is not the same old primordial sentiments of
TRIBE which continues to afflict some of us? People are actually sad that the
Governor is paying salaries. How sad.
Incidentally,
the same sentiments that killed millions in Nigeria during the Civil war and
hundreds of thousands in the Rwandan Genocide are found in the 2 hydra-headed
monsters of Tribe & Religion which afflicts our land. If you add the class
divides nurtured by our past leaders to set the haves apart from the have-nots
so that some people are superiors and others are inferiors by no effort or
fault respectively of theirs but the mere accident of birth circumstances, we
see the true dangers facing our society in technicolor.
These
3 monsters are what our Governor, my friend, boss, leader and siamese twin has
trampled underfoot in the last 3½ years and demystified here in the Confluence
State. This state where 2 stranger rivers, totally different in source, color,
content and speed meet in a noiseless synergy of vision and mission and with
focused purpose travel together the tortuous and unpredictable voyage down to
the south of Nigeria to empty into the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
It
is instructive that while we should flex our bigger numbers over our
neighbours, there is an ocean somewhere that covers 70% of the entire earth and
is both deep and wide enough to swallow many times all the lands, resources and
vegetation that we fight ourselves over. Who kills for the ocean that it is so
big? Nobody. Only the Almighty sustains it. Let us stop bottling ourselves up
here as if life begins and ends here in Kogi.
We
are over 7 billion humans on the planet, what fraction are we the Igala in this
7 billion? In fact, what fraction is the whole of Kogi State compared to the
global numbers? Meanwhile, all of this is going to vanish one day. After that
the judgment when we stand before our maker to tell him how righteous and holy
we were here on earth when we thought that other tribes but us must exist. You
claim you love God? He says if you cannot love My creation that you see, do not
bother protesting how much you love Me Whom you have never seen.
"Moreover
the profit of the earth is for all: the king himself is served by the
field." Ecclesiastes 5:9.
The
plan of God is that we share the earth and its resources. 'The profit of the
earth is for all' is how the Holy Bible puts it. Insisting that we must always
take, take and take because we have the might or the numbers is contrary to the
divine design of things. It is how we treat everyone of God's creatures,
whether Ebira, Okun or Igala that shows how much we love and fear the Creator.
Anything short of equity and fairness in distributing the things we co-own with
others is standard hypocrisy and unacceptable to God.
'Love
thy neigbour as thyself' is not a suggestion, it is a command'. Love is always
the greatest of the great virtues. It is always ahead of the other two, Faith
and Hope. May our love bring life to our faith and hope as individuals and as a
tribe.
I’m
100% GYB
I’m
Igala & I’m Loyal
I’m
Igala & I’m not deceptive
I’m
Igala & I’m not an Ethnic Bigot
I’m
Igala,a creation of God, Just like GYB my friend, boss, leader and brother. Ojo
ki be ne nwo abowa.
I’m4GYB
Hon
Onoja Edward David
Chief
Of Staff, Kogi State Governor
FulfillingProphecy2019.
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