Ordinarily, the latest concoction of falsehood spewed by Phrank Shaibu, a self-styled media consultant concerning the emergence of Kogi State Auditor-General, Ahmed Ododo, as the preferred candidate of the All Progressives Congress in the coming state governorship election would not deserve a response. Silence would be the best answer.
However, that would have allowed the barefaced lies, innuendoes, deception and obvious mischief intended in his article to gain traction in the public space and mislead quite a lot of people.
For one, it is a false assumption that Kogi indigenes were shocked by Governor Yahaya Bello’s choice of Ododo as his preferred candidate, Shaibu can only speak for himself, especially when the current field of about 17 aspirants included some of Bello’s other trusted hands. It could have been any of them.
What is even new or wrong in a governor anointing a successor? President-elect Bola Tinubu has anointed his successors since 2007 and the continuity in governance which that allowed has seen Lagos transform positively on many fronts.
True to type, Shaibu then veered off course in a desperate attempt to belittle the circumstances that led to Bello’s ascension to Lugard House after the sudden death of Abubakar Audu, the Kogi APC governorship candidate, triggering a rerun election which Bello won by a wide margin.
It is unintelligent to suggest, as Shaibu did, that Bello made no personal effort to lobby to secure the seat as those with a much better memory know that Bello had to surmount a huge obstacle in Hon. James Faleke, who was Audu’s running mate to emerge as candidate.
That the APC bigwigs chose Bello over Faleke speaks volumes of the governor’s political savvy and confidence he inspired at that time. Shaibu put this to divine providence as if a governorship ticket were manna from heaven.
He claimed that Bello has been playing God and has not allowed a level playing field for APC candidates to emerge and that potential dissenters have been whipped in line when in fact many of the equally strong candidates such as the deputy governor, Edward Onoja and Chief of Staff, Mohammed Abdulkareem Asuku publicly stepped down for Ododo while expressing gratitude to Bello for being given the opportunity to serve in high offices; a clear case of weeping more than the bereaved.
Does Shaibu not realise that Bello must have seen something unique and exemplary in Ododo in settling for him? In any case, the party has made it clear that any other contestant is free to do so. Nobody is being corralled behind a fence.
Shaibu goes on with a feeble attempt to castigate Bello’s tenure as unimpressive and accused him of scaring away investors following the very public face-off with Dangote Cement over the Obajana plant.
What is clear even to Bello’s critics, is that the Kogi governor has brought a new style of leadership to the table that does not pander to specific interests. Rather the focus has been on the public good. Bello has been the only Kogi governor to address the deep and bitter rivalries between the major ethnic groupings in the state – Igala, Ebira, Igala and Okun – by ensuring equal representation in government at all levels.
Shaibu also makes no pretense of an attempt to stir up feelings of disaffection and undo the peace in that state by suggesting that Igalas are not happy with Bello’s choice of successor when the announcement was made at a well-attended stakeholders meeting.
Bello stopped the corrupt payment of salaries to ghost workers including those already retired and working in other states. Of course, they will not be happy.
As a testament to Bello’s transparent style of government, which Shaibu ignored, the World Bank has commended Bello for refunding $4.63 million surplus funds under the Nigeria Erosion and Watershed Management Project (NEWMAP) describing the step as a sign of good leadership and would enable it to extend its projects to others states facing deficit funds as well as extend the closing date of its projects.
He boldly confronted the myriad security issues facing the state and restored a high level of sanity on the roads leading in and out of the state. He has made crucial investments in education and infrastructure including roads, bridges, markets schools, a mega factory, and other projects that have been completed with many more still underway in earnest such as the Ganaja flyover in Lokoja and reference hospitals in Okene and district hospitals in Geju, Ajaokuta and Isanlu as well a teaching hospital in Idah.
Bello also founded the Confluence University of Science and Technology (CUSTECH), a world class STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) complex in Osara. That, of course, is unremarkable according to Mr. Shaibu.
Well, it is no surprise that Shaibu continues to plumb new depths of infamy as one who has earned high marks for falsehood and deception.
Popular columnist Farooq Kperogi rightly described him as shameless for plagiarizing his (Kperogi’s) “My Grammar” column for months on end on Facebook, Channels TV and Radio Kogi. Shuaibu, whom Kperogi noted is a “nitwitted charlatan”, effectively cloned another writer’s column, including lifting answers provided by the same writer in response to questions posed by his own “readers”.
No one will certainly take such a character seriously especially as he embarks on another journey of mischief.
Talking about investors, perhaps, what would have suited Shaibu, a Kogi indigene, was for Governor Bello to cringe before the Dangotes of this world in a matter where the public interest is at stake, for him to allow business as usual and turn a blind eye to wrongs perpetrated by compromised officials so that a public asset can become dust. That it took presidential intervention to resolve the matter and both parties are good with it justifies Bello’s stand from the outset.
Shaibu betrayed his mercenary mindset when he now urged the rival Peoples Democratic Party to find a candidate that would match Ododo in the November election, admitting unwittingly that APC is the party to beat.
He should be bold enough to name one instead of dancing “Za Zoo Zeh” around the issue by taking cheap shots against a sitting governor seeking to cement his legacy.
*Hadiza Momoh, an economist/public affairs analyst, is from Anyigba, in Kogi State.
