If there is one state in Nigeria that has thrived sadly as a victim of circumstance since its creation in 1991, it is the Confluence State. Here is a state that has passed through all forms of imperialism and maladministration by an ethnic cabal that believes in power drunkenness to the detriment of the governed. It is indeed a state that has suffered the worst setbacks, underdevelopment, absence of good leadership in the name of a so-called ‘majority’ that delightfully ignores the pains and the feelings of the oppressed in the state. Here is a state that was agitated for by the same people who are now deliberately made subjects to oppressive policies and bad leadership across the years until the people resorted to prayers for divine intervention. This is a state in which the mention of equity or equality is treated as an abomination by the power that be. It has thus remained an unprogressive entity. If Kogi state were a human person, I would have simply asked him, ‘Mr. State, how are you, after 24 years?’ And the answer would not have been farfetched: ‘Oh, I’m ridiculed by lack of vision and bad governance; I have been hindered from growth; please can somebody rescue me?’ Then, my answer would have been, ‘It is your choice to remain in political wilderness or step into the fortunes of democracy.’
With a sense of responsibility and without prejudice, hence with due respect for all the people of Kogi State, may I say that it is an evil of the highest order in the present day civilization for a group of people with a grip of political power to treat others as conquered races in Nigeria. It is unacceptable and subject to natural resistance. Thus the absence of the voice of justice being compromised or mortgaged for a mere mess of portage by some leaders of the so called ‘minorities’ when it mattered most, had allowed the hands of myopic leaders to prevail against the essence of good leadership and progressive governance. Unfortunately again, Kogi tends to be the only state in Nigeria that was buried headlong in a kind of political dynasty attributing the birthright of governance to one out of three senatorial zones.
The descendants of these elder statesmen are now treated like second class citizens by the politicians from Igalaland, seemingly without a right to govern the state. With the awareness that they apparently lack quality leaders to fix the state right, they opt to set the state on a rigmarole by recycling past failed governors from their zone to drag the state into further decline. In any case, Kogi state has had to lag behind all other states in the federation since 1991. For instance, Jigawa State which was like a desert in the last 9 years and adjudged by UNDP and the World Bank with the least of Federal allocation has become a haven in terms of human development and commercial incentives under their immediate past governor. On the contrary, Kogi State with all the available natural resources and manpower at its disposal cannot boast of any tangible development in the past 16 years.
There is no initiative for viable infrastructural and industrial development. Rather, we have the debris of successive administrations which specialized in spending and wasting federal allocation and state revenues without tangible plans for capacity building and productivity. This is one of the bad legacies they bequeath to their successive kinsmen in order for the skeletons in their cupboards not to walk in the streets. Until Kogites resorted to prayer to God to put an end to the repression of truth and the subjugation of sanity. In the present day, egalitarian society, the primitive policy of one-tribe-takes-all which has invariably characterized governance in Kogi State must be eradicated now or never.
The truth is that Kogi people are tired of this Igala oligarchy that has culminated into the decisive agitation of those who care to ensure that the eventuality of power shift stands for the good of all. In a scheme of things where other Nigerians are deliberately and remorselessly marginalized, it will naturally not augur well for the much desired unity that lays bare in our Constitution for the survival of any state. It is a fact that since the creation of Kogi State, no western or central senatorial indigene has been appointed as commissioner for works, Chief of Staff to the governor, Accountant General of the State, Head of Service, Chairman of SUBEB, Auditor General, Chairman of Boards, Chairman of Commission, chairman of Parastals, etc.
As if this large scale deliberate marginalisation was not enough, it is a clear fact that out of 35,000 civil service strength in Kogi State, the East (Igalas) has 38,621, the West (Okuns) which produced the current deputy Governor has 24,621, and the Central (Ebiras) has 4,069. The East has 10 Commissioners, the West has 5 and the Central has 4, the East parades 34 Directors of boards, 16 for the West, 8 for the central. The East (Igalas) are given 60 senior special assistants, the West (Okuns) are given 10, and the Central (Ebiras) 4. The East revels in a crowd of 196 Directors of board, the West has 128 and the Central has 29. In terms of revenue generation, investigation reveals that only about 10% is generated from the East while the West and the Central generate the balance of 90%.
It is an irony that the East which boasts of having the larger population gives the lesser revenue generation. May this anomalies be discussed and corrected by the Kogi State house of Assembly as soon as possible. That aside, the current divine turnaround for power shift in Kogi State should be treated as a new dawn; apology to Dr. Tom Adaba who had rightly advised the late Abubakar Audu’s running mate to accept his fate. When Mr James Faleke insisted that he would fight for his right in court, it was legitimate and lawful to do so, provided he could prove his case beyond reasonable doubt and in line with the Constitution of the Federal Republic Of Nigeria. If Faleke got through a primary election, and if his name was registered with INEC as Abubakar Audu or moreover if INEC has declared him a governor-elect or a deputy governor-elect with a certificate of return, without looking back, this writer would have joined his supporters to fight for the mandate. But it surely does not make sense fighting a battle that you have readily lost from the start. If I were Faleke, therefore, I would have recognized the fact that the first day a man sows his seed might not be the day he reaps the harvest. His reaction to this new dawn in Kogi State will certainly expose his political maturity or determine his political future in the state. If I were Hon. James Faleke, I will bow to wisdom by honouring the final decision of my party without which I would be fighting a lost battle. I would have equally recognized the fact that not all destinies come on the platter of gold and when it is not my time, there is virtually nothing I could do to enforce an unclear acclaimed mandate. Otherwise, the late Chief M.K.O. Abiola would have ruled Nigeria in 1993 when he actually won the annulled June 12 presidential election. Unfortunately and painfully, Chief Abiola did not rule Nigeria till he departed this bad world.
That aside, in event of imminent power shift in Kogi State, God’s willing, if any part is marginalized as it were with the potential losers of the current governorship election, we the true patriots of Kogi State will resist it legitimately at all cost. The true test of our agitation for a change of hands in governance is whether we resolve to remain in political wilderness or take an exodus to the pinnacle of political liberation where everybody is treated as equal. It is whether we are able to rescue ourselves from mental slavery so championed by an ethnic clique or remain second class citizens in our own state. It is a step taken for our liberation in a situation where other tribes in the state live at the mercy of one tribe. If I were Bello therefore, and by this mandate, I am sworn in as the next governor of Kogi State, I will under a vow serve all the people of Kogi State without an iota of vengeance against any part of the state, because I consider my victory as divine. I will recognize everyone who has positively or negatively, accidentally or coincidentally, willingly or unwillingly made contribution to my rising as an agent of political turnaround and the long awaited change in Kogi State.
If I were Bello, I would salute the political contemporaries of Kogi State symbolized by his Excellency, Dr. Philip Salawu of the Labour Party, whose courageous struggle for power shift has divinely culminated into his own victory in disguise. I will appreciate all others like him who have made it clear that there is no need to crack any nut against the new dawn and anyone else who have one way or the other rested his ambitions in solidarity with my emergence as the incoming governor of Kogi State. I will run an all inclusive government in which no section of the state will complain of marginalization. Justice and equity shall be my watchwords. Then I will deliver an exemplary leadership to reciprocate all Kogites that have been crying ‘no’ to underdevelopment and the prevalence of administrative failures. The new dawn should be an initiative to reconcile our political differences and succumb to God who makes kings and unmakes kings. Hence this is the time to retain our quality of being our brothers keepers irrespective of religious and ethnic differences.
-Vanguard