By Kunle Aremu
He secretly defected from the All Progressives Congress to the Peoples Democratic Party after he lost the APC governorship primary in 2015 but crawled through the back door to take the ticket after the demise of the authentic party flag bearer, Abubakar Audu.
Yahaya Bello is slippery. He denied jumping out of the APC bus as he fought the running mate of Audu, Abiodun Faleke in the court to get the governorship ticket.
Bello eventually won the governorship election, spending his first term to impress the “kogites ” and rode on the same people with his “Tatatata” slogan, shooting exercise and the backing of the former President Muhammadu Buhari to secure his second term.
He gained the loyalty of Buhari when he began to regularly attacking the then National leader of the APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.
His own definition of boldness is bringing leaders down to save his own skin. He went further to contest against Tinubu in the presidential primary of the APC ahead of the 2023 election. Of course he had the rights to do so, it was obvious he was using the idea to prove his bravery.
To Bello, challenging people of Tinubu’s calibre is a sign of bravery and installing a cousin to succeed himself in Kogi State is another sign of fearlessness.
Being in his late thirties, he claimed to have represented the youth as a governor and when he was leaving the office he used all his might to install a cousin, Usman Ododo as his successor to cover his ass.
Bello’s criminal records are stinking, according to the myriads of allegations by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission. These include the over N80bn financial misappropriation and another over N100bn scandal. This, he must not allow to be investigated, he runs from pillar to post, seeking solace in the courts to conceal his dirty past.
What Bello defines as bravery lacks element of courage when compared to great men who had set forth before him amid allegations.
Like him, these men were charged for various offences, yet they stood their grounds, appeared before the courts and washed themselves of every allegation. It is a gross abuse of judiciary to use the court to prevent arrest as Bello is doing right now.
As much as it will look like a slap to integrate the personality of the late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo in an article that speaks about Bello, one cannot but use this collosus to define courage and then urge Bello to learn from such a figure.
Awo is a good example of courage. Unlike Bello, Awo was not questioned for stealing, he was charged for treasonable felony in a nation he helped to build, yet he appeared in court to defend himself.
Bello should learn from men of courage to redress his persona in his numerous cases against the EFCC.
Awolowo said that the life of a man is not measured by how he had lived it but the courage he had brought into it. He was speaking from the dock while being tried for treasonable felony.
He did not run even when he had lost his brilliant child, Segun in an accident. Awolowo represented himself in the court, even though he was jailed, he came out to be loved by the public. He rose to become the second in command in the government of General Yakubu Gowon.
I think men who can dare the consequence of their actions are the brave ones not those who are afraid to appear in court to save their skin after perpetrating evil while in office.
Towards the end of president Goodluck Jonathan, the Code of Conduct Bureau docked the former Governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was asked to appear before the Code of Conduct Tribunal. Tinubu sat in the dock and was fiercely interrogated.
He never ran away even when he had the opportunity to do so. Some people said that Tinubu’s appearance must have been a good advice by his legal counsel and since he did, he never went down, he rose to become the president of this country.
The current National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu was the Chairman of the EFCC at the time Tinubu was the Lagos State Governor. Ribadu was specially ordered by the then president Olusegun Obasanjo to investigate Tinubu.
As a governor, Tinubu had got the immunity but then Ribadu went after him and later found him innocent of all the allegations. What matters most was that Tinubu didn’t stop his prosecution through court processes.
Today I watched the greatest comeback of the US president-elect, Donald Trump as he beat vice president Kamala Harris in the presidential election.
Before then, Trump was faced with prosecution over tax evasion and his role in the hoodlum invasion of the White house after his loss to Joe Biden four years ago.
He went through court, he presented himself for scrutiny and emerged victorious in the US presidential polls. A day after his electoral victory, the US Department of Justice began a process to wind down all the criminal cases against Trump.
I have deliberately mentioned Awolowo, Tinubu and of course Trump to define courage, resilience and strength in the face of justice when the law requested some questions. These three are too big for Bello, however he can choose any of them as his hero and learn the ropes of courage instead of hiding.
Who is Bello’s.mentor? Who taught him politics? These are questions he will need to answer.
Bello is running and steadily ruining his political career by his lack of courage in the face of law. His is an example of a coward who dies many times before he will die.
Every story that is against EFCC is of interest to Bello. He is hiding behind a smiling mask. The public pretends not to see him but they are recording everything about his moves.
I was at the computer village, Ikeja a few days ago where a discourse on Bello came up. “Why has he not been arrested by now? a question had popped up.
It is because we are operating democracy, another person had answered, adding that in a military era, somebody like Bello will be languishing in jail by now.
The time and the culture of our politics have created a fake bravery for Bello, it is not that he is fearless but our judicial process has given a wrong impression of him. He is a coward.
Kunle Aremu is a seasoned journalist and columnist
