A human rights activist, Comrade Daniel Atayi, has apologised to former governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello, for joining the bandwagon of social media attacks on his person, following “yet to be established” allegations against him by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.
Apologising for his previous attacks on the former governor, the activist said he regretted taking what the EFCC put out against ex-Gov Bello for the final verdict on his personality when no court had convicted him, adding that his independent investigations revealed otherwise.
Atayi, in a video clip that has now gone viral, submitted that his independent investigation revealed that the former governor was just a victim of political witch-hunt and persecution.
The activist faulted the fight against corruption in the country, describing it as being selective against political figures without godfathers or without specific political alignments.
He accused the EFCC of looking away from many former governors who had been accused of corruption but making Yahaya Bello’s case a big issue even at the time he was being protected by the law.
He said, “If you ask me whether we are fighting corruption at all in the country, I will say no. I also want to ask you, are we fighting corruption in this country? No! Fight against corruption, especially from the bodies, they are mainly selective fight.
It is like a situation where a son of nobody cannot be shielded by the law while a son of somebody who has political godfather and who belongs to a political juggernaut or affiliated to a political party, would go free even if such person commits crime.
“What are we talking about? It is glaring. Present activities show… the fight is getting worse and much more selective. Worst of it is that they are publishing things on social media because they believe they are credibly fighting corruption. And some of us foolishly join them, thinking they are performing creditably well.
“Just a case study of the Kogi State and a lot of governors of recent. They abound, they are all good examples for us to know the true fight against corruption and the political scheme against corruption.
“Look at what happened between Yahaya Bello, a former Kogi State Governor and the EFCC, without private investigation or independent investigation, you will believe what the EFCC is saying, like I believed too. I believed and even assaulted him that this is why they don’t give power to youth, to young people to lead; that look at how a young man would just come and abuse power and corruptly embezzle funds like that.
“When I traveled of recent to Lokoja for a wedding; I was made to look like a fool for believing the social media in the first instance without prior or independent investigation. I was at a wedding at Lokoja and I decided to make some findings so that I would indict the man the more and unleash more articles against Yahaya Bello, but alas, I was disappointed because almost everybody was praising him from different ethnic groups. Just a few dissenting voices from about 20 to 25 persons that I asked one on one. About 20 gave credible testimonies in his favour, citing the infrastructural development the man has done, social amenities, and even security wise, how he stood his ground to defend the state.
“Only a few persons, and of course, not everybody will support you but the percentage is what we are looking at. We actually discovered that Yahaya Bello’s case is a case of the wicked and skemish system that we run in this country where if you have no godfather, then the justice will not shield you, you will not get justice.”
“But if you have a political godfather and you affiliate yourself… Just like what we are seeing in Benue State now, former governor of Benue State, a lot of them, millions of them that the EFCC is turning their eyes away from. The present APC National Chairman, what is that his name? Ganduje, who was a former governor of Kano State.
That one flagrantly disobeyed court order, no invitation has he even attended to, running with impunity and running away from probe, even getting court injunction against EFCC’s probe, yet, the court did grant him.
But look at the EFCC, it does not even know what to do to bring him to book. But look at Yahaya Bello, Yahaya Bello does not belong, he has no godfather and he has no political big background like them. He is like a son of nobody that rose to power from somewhere and then became governor, so, they have to witch-hunt him,” he added.
Tendering his apology to Bello and calling on media practitioners and Nigerians at large to do due diligence in investigating issues before believing in stories put forward by opposition against personalities, Atayi stated, “I want to apologise to Yahaya Bello and the people of Kogi for initially being fooled to unleash attacks on the man and slander him on social media.
Yahaya Bello is just a victim of circumstances and political scheme of this country that is making the fight against corruption fruitless, because it is selective.”
