Could Yahaya Bello be the Mystery Man? 

Could Yahaya Bello be the Mystery Man? 

By Nafisat Bello 

“Be not afraid of greatness. Some are born great, some achieve greatness, while some have greatness thrust upon them.”

When arguably the greatest dramatist and playwright of all time, Williams Shakespeare, penned the above immortal lines in one of his bestsellers, “Twelfth Night,” he made clear distinctions between the three different ladders one can climb to greatness or through which one can reach the peak of power, and his erudition, vision and understanding of the world is difficult to fault.  He however made no provisions for certain iconic men of history who could defy the rules and use two or all three ladders to reach the zenith of their dream.

In the case of Yahaya Adoza Bello, I am not sure he is of any blue blood or royalty neither can I say he was born with either silver spoon, aluminium spoon or plastic spoon. It is possible he was even born with no spoon at all! So we can’t say he was born great.

He however had greatness thrust upon him by the extraordinary circumstances by which he came to power in 2015. But by winning re-election in a convincing manner in 2019, and performing excellently in office across two terms, he has now achieved greatness. By popular demand, it is looking like a higher level of greatness is about to be thrust upon him again in 2023.

In the midst of the uncertainty over which zone or party will produce his successor and who he is likely to pitch his tent with, President Muhammadu Buhari stirred the hornet’s nest in a recent interview with Channels TV duo of Seun Okinbaloye and Maupe Ogun-Yusuf, when he said he won’t name his preferred aspirant because if he did, some bad people could eliminate him.

In a similar interview with Cyril Stober of the NTA days later, he said the job of a President is extremely difficult for a man of his age as he finds it hard to work for 6 hours in a day. He spoke like a man who was tired of the heavy demands as well as the physical and mental exhaustion that come with the office. He also sounded as if he wouldn’t recommend a man of his age or an aspirant in his age bracket for the office anymore.

Based on recent happenings in the polity and some privileged information they have access to, some highly placed people in the Villa and the All Progressive Congress APC) hierachy are already saying that the mystery man the President was talking about is Governor Bello.

There are a couple of factors that make the above claim also very popular in the streets. They are:

One, based on the way the President spoke in the first interview, the man he was talking about is obviously in demand by a segment of the country though some persons who consider themselves the automatic or rightful successor may want to bully, harm or silence him. Bello is obviously sought after by the overwhelming majority of Nigerian youth.

Two, the President in the second interview talked about his age and the limitations it imposes on his capacity to deliver. He therefore insinuated that a far younger person would do a better job as he would be more physically able and more mentally alert to face the onerous task of administering this large nation. Who is that far younger person that is very close to the President right now and who is also politically relevant across the country? Only one name comes to mind: Governor Bello.

Meanwhile, long before now, the name of the Kogi state governor has been on the lips of many young Nigerians who see him as the future of the country’s politics due to his relatively young age, mass appeal across the country, charisma youth/women-friendly disposition in the governance of the state and all that, and see it as a good idea for him to one day lead Nigeria. Of course most Nigerians, young and old, are tired of people in their 60s and 70s ruling the country or seeking to replace President Buhari in a country where the youth are in majority. So, Governor Bello seems to tick all the boxes for everybody.

Since the beginning of his second term in office therefore, different groups and individuals from all walks of life have been falling on one another to take a trip to Lugard House, to either call on the governor to contest for President in 2023 or endorse him for same political mission. From musicians to actors to current and former national team soccer stars and all manners of activists, the Lugard House has become a Mecca of some sort for these diverse  promoters of the Bello Presidency.

In recent times, we have also seen hundreds of groups, women and youth,  springing up in different parts of the country and calling on Bello to seek the highest office in the land. In the middle of all these endorsements, the governor himself has said he won’t disappoint all the patriotic Nigerians who are rooting for him to seek the Presidency.

Some of the groups even converged on Kano recently and organized a massive prayer session for the success of the Bello Presidency Project.

The governor has done very well in the five thematic areas of Agriculture, Health ,Security, Education and Roads which he promised to focus on.

In Bello’s Kogi, the youth are the focus while the women are in charge. He has empowered a lot of women and youth with both elective and apoointive offices. This is one of the reasons so many youth and women groups across the country are calling on him to bring the Kogi formular to the national level.

Many Nigerians also find Bello’s giant strides in containing insecurity in the state as a very strong point. The way he proactively chased out kidnappers, bandits and terrorists who wanted to make the state their home, was so remarkable. He led from the front. He mobilised both conventional police, local vigilante groups and all the resources in his arsenal to ensure he rid the state of the criminal elements in a commanding fashion, to the admiration of millions of observers outside the state. It is due to Bello’s vibrancy and no-nonsense attitude that the security challenges neighbouring states are facing are not found in Kogi state.

Bello therefore won himself both national and international awards for adequate security of lives and property of the citizens and residents of Kogi state.

Anyone who takes adequate note of Bello’s leadership style in Kogi state, his cosmopolitan nature and his achievements in office, will not be surprised if he is the mystery man on the President’s mind. No one should also be surprised If he is because the kind of successor the President has in mind is a very young person with the strength, dogedness, vibrancy and capacity to withstand the rigours of office.

While it remains to be seen whether the President would unveil his man at the right time, it is often said that “the voice of the people is the voice of God.”

Millions of Nigerian youth would be hoping that their strongest optimism is confirmed and Bello is the man.