When on May 19th 2023, I met face to face with His Excellency Alhaji Dr Yahaya Adoza Bello CON, I knew he is a man that is determined to stop something, what I don’t know, is what he was driving at, until we got closer to the election proper, where I began to see the serious and concerted effort of some few hardline Kogi East people struggling to return to power after 19 years of rules, since the inception of the state in democratic terms, and the supposed Igala agenda crafted by a few, began to grow like tumour.
One thing I told the Governor, was we should de-ethnicalize this election and don’t allow it to wear the toga of ETHNICITY, this he agreed with and my group Kogi Foundation Team (KOFOT), had actually embarked on some serious advocacy engagement to institutionalize this, and of course we were not there at the Governor’s place to surrender, but to discuss, engage positively and see to possibilities of working together, so picking the curves for issues of development of the state, took the front burner, a look at the rider of the visit, in the Media never said, I JOINED APC, rather, it simply puts it as: “Onibiyo, former State Director Media and Communications for PDP in Kogi State Meets Yahaya Bello”, My team also deepen other issues with His Excellency; Okun State University, seizure of operations at Dangote Cement, Obajana up to lands acquired with greed in the state by those who had at one time or the other abused power and so forth.
It is now a fact that, not all people of Kogi East extraction wanted to continue the perpetuation of their tribe in power as the Bassa people in their massive majority rejected this with their votes and of course this distinguished great men and women from Igala that voted Kogi Agenda, which was the APC candidacy of Alhaji Ododo Usman Ahmed (OAU), who was the only candidate from a Senatorial zone in all the 14 or 18 candidates that stood for that election. Little wonder today, he is the Governor-elect for the confluence State, bordered by seven states plus the FCT, and of course the richest state in the number of explorable mineral resources in Nigeria.
If the Kogi East extraction is not on that race, it would have been, straight a fight between Central and West, but it turned out to be IGALA vs. Kogi West versus Kogi Central, or better still OKUN of Kogi West extraction, and that would have truly meant, that Igalas not being involved depicts, Igala wants it to go round, meaning they are saying the Central of Kogi having produced Yahaya Bello, should allow Okun that has never been Governor (not acting Governor) to also have a taste. Instead, they gladly jumped into the game and made the race a trinity game symbolic of the Christianhood God the Son, God the Father and God the Holy spirit, which is the son, father and holy spirit? could best be told by the result of the election, which still means God is factorial to the three GOD (Father, Son, Holy Spirit)!
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We should really check the story of how the Governorship went off the hands of Igala, who had ruled through Late Prince Audu Abubakar, popularly known and addressed as the Prince of the Niger and the father of the current Minister for Iron and Steel. Audu came back after the return to democracy to contest for Governor again, handed over to Alhaji Idris Ibrahim popularly called Ibro, who ruled for almost 9 years and handed over to another Igala Capt Idris Wada who ruled for four (4) years and was on the verge of returning for another 4 years, when Audu also challenged him to return and continued before DEATH edged Audu who was then leading candidate, only to produce Yahaya Bello who completed the rerun election having benefited from INEC’s interpretation of the Nigeria’s Constitution lacuna on such sudden death incident as at that time, before announcement of final result.
So saying DEATH stopped the greedy ones in Igala land of Kogi East extraction from continuing to be Governors after 19 years of rule over others in the Central and West of Kogi state, is not and can never be an overstatement, but a clear fact, which was further substantiated by their attempt to return in 2019 and now recently in 2023, as reflected in the pattern of voting from the East of the State, which of course was roundly rejected from the votes casts from the West and Central of the State.
If the Igala agenda has sailed through, it would have meant a tribal Governor which the constitution did not provide for, but the emergency of Ododo was present in the East and a full grasped in the West, meaning ACCEPTABILITY.
It is a fact, that the first value of “first Order Of Refusal Failed”, because Yahaya Bello didn’t give the West the ticket for his party, by not producing a candidate from the West, yes, but it was clear, that it is a revolution that is about to happen and you don’t take a risk at such times, you don’t experiment, you hit the ground running with your best of best: you go on guard, a critical review of the situation on ground after all candidates emerged showed that, a failure not to key into that agenda by Kogi West as set up by Yahaya Bello which has become Kogi Agenda, will mean going back under the greedy ones in Igala for another only God knows when, when indeed some Igalas are already also saying, No let it go round, not all Igalas are greedy, no, no and no.
The word “greedy” is used deliberately to separate the hardline ones who wanted to return and continued to perpetuate themselves in office over the others in Kogi state and those who wanted fairness and equity: God forbid we wish anyone dead, are the other part of the state to start wishing and praying for a repeat of what happened in 2015 to happen again? The answer from a sane mind should be NO, this is why Yahaya Bello sees it as a must TURN AROUND SITUATION, and those who shared that view followed.
Now, there is a need to look at this angle of the matter, Muri, the leading candidate from Igala land was pronounced as the Igala candidate by their apex cultural body, in a show that signaled their unification to win against all odds, not minding that, they have a brother in Kogi West that has never ruled: why did Igala not zero down on any of Okun sons contesting? if truly, they want it to go round and then support such to victory?, Which is a clear statistical value of over 80% possibility of occurrence.
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it is clear that if Igala has settled for any of the Okun sons, Kogi Central would not have won that election, because it would have gingered the spirit of the Kogi West people to ride on the numbers that will come from the East and of course automatically nullify the two other Okun sons, from the race, *whoever* of the three would have scaled through. The narrative even from the Central and Yahaya Bello himself would have changed, because he (Yahaya) would have seen the “mother of all gang up” against himself and the proposed approach to the revolution, which would have still being itching towards same goal and such action of taken by the said Igalas, would have nailed the idea of saying Igala wants to continue to rule after 19 years in power!
Let me digress a little to state this, 2023 was not an election to elect a Governor, it was a STATEMENT to say, We Own Kogi, All of Us, not a few greedy ones, it was simply, a gang up against continued domination, which was becoming symbolic of the greedy ones in Igala. That was the beltline some OKUNS sons and daughters and Kogi West in general tactically keyed into, knowing fully well that by their population versus the number of candidates form Okun or and Kogi West, there is no way Kogi West can win, in that circumstance! and what is the purpose of voting cum election?
Voting is the ultimate process in election, where a winner must emerge, it is not a funfare, rally or show biz or carnival or cantata. Voting in election is about winning, is not about losing or about drawing, it’s not sports where draws are allowed, in fact in the final analysis in games or sports a WINNER MUST EMERGE!
So, those who are saying Kogi West would have voted their sons no matter what are either low in the understanding of the purpose of election cum voting or are the selfish types who just wanted to satisfy their personal ego or allow the “few greedy ones in Igala to return again and continue to perpetuate themselves in power,” or to show the world that they are capable of being a Governorship candidate, or they have other ulterior motives for running or they simply think Governorship election is for experiment and show off. No barometer gave victory to them before the election, either from unity point, to sympathy point, to PVC point, to the power that be point as a few claimed, to cheering point, to population point and what have you. They simply refused to see the impossibility of partnering to win as necessary, they foreclosed the spirit offered by unification. They battled against the world of possibilities, which don’t just happen.
It is bad to think that, someone else from Okun can’t be a Governor, if it’s not me (them), obviously a few wore that toga, one wore the toga of fund raising and cashing out which eventually player out for him, when he raised a little over N2billions and spent below N800m, pocketing the rest, another is simply rehearsing for the future or to run for Senate and another to establish his self-assumed over bloated ego of, “I have arrived politically”, which all boomeranged and had the bubbles burst to their faces and now needed serious catapulting and overhauling to rejuvenate or resurrect from that political gymnastic display, that went wrong.
We have come to a point where it doesn’t have to be you but it has to be your turn as a people and that is what should sink going forward, to every politician. The world has left the, it must be me bus stop
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If you tell me that, “what if the Ebiras decided to disappoint the Okuns or Kogi West, which in any ways, I don’t see happening, but going by the world of Economics in opportunity cost, and possibly political plan B purposes, meaning reneging after the understanding that brought Ododo”, I will tell you that Kogi West will have an ally in the East, because it’s now clear that even the “almighty East” can no longer do it alone in an off season election, it is no longer fashionable and it is very clear to the Central also that they can’t do it alone, just as the West, so who will be there ally in Central? If they renege! The East? The game of three has become tactical, that you are either all together or you are with someone, none can stand in two again and be one, lol.
If the purpose of voting therefore, is to WIN and Kogi West can not win with what is on ground, is it not going to be suicidal and fool hardy to go ahead and still vote those who can’t not win? As such jeopardizing the future to come!
Since there exists the a clear uncontestable possibility to win with Central plus little support from the East, as done by Bassa and the spread seen across the East by those Easterners who are not interested in perpetuation, who simply are apostles of unity and let it go round? Which was embedded inside Ododo of APC and has now formed a base and foundation for tomorrow, to proudly say we supported you, more like “eesu” you follow me to work on my farm, I follow you the next time, more of trade by barter: and as such Kogi West can proudly file out and take their shots too for 16 years too, after Central’s 16, WHY NOT, or is anyone foreseeing the end of the word before then? That will remain spirituality, and seriously, am not fit to hop into that, in the face of Bishops, Prophets Pastors, GOs and Elders.
Mark my words, a new school of thought is formed and once it’s gets off Kogi West, it will return to the East with Bassa standing bye, very tall to be the beneficiary, because for long they have not being a strong political plug but merely used to make up the numbers by their colleagues in the East, this is a frank and bitter truth that came to life and these people decided to hold the bull by its horns to fight it, tactically, you saw the Igala 9 come down to 8!
The crux of the matter in Kogi is that, where it is possible for a tribe to single handedly win election before, it can never win again, except the other two refused to work together, and if any of the two of West and Central, that are working together betrays another, the opportunity to re-align with the East is also plausible or they, both as West and East sit down and watch the Central keep ruling or the East simply return to continue it’s domination.
The father of new Kogi called *IT MUST GO ROUND* IMGR Yahaya Adoza Bello deserve to be praised as a liberator here as there is no sense whatsoever, in a tribe dominating others again, even in the play of the dogs, the bigger and intelligent ones, falls down at some points to allow the others come on top, thereby elongating the life span of the play and encouraging the smaller ones to let the play continue and thus making all happy.
The happiest of all, if you don’t know are the Igala people who sees beyond today, who carried the rear spirit of Nostral Damos, a man who sees tomorrow and knows the implication and consequences of domination and it’s satanic effect in the nearest future.
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This wicked and self centered idea of *we are born to rule* is not only stone aged, backward, parochial, limiting, kwashiorkorish but devilish and globally unprogressive and has been buried in this just concluded 2023 Governorship election in Kogi State, never will any tribe dominate governance in Kogi state again, we are all ONE and it must simply keep going round- *IT MUST GO ROUND*
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