Ogori/Magongo: Beautiful Bride for Votes, But Not for Appointments
By Alao Adamadamosi Sunday,aroa
In every political season, one familiar ritual plays out across Kogi Central Senatorial District. Politicians from the dominant political bloc dust off their campaign boots, board their convoys, and head straight to Ogori/Magongo Local Government Area.
There, they dance. They promise. They kneel before elders. They shower the community with gifts and slogans. They leave with thousands of votes tucked safely in their pockets.
Then election day passes. The victory parties end. And Ogori/Magongo is forgotten—until the next election cycle.
This is the painful irony of Ogori/Magongo. We are a beautiful bride for votes but an unwanted stranger for appointments.
Ogori/Magongo may be the smallest LGA in Kogi Central by population and landmass, but our voting strength is formidable. Election after election, we have delivered block votes for candidates who promise fairness, equity, and inclusion. We have been loyal. We have been patient. We have believed that our sacrifices would one day be rewarded.
But what have we received in return?
Since the return of democracy in 1999, Ogori/Magongo has produced no senator from Kogi Central. No governor. No deputy governor. No chief of staff. No commissioner for a major portfolio like Finance, Works, Justice, or Health. The few appointments that have come our way have been compensatory—junior positions, board memberships without executive power, or roles designed to keep us quiet, not to make us partners.
Meanwhile, politicians from Okene and other LGAs have cycled through the most powerful offices in the state and the senatorial district, sometimes holding multiple positions across decades
Here is how the story goes:
Step one: Election approaches. Politicians arrive in Ogori/Magongo with heavy wallets and smooth tongues. “You are our people,” they say. “This time, things will be different.”
Step two: Our people, trusting and hospitable, welcome them. We organize rallies. We mobilize voters. We deliver the votes—sometimes over 90 percent for a single candidate.
Step three: The politician wins. The celebration fades. Appointments are shared among other LGAs. Ogori/Magongo’s name is missing from the list.
Step four: When we complain, we are told to be patient. “Your time will come.” “You are too small to demand.” “Go and bring more votes next time.”
Step five: Next election comes. The same politicians return. The same promises are made. And the cycle repeats.
We have danced this wedding dance for over two decades. The bride is exhausted. The groom never shows up for the marriage.
This is not a cry of entitlement. It is a demand for justice.
The Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria guarantees every citizen the right to be considered for political office without discrimination based on local government or clan. The principle of federal character—and its informal extension to state and local politics—is not a suggestion. It is the foundation of national unity.
Ogori/Magongo is not asking for a handout. We are asking for a seat at the table.
Our sons and daughters are qualified. We have lawyers, doctors, engineers, accountants, academics, and administrators of proven competence. Many have served the nation and state in various capacities with distinction. But when political appointments are shared, our qualifications are suddenly invisible
Let me be clear: The people of Ogori/Magongo may no longer be content to be used and discarded.
Across the LGA today, a quiet revolution is brewing. Elders who once delivered votes unconditionally are now asking tough questions. Youths who once campaigned tirelessly are now registering their apathy—or worse, their anger.
The protest vote that is building across Kogi Central will find its strongest voice in Ogori/Magongo. Why? Because we have the longest memory of marginalization. We have been promised the most and given the least.
If the political equation does not change before the next senatorial election, Ogori/Magongo will not be a beautiful bride for votes anymore. We will be a difficult lesson in political arithmetic.
To the National Chairman of the APC, the zonal leadership, and all political parties in Kogi State:
We are not enemies of progress. We are not rebels. We are stakeholders who have been overlooked for too long.
We ask for three things:
First, a clear and public commitment to zoning the Kogi Central senatorial seat to Ogori/Magongo within the next three election cycles.
Second, equitable distribution of commissioner slots, agency heads, and board appointments across all five LGAs—not the continued concentration of power in Okene.
Third, an end to the cycle of election-season romance and post-election abandonment. If you want our votes, give us a place in your government.
Ogori/Magongo has been the beautiful bride of Kogi Central politics for over 20 years. We have dressed up, shown up, and delivered votes faithfully.
But a bride does not dance forever without a wedding. A people do not vote forever without representation.
The time has come for Ogori/Magongo to move from being a beautiful bride for votes to an equal partner in appointments. Anything less is not politics—it is exploitation.
And we will no longer accept it.
