By Otori Ozigi
The point must made clearly at this juncture, that I’m not one of the media handlers of the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello. I’m equally not seeking for any undue attention because I have made my mark and paid my dues in active journalism cum Public Relations practice,spanning over 38 years now.
For starters, I’m a Pensioner with a reputable and key federal government parastatal in the country.
But as a former Political Correspondent in the state,a former Media Aide in Kogi State government house and an informed journalist,I’m highly privileged to give a candid postmortem on the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, devoid of any unnecessary sentiments and biased assessment of his 8 years tenure in office,which ended penultimate Saturday, in a colourful and momentous ceremony held in Lokoja, the state capital.
The need for this piece became imperative in view of the ongoing barrages of misinformation and deliberate misrepresentation of events and negative narrative of the tenure of the former governor to suit the intention of mischief makers and his political enemies.
No matter what is being presented to the public to tarnish the image of Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello, the fact remains that his tenure was very eventful and impactful on the lives of the good people of the state.
He is a benevolent and exemplary leader who performed creditably well in the critical thematic areas of his New direction vision mantra.
These areas include, but not limited, to his midas touch in security, health, education, agriculture, infrastructure and rural development sectors.
His tenure also bequeathed a legacy of a highly productive and corruption-free civil service system, after a holistic reform regime that purged the state of ghost workers syndrome in virtually all the sensitive ministries, departments and agencies in the state.
On the whole, the immediate past governor can rightly be referred to as the father of modern Kogi State with iconic and legacy projects to his credit.
The list of these projects which were evenly distributed across the three senatorial districts is over 5000 in number, as presented to the public in a compendium unveiled at the inauguration ceremony.
If there is any area of his shortcomings, it is because he is only human.Nobody is infallible.
It is very unfair for any undiscerning mind to attempt in demonizing and de-marketing him just to settle cheap political scores.
It is on record that he successfully delivered in providing a healthy political culture and environment that culminated into a peaceful and credible transition of political leadership trajectory, that ushered in the newly inaugurated government of Alhaji Ododo Ahmed Usman ,as the 5th Executive Governor of Kogi State.
It is my unwavering conviction that posterity will be kind to him.
