. Koko’s trajectory from account officer to transport minister’s loyal boy
Politicians tend to live in character and many a public figure has come to imitate the journalism that describes them. Hence you may be forgiven for likening Rotimi Amaechi to the bald eagle. Like the clinical bird of prey, the minister of transport has learnt to fly without perching even as he swoops to claim the prize of the wild.
If politics has taught Amaechi anything, chief among them is the patience of the wild, a clinical depth and the capacity to march in lockstep with his dreams of becoming one of the most powerful godfathers, at least in the cabinet of President Muhammadu Buhari.
As the clouds and blue expanse of the skies arouse questions about their vastness in every curious heart, Amaechi provokes inquiry and endless streams of speculations about the limits and otherwise of his influence on the corridors of power.
For only a man inured to the fiery swirl and challenges of power could dare what he did; drawing on his influence as the incumbent transportation minister, the former Rivers State governor masterminded the sack of Hadiza Usman from her exalted office as Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) boss, and installed his lackey, Mohammed Bello-Koko, as the new NPA boss.
Until his appointment, Bello-Koko was the Executive Director, Finance and Administration. It would be recalled that he was actually the account officer that managed the Rivers FAAC account at Zenith bank when Amaechi was the state governor.
Sources said Amaechi rewarded him with the NPA job for his past loyalty to him.
Since his appointment as the NPA boss, Koko has developed wings; he now struts about like a peacock , throwing the weight he never had. He has reportedly become cocky on his newfound power.
Sources within the NPA revealed that he is inordinately excited by the sudden change in his status and this has manifested in his carriage and approach to the job.
Everyone who wants any favour from the NPA has to go through Amaechi in order to be heard by Koko.
There is no gainsaying Koko and Amaechi are in cahoots and they share a great bond. So chummy are they with each other that Koko spiritedly defers to Amaechi over every issue but for how long? How long before the bond impairs between godfather and godson?
Will Koko forever accept his role as ‘boy’ to the transport minister and kowtow to his every wish?
Or will he, in time, go the way of Hadiza Usman and bite the fingers that fed him?
Will he, like Hadiza, eventually abhor Amaechi’s intimidating stature, and begin to dare him? Will he, some day, summon the nerve to look his godfather in the eye and go head to head in battle with him over the running of the NPA?
Will Koko get so power drunk like his predecessor and eventually seek to extricate his neck from the leash of the transport minister? Will Amaechi, on his part, be so careless and let another stooge rebel against him? Would he let Koko treat him with disregard?
Or will he clinically clip his wings and sever them lest he becomes too well-heeled to be controlled and lorded over? Only time will tell.
