Power Shift Clamour In Kogi State; Motley Aspirants As An Ominous Cloud

Normally, I should be the happiest Okun man today with the confirmation of four candidates of Okun extraction that has picked expression of intent to participate in the primaries of the APC but I am not. This ironic situation is borne out my conviction that the more the aspirants from Okun, the less the chances of realizing the legitimate dream of throwing off the yoke of neo-colonialism and subjugation of other ethnic groups by our cohabitants in the malaise and apology tagged Kogi State.

All the candidates that have picked the intent form are capable to give us a breath of fresh air from the suffocating enclave our state has been turned to by almost two decades of inept, corrupt and clueless leadership of governors we have had the misfortune to be at the helm of affairs since 1999. It has been a pathetic collection of thieving felons. State resources have been prodigally expended to the detriment of the people; which explains the retrogression in Kogi State despite the abundance of human and natural resources the state is endowed with. From the banker to the carpenter and now the pilot, it’s obvious our “brothers” from the eastern axis have consistently presented to us as leaders those without the intellectual and moral ability to govern the state.

The glaring callous lopsidedness in the sharing of infrastructures, employment and appointment in the state is not replicated in any other state in country. With different parties, it is obvious the other parts of the state can never be treated justly and fairly except power shifts. Nothing seems to be working in Kogi State and we cannot as a people afford to let this continue for one more day beyond the tenure of Gov. Idris Wada.

I have taken this pain to digress this much so that our aspirants will understand the burden they carry in this quest and the need for personal sacrifice for general good. If the truth must be told, only one person can emerge the flag bearer and just one will eventually emerge governor. Any desire and ambition that will derail this train for power shift must be slaughtered on the altar of the need to emancipate our people from this modern day servitude.

The bottom line is unless all Okun aspirants call each other and agree on consensus which might appear impossible, all this hue and cry over marginalization and the compelling need for power shift will end up being mere huffing and puffing for nothing.

This is how I arrived at this frank and bitter but sincere conclusion. As a single unit, Kogi East has the highest number of delegates but the least in terms of aspirants when compared with the West and Central zones of the state. What this means is that, an Igala man is more likely to clinch the ticket of the APC unless something legally drastic is done.

Another disturbing pattern I have noticed is the penchant for people to support aspirants not based on ability, antecedence, integrity and probability to succeed but rather on mundane considerations like being of the same town or local government area. Most of our people now see this period as a season of harvest to squeeze aspirants of money with little consideration for the repercussions if their candidate gets nominated and eventually elected. We must all from the west and central axis of the state resolve that this is a venture we must succeed in. we owe that much to ourselves and the coming general because doing otherwise is consigning to perpetual servitude.

Since the outcome of the PDP primaries is now obvious, APC is the only alternative platform left for Kogi West in conjunction with Kogi Central to free our people from the open prison our state has become.

For Okun to produce the next governor, a single candidate must emerge from the zone for the APC primaries. Anything short of this is not going to be fruitful. I have heard people mused the erroneous idea of a “PLAN B” which to me is actually a “PLAN C” To use another platform apart from APC and PDP is going to be a disaster waiting to happen. Time really does not permit the level of enlightenment and sensitization required to make this work. Our past leaders have so traumatized our education system in the state to the level where ability to make rational decisions when voting have become a herculean task. The experience of the last national assembly election especially in Kogi West is still fresh.  The aspirants must take this humble submission into consideration in whatever decision they take in the weeks ahead. We are in this together; aspirants and electorates, and we cannot afford to fail.

By Olalekan Aiyenigba