A group which described itself as Movement for the Emancipation of Kogi State, (MEKSTA), has warned former governor Yahaya Bello to ‘stop embarrassing the state before the eyes of the world.’
The non-governmental organisation said this in a statement it issued in Lokoja the state capital on Tuesday in reaction to Bello’s widely publicised congratulatory message to the newly appointed Chief of Army Staff, (COAS), Maj Gen Waidi Shaibu, an indigene of Kogi State.
Bello’s letter bore the imprint of the Office of the Governor Kogi State, complete with Nigeria’s coat of arms, and a silhouette of Bello, placed side-by-side at the top of the page. The action drew widespread criticism and public backlash, which compelled Bello to pull it down from the internet.
MEKSTA noted in its press release: “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. 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.”
According to MEKSTA, Yahaya Bello, by the said letter, displayed “unbridled ignorance and crass indiscipline unbecoming of a former public officer at the level of a governor.”
MEKSTA noted: “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 on the Kogi State Civil Service.”
Said MEKSTA: “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? What did Yahaya Bello really learn in management and administration over eight years such that he is 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 sons and daughters of Kogi State, previously appointed by President Bola Tinubu into various positions, but rather directing his self-serving correspondence to the new Army Chief.
MEKSTA advised Bello not to nurse the hope that Maj Gen Waidi Shaibu is some pliable senior military officer who will subscribe to his prototype on electoral brigandage and violence perfected during his years as governor.
The organisation admonished Yahaya Bello 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.”
In their words: “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 governor and won election into the Senate. Back home, Ibrahim Idris remains a good example of how to be a former governor. He served Kogi state for an unprecedented nine years, handed over to his preferred successor, and has since retired to managing his private business far away from Lugard House, the Kogi State seat of power. That is how to stay relevant and regarded. That is how to be a statesman.
The statement was signed by members of MEKSTA across all the three senatorial zones of Kogi State.
