Elections: Bello’s panic moves and the road excavation bizzaire

By Atekojo Samson Usman

Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello was on Thursday last week trended in the news for the bad, worse, worst for directing the excavation of access road in Okehi Local Government Council just to block INEC officials and election observers from accessing the hinterlands.

Some officials of Kogi State Ministry of Works, who are clearly the bad and evil ones in connivance with the willing tools working with Chinese Construction and Engineering Company Limited in Kogi State succumbed to doing the bizzaire thing.

They agreed to excavate roads and make them unmotorable in less than 48 hours to the general election so that all forms of manipulation and election rigging can take place.

Kogi State is infrastructure deficit, awkward and backward in terms of development. Sanity in all spheres have been rigged in the last seven years and to say the State has seen anything good is an irony that portends hypocrisy at its peak in the 21st century.

Why the thought of excavating the road because of politics. The access road belongs to the people and not any individual, hence, the people shouldn’t be casualties of anyone’s political mischief.

Bello’s panic could be understood given the decline of the All Progressives Congress and the rise of Barrister Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan’s determination to challenge the governor’s former Commissioner for Works, Engr Abubakar Sadiku Ohere and the All Progressives Congress candidate for Kogi Central Senatorial district.

In as much as one wouldn’t want to say for sure who is popular and preferred to represent the good people of Kogi Central Senatorial district, Engr Ohere is no match with Barrister Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan. This was very clear to the governor, hence, he began to thread on the path of ignominy to do whatever at all to win the election by hook or crook.

The fear of Natasha defeating Ohere was Bello’s major panic move to tamper with processes leading to what would have been a smooth conduct of general election in Kogi State. The good people of Kogi Central Senatorial district wanted to exercise their franchise and didn’t envisage any dastardly act before the election day.

Bello’s ill-motive against Saturday’s general election was manifested at a meeting with stakeholders on Thursday night when he set the template for election violence rolling in his charge to them.

He urged the All Progressives Congress stakeholders to ‘strangle’ opposition political parties, particularly Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.

Bello’s words: “Do everything you can to win and bring the result back and show me that you have won.

“The little Natasha girl, anywhere you see her, press her neck, strangle her to death and come back,” a stakehokder no at the meeting revealed

Unfortunately, the Okehi Local Government Council Chairman Abdulraheem Ohiare, who led the team to the part of the access road to be excavated constitute a disservice to the people.

At each elections, it’s been about brigandage, thuggery, ballot boxes stealing, reign of guns in Kogi State.

There was nothing to show Kogi’s positive contributions to the nation’s democratic growth even as the Federal government strives to enhace democracy towards a free, fair and credible elections in Nigeria.

Atekojo Samson Usman is a journalist and writes from Kogi State. Can be reached at info@capitalpost.ng