Some key chieftains of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, key opposition figures, both at the state and national levels, have been fingered in the sponsorship of false news against the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, investigations have shown.
A former APC governor, who lost his state during the presidential election and a sitting northern governor, who worked underground against the victory of President Bola Tinubu during the presidential elections, were some of the names thrown up by investigations which lasted about two weeks.
It was gathered that former Governor Bello’s sin was to have been able to produce an APC successor and loyalist, which his detractors felt would make him powerful in the North.
This triggered the gang-up to smear his image with a campaign of calumny.
A source close to the Presidency said that some people had even been selling the idea that the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party, SDP, in the March 18, 2023 governorship election in the state, Murtala Ajaka, should be backed at the tribunal to win his case, flying the narrative that he would return to APC once he became governor.
“They are even telling the said candidate to make sure he is seen to be supporting the President in the media by releasing statements. But I guess they are undermining the political capacity of our President, which is recognised beyond the shores of Nigeria.
“He (the President) doesn’t fall for such things. He knows what everyone can do, and he keeps his decisions close to his chest,” he said emphatically.
The source said that the conspiracy started during the election but that it surprised everyone how the APC could still win in spite of glaring acts of sabotage by key party members in the state and at the national level.
The turn of events at the Tribunal, where SDP’s case appeared to have been damaged by its key witnesses, is what is fuelling the new onslaught, in a few blogs, against the former Governor, in a bid to turn the public against him, it was further learnt.
It is also believed that some disgruntled APC chieftains, working with key opposition figures, are behind the renewed onslaught of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, against former Governor Bello, it was alleged.
“This they thought they would be able to use in keeping him off circulation and also distract him from the Tribunal case,” a medical doctor from Kogi State, based in Lagos, Zainab Momoh, said.
According to court documents sighted by this newspaper, there is a subsisting restraining order against arrest and harassment of the former Governor, pending the determination of the matter in court.
This is despite the fact that the state government has insisted that the continued onslaught against him and his family members is nothing but political persecution, considering the visible achievements of his eight years administration in Kogi State.
However, our reporter’s findings showed that contrary to sponsored fake news, former Governor Bello has been in his Wuse Zone 4 residence in Abuja, even before the Muslim fasting (Ramadan).
When our reporter visited the former Governor’s Abuja residence on three different occasions, he was not given access but could see him (ex-Gov Bello) outside performing the congregational Taraweeh prayers.
Aside from this, pictures and videos of various party loyalists, aides and even key national figures and government officials dining with him at Iftar have been circulated, almost on a daily basis on social media and through WhatsApp.
The Governor, it was learnt, left to celebrate the Eid in Okene, stayed back till Friday and headed back to Abuja.
Investigations were still ongoing when a news report filtered in from a blog that the former Governor was in the Govt House, hiding from the EFCC.
This was on a day that this reporter confirmed that he was receiving visitors in his hometown, among the mammoth crowd that had gone to welcome him home for Eid.
The Governor was also sighted in Lagos on Saturday with the President where he reportedly went to pay Eid homage, like many top APC chieftains.
On Friday, the leadership of the National Assembly and 27 governors also visited the President in Lagos.
A source at the EFCC told this reporter that the Commission was not part of the fake news being peddled against Bello.
“People just use the word ‘sources’ to publish whatever they like. There is a process to everything. How can you be saying that EFCC is closing in on someone that is in Nigeria? They are not even painting the image of the Commission in good light with this propaganda. If EFCC wants to do anything, we will follow due process and not be seen to flout any law, at least not under this administration. That is all I can say,” the source said, while pleading anonymity.
The Presidency source, who also spoke to our reporter in confidence, hinted that insiders were aware that the former Governor had been visiting the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
“They are just causing confusion for whatever reasons. Yahaya Bello is not also a soft nut to crack so I guess that is why he is having all these attacks,” he concluded.
