The governor arrived for a security meeting in Minna and used his first words to call his protocol officer stupid. Phones were recording; the table might have been crooked, but the tone was perfectly clear.
The video circled the internet: Umar Bago, governor of Niger State, scolding Abdullahi Yarima in Hausa before the meeting had even begun. Neither an apology nor an explanation followed. It joined a long list of troubles that have shaped his first year in office.
Each controversy carried its own weather system.
Bago once denied that students were abducted from St Mary’s Catholic Missionary School; critics said the state was becoming allergic to facts. He accused the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) of spreading false numbers, raising suspicions instead of calm.
Freedom of speech appeared on his list of negotiable values. He shut down a private radio station and tried to profile its owner. At a party meeting, journalists were told to leave since there was no freedom of speech in the room. A student was arrested after criticising him online.
Bago’s style blurs the line between policy and mood. There was that one time that he ordered security agents to shave youths with dreadlocks in Minna; outrage followed. He later clarified it was targeted at cult groups, though the public had already heard the warning loud and clear.
Money matters have not fared better. He admitted lying about payments to graduates. Workers said the much-publicised minimum wage never really arrived. At one point, he was filmed throwing cash from his vehicle; cheers turned to chaos.
A full cabinet was dissolved in September after a performance appraisal. Some said it was a reset. Others saw exhaustion. Every move has carried a growing question: is governance a tool or a reaction?
The latest video of that public insult added a new piece to the puzzle. The table might have been straightened afterwards; the image of power remains slightly tilted in Niger.
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