Your Conduct Is Embarrassing, Kogi Group Chides Yahaya Bello

A socio-political group, the Movement for the Emancipation of Kogi State (MEKSTA), has chided former Kogi Governor Yahaya Bello, describing his conduct since he vacated office in January 2024 as embarrassing.

The group cited Bello’s recent congratulatory message to the newly appointed Chief of Army Staff, Maj Gen Waidi Shaibu, as one in a series of his embarrassing actions. General Shaibu is an indigene of Kogi State.

Bello’s letter, which went viral on social media, bore the imprint of the Office of the Governor of Kogi State, complete with Nigeria’s coat of arms and a silhouette of the ex-governor, placed side-by-side at the top of the page.

“The world woke up on Sunday, October 26, 2025, to see the viral copy of a congratulatory letter authored by former Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi State.

“The action drew widespread criticism and public backlash, which compelled Bello to pull it down from the internet.

“While Bello reserves the right to express himself in the public space, we were shocked and embarrassed to find that Bello indeed is still operating as substantive governor of Kogi State, no thanks to his deployment of state stationery and seal of government for his correspondence.

“We find this illegality and presumptuousness utterly irresponsible, disrespectful and unconscionable,” MEKSTA stated in a statement jointly signed by its coordinators in the nine federal constituencies of Kogi State.

The coordinators are Obafemi Medaiyese (Yagba), Joseph Mebatonije (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu), Yusuf Kpareke (Lokoja/Kotonkarfe), Jimoh Ozovehe (Adavi/Okehi), and Nurudeen Adaviriku (Okene Ogori-Magongo).

Others include Alhaji Isiaka Momoh (Ajaokuta), Ojonimi Adegbe (Idah/Igalamela-Odolu/Ofu/Ibaji), Mark Onucheyo (Dekina/Bassa) and Husseini Saidu (Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro).

According to the group, the ex-governor, by the said letter, displayed unbridled ignorance and crass indiscipline, unbecoming of a former public officer at the level of a governor.

Continuing, MEKSTA said, “Yahaya Bello, by his shameful public showing, exposed his gross limitations as a totally inexperienced former civil servant, who happened on power and authority, but failed to learn basic service rules and procedures.

“This is not unexpected from a man who practically killed the Kogi State Civil Service under his watch, rendering it totally powerless and irrelevant.

“Irregular payment of workers’ salaries, increment, leave bonuses and allowances; denial of training for professional development and basic office equipment and operational vehicles, as well as the non-payment of pensions and gratuities, were the legacies of Yahaya Bello in the Kogi State Civil Service.”

“Is it not a shame that a former governor of a state which produced eminent bureaucrats like Chief SB Awoniyi, Chief SB Daniyan, Asiwaju Sola Akanmode, Alhaji Abdrahman Okene, Ambassador Judith Attah, Prince Ataba Sani-Omolori, Prof Francis Idachaba, Senator Alex Kadiri, Chief Robert Audu and so on, lacks basic knowledge about document handling?

“How many former governors in Nigeria are still clutching to properties and documents belonging to the states they hitherto administered?”

The group wondered what Yahaya Bello really learnt in management and administration over the eight years he occupied the office of governor.

It knocked the ex-governor for betraying such “managerial illiteracy” in the public space and “making a laughing stock” of the human resources of a state so blessed and otherwise respected?

MEKSTA wondered why it had to be Bello who wrote to congratulate the new Chief of Army Staff, and not the incumbent governor of Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo.

The group also questioned why Bello did not congratulate other sons and daughters of Kogi State, previously appointed by President Bola Tinubu into various positions, “but rather directed his self-serving correspondence to the new Army Chief.”

The group advised Bello not to nurse the hope that the new Army Chief would be pliable enough to subscribe to the ex-governor’s “prototype on electoral brigandage and violence, perfected during his years as governor.”

It admonished him “to go and get a life” after his stint in Government House, Lokoja, and stop being a “leeching rent collector, conniving to deny the people resources meant for their welfare and development.”

The group drew a contrast between Bello’s unruly conduct and the comportment of former Cross River State Governor Mr Donald Duke and his Enugu State counterpart, Chimaroke Nnamani, after they left office.

“When last did anyone hear or see former Governor Donald Duke of Cross River State hanging around Government House, Calabar? Since he left office in 2007, he has returned to his private business and is very, very successful.

“He’s sparingly seen in Calabar as he shuttles across the world building his private enterprise. This is why all his successors and the people of Cross River State love and respect him.

“Former Governor Chimaroke Nnamani of Enugu State remains an iconic figure in the politics of the state. He has tested himself politically even after being the governor and won an election to the Senate.
That is how to stay relevant and regarded.”