By Jimoh Ogirima Salawu (PhD)

It is without doubt that President Muhammadu Buhari is one of Nigeria’s most popular political figures.

His 15 million-strong ready army of voters in the north, excluding a sizable number from across the other regions of the country, certainly places him ahead of any politician from the region today.

This fact has been a common staple – folklore, even – of Nigeria’s socio-political analysis for decades. And as the President looks set to complete the constitutionally-permitted two terms as the leader of the country, thus capping off what has been an extraordinary political career, there is an open and obvious race amongst several politicians to inherit the “Buhari base.”

But to inherit President Muhammadu Buhari’s army of the common man is no mean feat. It requires true and consistent devotion to the cause of the poor against those of the wealthy; an innate dislike for corruption and readiness to combat it even if it means making enemies of the powerful; the defense of the vulnerable and protection of their interests; faithful devotion to an ideology underpinned by empathy and the radical idea that the true measure of any society’s progress lies in how it treats the disadvantaged.

Many have carefully put up pretensions in the past only to unravel and be found out as pretenders. Others have given up entirely and chalk off the President’s rare achievement in this regard – that is rising to the zenith of power with an almost exclusive support of the common man, not corporate interests – as a divine arrangement that cannot be replicated with even the best of available political strategies. But Governor Yahaya Bello of Kogi state has rendered this assertion false, emerging as perhaps the true heir and son, a claim now backed by the same people who were there from the very beginning when President Muhammadu’s legend began.

On Thursday November 4, a delegation of the President’s kinsmen from Daura stormed Kogi with a simple message now paraphrased for brevity: “in Governor Yahaya Bello, we have found an unparalleled loyalty to Buhari and his ideology and values, including the prioritization of the common man especially when their needs come at odds with those who regard themselves as the Lords of the manor.”

It is a weighty testimony and endorsement; an affirmation of Governor Yahaya Bello’s people-focused politics and governance since his emergence in 2015. It would please him, Governor Yahaya Bello, as he makes no hidden the fact that the President is his political role model and father. On different occasions, including at the recent Media Merit Awards hosted by the Kogi State government, he has extolled President Buhari’s leadership, people-management skills, compassion for the poor, and feats as President in the face of impossible odds including the daunting combination of low revenues and a system accustomed to corrupt dealings. To be seen in the same light and equally praised, particularly by the President’s kinsmen, must have brought him pure joy.

He has succeeded where others failed and his success has shown what their approach lacked: genuineness. He makes no pretension and does not act out a crafted strategy; Yahaya Bello truly cares. His genuine devotion to the people was why he refused to back down from the politically-risky confrontation with those who sank their teeth into the state’s resources through the inflation of the government’s payroll with ghost workers. It also explains his fidelity to his promises to empower and elevate the vulnerable and those historically excluded from power, earning in the process a recognition from the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) when he unprecedentedly facilitated the election of women as deputy chairpersons in all the 21 LGAs of Kogi State.

He breathed new life into the economy of Kogi State, sparking new growth and development that created new opportunities and rewarding jobs. To achieve this, he had to reduce the needless pressure on state finances, earning the ire of those who have come to believe that the state should serve them, not the masses. It was a move that required courage but most importantly, genuine concern for the people’s well-being. For the President’s kinsmen, and indeed his loyal base, Yahaya Bello has returned memories of Buhari’s younger days as an emerging political force and the hero of the talakawa.

The delegation had another message for Governor Yahaya Bello: run for the office of President and expand on Buhari’s progress. They are confident that he too will not neglect the poor or give oxygen to the subdued monster of corruption. It is possibly his most important endorsement yet, and perhaps an indication that the 15-million voter army has found a new candidate in whom they will deposit their trust as their General prepares for a well-deserved rest following years of meritorious service.