It is no longer a breaking news that Kogi State and two other states in Nigeria namely Imo and Bayelsa will be electing their next governors on 11th November, 2023, but what interests this writer here is that a brand new helmsman is coming in to replace the incumbent governor of Kogi State Alhaji Yahaya Bello, who is completing his second term in office by January 2024 and the question on the lips of Kogites is: where will the next governor emerge from, is it going to be in the eastern, central or western flank of the state?
Kogi State (the former Kabba Province) was created on the 27th August, 1991 (32 years ago) during the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida. The creation of the state like any other one was done primarily to bring governance close to the people and to bring even and rapid development to the people. It was with open hands the people of Kogi State welcomed the state creation with the strong desire and hope that all the development plans they were denied in their previous states where they were carved out from, namely Kwara and Benue will be a thing of the past.
But unfortunately, this never appeared to be so because of the political dominance of one or two senatorial districts in government in which Kogi West is at the receiving-end.Kogi West senatorial district comprises seven local government areas namely: Yagba West, Yagba East, Mopamuro, Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Lokoja and Kogi, this part of Kogi State has never had the opportunity to produce an executive governor despite the progressive nature of the people since the creation of the state in 1991.
It must be noted here that Kogi State stands on a tripod and the non-inclusion of Kogi West senatorial district in power equation has been a bane to the development of the state and this has led to some sorts of mistrust, hatred and bad blood among various ethnic groups in the state. Kogi State is made up of three senatorial districts namely: Kogi East which is made up of nine LGAs and populated by the Igala and Bassa; Kogi Central has five LGAs and populated by the Ebira and Ogorian and finally Kogi West with seven local government areas as earlier enumerated above and populated by the Okun Yoruba, Oworo, Kakanda, Nupe and Egbura Koto. Kogi West Senatorial district has about 1.4 million people but unfortunately, the area has long been neglected and marginalized by the other two senatorial districts politically and economically.
The district has never produced an executive governor since the creation of the state despite having men and women of high caliber, well-groomed, well exposed and having global view on issues. I want to use this medium to appeal to people of Kogi West senatorial district who have what it takes to govern the state to show strong commitment to this lofty objective.
The last 32 years has been dominated by the Igala and Ebira ethnic nationalities at the detriment of the Okun nation. This ugly development has continuously raised tension and suspicion at all times around the State.
I want to state clearly that it is only in Kogi State and may be one or two other states that have been carrying on politics of exclusion throughout Nigeria, others have since embraced power shift (rotation). Presently, a number of aspirants across the State and political parties have indicated their willingness to contest for the governorship seat in the November 11th, 2023 election including people from areas that have produced present and past governors who are now coming out to dominate the major political parties.
This is not fair to the good people of Kogi West, as I write this piece of work, none of them has shown any form of solidarity to Kogi West in our bid to take over from Governor Yahaya Bello early next year. Kogites should learn from history, remember in 1998, military government of General Abubakar Abdulsalam in conjunction with Nigerian politicians zoned the presidency to South-west as a result of the struggle and sacrifice made by the Yoruba race to restore democracy back to Nigeria after long time military interregnum in the country and this has led to the emergence of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo of the PDP and Chief Olu Falae of the APP as the presidential candidates of their respective parties, they are both Yoruba by origin. Recently too, the northern state governors endorsed the emergence of a southern president which resulted in the victory of Senator Bola Tinubu in the just concluded national election in the country. These are examples of justice and fair play. Kogi East has occupied the seat of the governor for a total of 19 years through these personalities: Late Prince Abubakar Audu 6 years, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris 9 years and Capt. Idris Wada 4 years, while Kogi Central has produced Alhaji Yahaya Bello who will complete his 8th year in office in January,2024. For fairness sake, Kogi West should automatically step in comes 2024 so that justice, brotherliness and unity can prevail in Kogi State.
The truth must be told clearly that, the founding fathers of Kogi State including such great personalities like late Dr. Stephen Achema, late General Salisu Ibrahim, late Chief Sunday Awoniyi and several others never one day envisaged that there would be a time in the life of the State that a high level of ethnic domineering by one group over others which today has resulted into ethnic mistrust and serious dichotomy among the good people of Kogi State and this has led to our underdevelopment. We must all retrace our footsteps and see each other as partners in progress. Anything short of this is not acceptable to the people of Kogi West and one day, it will definitely boomerang into our faces irrespective where you belong or come from.
Kogites especially Kogi East and Kogi Central should kindly embrace this spirit of supporting one of their neighbours. The Igala and Ebira should be gracious and magnanimous enough to support the aspiration of any candidate from Kogi West. Kogi West has contributed its own bits to the development of our dear State. All sides in the State need one another for progress to take place. It must be well understood clearly too, that no section of the State can successfully produce the next governor on its own, there must be a sort of strong lobby and collaboration before anyone can be pronounced to have won the governorship election in the State. Nigerians are fully aware of the constitutional requirements needed for a governor to emerge.
Let it be known that none of the senatorial district can meet up with the requirements if each of them should vote on the basis of their district. With this background, we must now come together and agree to do the needful to support Kogi West and this will cement the much needed unity of the State and this will also signal the beginning of the rotation of the seat of the governor across the State. On our part in Kogi West, we must be focused, put our house in proper order, work like a team and be determined to demonstrate that we can provide that strong and good leadership like any other district ever produced in the history of the State.No section of the State should be selfish, greedy, callous, heartless or blinded about our parochial interests, we are brothers and sisters from the old Kabba Province.
BE YOUR BROTHER’S KEEPER
Dele Olonilebi writes from Lokoja
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