By Ebinum Samuel
Despite his multi-sided corruption cases in several Nigerian courts for the misappropriation of a whopping N200Billion during his stint as Kogi State Governor, there seems to be no letting up for Yahaya Bello in the continuing pilferage of the resources of the state. Credible intelligence available to the Movement for the Emancipation of Kogi State, (MEKSTA), notes that Bello continues to issue directives to his heir, Usman Ododo, titrating resources from the commonwealth of the state. This is just as the state government recently floated a bid for a SUKUK loan of N50Billion, supposedly for the construction of an international market and an airport. These incongruences continue to agitate and infuriate common folks in Kogi State, who have been at the receiving end of tokenist governance.
Bello who is reportedly on a monthly subvention of N2.5Billion from Kogi State coffers, allegedly directed Ododo fortnight ago, to immediately make available the sum of N3Billion for “urgent needs.” The request, sources say, is to enable Bello settle in the newest addition to his harem of wives, who he married just before recently embarking on the lesser hajj preceding the Ramadan fast. The newest wife is different from Hiqma who Bello married as his fourth July 18, 2025. Bello is said to have divorced his oldest wife and former first lady, Amina Oyiza Bello, 48, an attorney, and a second wife to enable him take the newest and stay within the allowable maximum of four as prescribed by his faith.
Barrister Oyiza Bello is reported to have filed a suit challenging her displacement by another attorney, who Bello reportedly encountered in court in the course of one of his appearances. Reports suggest that Bello baited his new wife through her mother who he purportedly advanced the sum of N500m to help convince her daughter to marry him. Informed sources apprised MEKSTA, that Bello frontally told Ododo that he needed a befitting accommodation either in Asokoro or Maitama for his new bride. Ododo is also required to procure five brand new luxury vehicles for his benefactor’s new spouse, and to make arrangements to hire and cater for the emoluments of her personal aides.
Sources told MEKSTA that Ododo who reportedly bought a house in Asokoro for Mrs Hiqma Bello when she got married to Bello last year and provided a fleet of vehicles for her use, seemed uncomfortable with the demand which was coming just months after similar expenditure. He was, however, quickly reminded by Bello that accruals to the state had been on the increase over the months, who noted that the Kogi State received over N30Billion for the state and local governments, from the last Federal Account Allocation disbursements. MEKSTA learnt Bello reminded Ododo how he bent over to settle for him from a long list of aspirants in the run up to the November 2023 governorship election and how Ododo swore to do his every bidding. Last May, Ododo gifted Bello a *Rezvani Vengeance* SUV, valued at the time at N1.2Billion, (about $800,000).
While it is not the responsibility of MEKSTA to oversee the private affairs of the on-trail Yahaya Bello, we are deeply concerned about the wholesale conversion of the resources of Kogi State to a private estate. Whereas Bello rode on the sentiment of a businessman who owned a successful transport company ahead of his contest for the Kogi State governorship in 2015, it is crystal clear now that that posturing was just a hoax to deceive the unsuspecting people of the state. Bello, through his disposition to public resources in and out of office, has shown himself a light-fingered impostor whose principal target was control of state funds to feed his obtuse and grandiose lifestyle.
This is just as Ododo continues to function as an “offshore, visiting Governor,” who along with his commissioners and aides, are resident in the nation’s capital, Abuja, visiting the state capital, Lokoja, for official photo ops, a template copied from his principal. This is just as bandits, terrorists and kidnappers continue to terrorise Kogi State. This is just as underdevelopment, poverty and hopelessness continue to fester across the state. Between Ododo’s consistency with the payment of salaries and his humility are perhaps the only attributes which stand him apart from the ungodly, loud, arrogant, violence-prone Bello, who has been fingered in several cases of abduction and elimination.
MEKSTA notes, sadly, that Bello has an ever pliable and consenting accessory in his self-procured puppet successor, Ododo, who is ever beholden to him in their collaborative, incestuous enterprise. This explains Ododo’s psychotic quest for a second term to ensure the protection of the Bello criminal dynasty beyond 2027. Let it be very clear to both Bello and Ododo that as the Holy Bible says in Luke 8:17, “Nothing is hidden under the sun which will not eventually be revealed and brought to light.” Former Governor Nasir El Rufai of Kaduna State, one of the untouchables of the President Muhammadu Buhari dispensation, has spent two nights in the detention of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, (EFCC), for the misapplication of N432Billion, under his watch. History is patient, time is the greatest enemy of the presumptuous. Bello and Ododo will soon meet their comeuppance.
*SIGNED:*
1. Hon Obafemi Medaiyese (Yagba Federal Constituency constituency)
2. Comrade Joseph Mebatonije (Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency)
3. Alhaji Yusuf Kpareke (Lokoja/Kotonkarfe Federal Constituency)
4. Mallam Jimoh Ozovehe (Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency)
5. Dr Nurudeen Adaviriku (Okene/Ogori-Magongo)
6. Alhaji Isiaka Momoh (Ajaokuta Federal Constituency)
7. Chief Ojonimi Adegbe (Idah/Igalamela-Odolu/Ofu/Ibaji Federal Constituency)
8. Pastor Mark Onucheyo (Dekina/Bassa Federal Constituency)
9. Bishop Husseini Saidu (Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro Federal Constituency)
