IT is, perhaps, a mere coincidence that has nothing to do with the unfolding saga between him and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, but a couple of video clips of the embattled former governor of Kogi State and lately fugitive from the law, Yahaya Bello, have made their way to the public space of Nigeria’s social media. Each footage portrays the White Lion of Lokoja engaged in exerting fitness tests and his favourite sports of boxing.
But since the slugfest started in earnest last Thursday with an EFCC siege that turned into a standoff at one of the Abuja residences of Bello, his reaction, turning his back on his assailants with his tail between his legs and fleeing into empty air, he has been anything but a pound for pound prize fighter.
Eight years after he first entered the Government House in Lokoja, it is still debatable if Yahaya Bello should have been governor in the first place. He lacks the finer qualities of a good leader and but for the unfortunate demise of Audu Abubakar who won the 2015 governorship election in Kogi, Bello might still be a struggling politician, loud but vacuous, like Dino Melaye. Maybe the people of Kogi would have been better served with somebody else in office.
From the very prominent ones like Salisu Buhari, Dimeji Bankole to scores of other young people who have served and besmirched their offices across the different levels of governance across the country, Nigerian youths have been badly served by those among them that have had the opportunity of being in political leadership. Yahaya Bello is one of the most execrable and easily forgettable.