The governors of Kogi, Niger and Zamfara states have many things in common; the most striking being the “Bello” in their names. While “Bello” is the first name of the Zamfara State Governor, Mohammed Matawalle, it is Kogi State Governor Yahaya’s surname and the name of Niger State Governor Abubakar Sani Bello’s grandfather, which is the family name.
Among the trio, Yahaya and Matawalle came to power in circumstances that were quite unusual and controversial. Yahaya was foisted onto the country’s political consciousness following the death of the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship candidate in Kogi State in 2015, Prince Abubakar Audu. Audu was cruising to victory before he collapsed and died before the results were officially declared.
The APC shocked analysts and observers by going over Prince Audu’s running mate, James Faleke, to pick Yahaya Bello who came second during the governorship primary in August, 2015, thereby throwing the state into what appeared a constitutional logjam. Faleke challenged the party’s decision all the way to the Supreme Court, but lost the bid to recover what was a joint mandate.
Yahaya made another unusual history as being the only elected governor sworn in without a deputy. Faleke who was nominated by APC, refused to present himself for swearing in with the governor. Mr Simon Achuba was to emerge as deputy months after Yahaya was sworn in.
Like Yahaya, Matawalle emerged as Zamfara governor out of the crisis that trailed the APC primaries in the state. He earlier lost the governorship election as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate but the apex court crowned him the chief executive of the state after it invalidated the APC primaries. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had no choice but to implement the apex court’s judgement by issuing the Certificate of Return to Matawalle. About two years later, he was to dump the party that delivered him to the highest seat in the state, stirring outrage among stakeholders and loyalists of his former party, while also creating a crack within the APC in his state.
Unlike the duo of Matawalle and Yahaya, Niger’s Abubakar emerged through a “clean” electoral process, defeating his opponent, Mohammed Nasko, in the two elections of 2015 and 2019. Nonetheless, his policy decisions, style of governance, age, among others, are some of the characteristics that he shares with the other Bellos, although many argue that without the goodwill of his father, a businessman and a former Military Governor of old Kano State, Col Sani Bello; and father in-law, a former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, he was a paper weight politically who could hardly make an impact in a state as politically complex as Niger. But he won landslides in both elections against candidates that were more notable and influential.
So much for youthful exuberance
Among the things that also define the Bellos is the fact that they are within the same age bracket – 45 to 58 – and therefore fall within the middle age gap. Observers say there are some measures of youthful exuberance in the manners with which they handle their states’ affairs and respond to issues.
However, the trio are far beyond the age stipulation in the “Not-Too-Young to Run” law intended to give youths opportunity for inclusion in leadership. The youngest among the trio, Yahaya, was 46 last June, while the oldest, Abubakar, will be 54 on December 17. Apart from Borno’s Babagana Zulum who shares the same birth year of 1969 with Matawalle, all other northern governors are by far older.
In fact, Katsina’s Aminu Masari and Kano’s Abdullahi Ganduje are just seven years younger than Colonel Sani Bello, father of Niger’s Abubakar.
However, the age factor has become one of the indices through which their actions and inactions are measured, and with the general notion that the older generation have consistently failed to take the country to the Promised Land, there are high expectations from the younger generation, which the trio seemingly represent. Across the states where they hold sway as chief executives, disenchantment over their alleged failure to provide dividends of democracy to their people pervades.
Kogi: Confusion at the confluence
Yahaya formed his administration around youths; insisting that the state required the vibrancy of his generation to move forward. Most of his appointees then were below 40, noting that the old generation had only succeeded in drawing the state backward. His policies right from the very beginning were tagged “anti-people” and their implementation had debilitating consequences.
There is also the question of his non-performance and months of salary arrears owed workers which have tainted whatever positive image he cultivated; even with billions of naira bailout funds and Paris Club Refunds received.
Aside these, the governor is also fond of stirring controversies that draw criticisms from across Nigeria.
Firstly in October, 2020, he said he had rejected a N1.1bn COVID-19 support fund for the state from the World Bank, but admitted later that he received N1billion from the federal government for COVID-19 recovery. Despite his denial of the existence of the disease in the state, billions of naira were allocated for COVID-19 intervention in the budgets. And because of his disposition on the matter, Yahaya does not observe COVID-19 protocols while in public, even as the task force he set up at the height of the spread of the virus never enforced same.
Secondly, like the COVID-19 controversy, Yahaya has been in the eye of the storm since he claimed that some youths in the country have been putting pressure on him to run for the presidency. His cabinet members have been in the forefront of the subtle campaign for what is gradually becoming a mission for him. Even the Matthew Kolawole-led Kogi assembly has been enlisted in the campaign and members have visited their counterparts in some states in the North to drum support for him. He has also been playing host to youth groups, including musicians and footballers, with the groups pledging support for his ambition and honouring him with funny awards.
However, some youth groups have described the governor as a “disgrace” to his generation, insisting that he is squandering a golden opportunity to prove that youths are in a better position to salvage the country.
Bolanle Arinze of the Concerned Nigerian Youths Initiative (CNYI) said, “Yahaya is failure defined; he bungled our opportunity to tell the older generation that we the youths are ready to take over, and we never forgive him. The Governor said some youths have asked him to contest for the country’s topmost position? He is daydreaming.”
Also, a Kogi-born activist, Austin Usman Okai, noted that the governor had been “a disaster to the youths; yes, he formed a government of youths, but that was just mere constitutional requirement to fill in the gap. As governor, he has performed poorly in infrastructural development and depriving workers of their salaries and entitlements.”
However, Yahaya’s Commissioner for Information, Kinsley Fanwo, said his principal had done well so far.
Fanwo said, “Governor Yahaya Bello inherited a Kogi which was the kidnapping capital of Nigeria, but with his youthfulness and pragmatic leadership, he led the war against criminality from the front.”
Niger: Governance by correspondence?
Niger’s Bello is less controversial, but he also adorns the toga of under-performance. Observers agree that Abubakar has been able to make significant progress, but have questioned his approach to governance, which they claim has been lackadaisical.
A PDP stalwart, Yahaya Ability, lamented that, “Until the spate of attacks that turned the state into bandits’ capital after Zamfara and Katsina, the governor never stayed in the state. In fact, he governed the state either from Kaduna, Abuja or even abroad.”
In the same vein, Lucas Dominic, Executive Chairman of Niger Unite Movement, said, “My conclusion in all that has happened over the last six years in Niger State so far is that he is hardly prepared for leadership and his party lacks a defined development blueprint.”
But spokesperson of the governor, Abdulbergy Ebbo, described the allegation that his principal ran the state from afar as laughable and ridiculous, saying except on few occasions when the governor travelled for official duties within the country and abroad, he was always around.
Zamfara: Governor by providence
Like Niger’s Abubakar, Governor Matawalle is believed to have done little to bring development to the state. He is also being accused of allowing the activities of bandits to fester through his peace deals which empower the bandits to acquire more arms.
The Secretary General, Concerned Citizens of Zamfara, Musa Gusau, said having assumed the leadership of the state through providence, many expected that Matawalle would have hit the ground running by proving to the people that they made a mistake by not initially voting him.
Gusau said, “But what he has succeeded in doing is bringing the state backward, and today Zamfara has been designated ‘poverty and bandits’ headquarters’ in the country’.”
Also, Muktar Suleiman, Chairman, Zamfara Integrity Group, said Matawalle’s preoccupation since he was sworn in was how to secure a second term.
Suleiman said, “You can see that it was a mission accomplished for him and the entire four years wasted.”
However, Matawalle’s media aide, Yusuf Idris Gusau, said looking at the status of the state before the present administration took over, it was unfair to accuse his principal of non-performance.
Gusau said, “There is no sector that the state government has not touched despite the security challenges that the state is coping with.”
