‘I’d Rather Die Than Beg At Yahaya Bello’s Gate’, Says Ex-Kogi Lawmaker Makama

A former member of the Kogi State House of Assembly and one-time Special Adviser to former Governor Yahaya Bello, Hon. Friday Sani Makama, has declared that he would never stoop so low as to “beg at anyone’s gate” for political relevance.

Speaking in an interview on UrahTV, Makama drew comparisons with some politicians whom he accused of engaging in extreme public display of loyalty.

“When the governor does not invite me, I go there to stand by the gate, like they are doing now. Or when the former governor (Yahaya Bello) does not want to see me, I will go by the gate and stand like they are doing now, they will have to arrange mat in front of the house of the former governor to go and lie down there,” he said.

Rejecting such behavior outrightly, Makama declared, “I, Comrade Friday Sani Makama, that is the last thing I will do on this earth, or, instead, I should be buried, let me die and leave this earth. I cannot do that, we are not the same, we are different people. I am a strong character, you cannot just push me to that level.”

The former lawmaker also distinguished between political loyalty and what he described as “bootlicking.”

“When you do party singing, praise singing in party politics is allowed, but bootlicking is not part of politics,” he stated.

When pressed by the interviewer on whether both the former Kogi State governor, Yahaya Bello, and the incumbent governor, Usman Ododo, were his political principals, Makama clarified that only Bello could be regarded as such.

“You are not getting it right ,” he said firmly. “Alhaji Yahaya Bello was my principal by the reason of the fact that he gave me a mandate, an appointment to serve in his government. He was my principal.”