By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.
Rector of Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja, Dr Salisu Ogbo Usman has described Governor Yahaya Bello’s government as a silent revolution against the recycling of leadership constituted mainly of the the bourgeoisie in the state.
Ogbo who disclosed this during his 50th Birthday Anniversary celebration in Lokoja said the polity assumed a level where children of “nobody” could never aspire to leadership positions.
He said he went round campaigning for Gov. Bello believing that he (Bello) was the best person that could “liberate some of us from poverty” as leadership was being recycled.
He said that when it was time for leaders to live, they brought their in-laws or their children without thinking of “those of us whose parents did not go to school or have any means.
“It means tomorrow, we can never be governor and can never be anything. Clearly, if our parents served their parents and we are serving them now, it means our children will still serve their children.
“My spirit does not accept this and that is the reason why I believe that His Excellency who was not born with a silver spoon, would be the best candidate to alter the status quo and give hope to the hopeless.
“The way he started showed courage and it takes courage to challenge the status quo. Nobody even gave him the opportunity or the chance of becoming a governor but today, he is.
“I call what we are doing silent revolution because these children of nobody have become somebody”, he said.
Dr Ogbo said when he was appointed as Rector to Kogi State Polytechnic, nobody believed he could do anything meaningful. “They said that Yahaya Bello has finally killed Kogi State Polytechnic.
“They said he had brought a thug and a cultist. I was hearing but if not for anything even if I did not go to school, I should learn administration by mentorship.
“I worked closely under Prof. Samsudeen Amali, Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin; I worked closely with Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, former Vice Chancellor, University of Ilorin.
“I also worked closely with Prof. Hassan Isa, former Vice Chancellor, Kogi State University; I worked closely with Prof. Muhammad Sani Abdulkadir, former Vice-chancellor of Kogi State University, I was more or less a member of their kitchen cabinet and I saw how things were done.
“Even if I did not go to school, I should be able to know how to apply wisdom and how to apply native intelligence to get results. And of course, we on our part when we came Kogi State Polytechnic have carried out a lot of reforms. (Ends)