The deal is established. Weapons are now smuggled into our territories for brothers to fight and kill themselves. Crumbs are allocated to sponsor the snuffing of our brethren last breath, leaving them to lie and die in the pool of their blood. This is a reflection of the ugly incidents we all witness at the eve of every election in Kogi state.
Able bodied youths who are supposed to front the battle of electoral fairness are hired by self centered politicians to curse chaos; they serve as emissaries of death armed to the teeth to spill blood without regrets.
These vampires are not thugs, they are the baptised sons of Lucifer who have derailed to sell their souls to the Kings of the earth yet they will soon be hidden below the earth. We must all understand the reality of life; our days are numbered and killing a fellow human does not increase the number of your days rather it shortens your duration on earth because karma is beast and nemesis does not delay.
Kogi state gubernatorial election is eleven months away from now but the scheming is indirectly leading to bloodshed across the state. This is not restricted to any particular region.
Recall that two victims were felled by bullets when the embattled Senator representing Kogi West – Dino Melaye – stormed Lokoja for a protest sometime ago. Last week, a staunch supporter of the SDP candidate aspiring to occupy the senatorial seat of Kogi Central met his tragic end. Earlier in the week, a PDP organised meeting holding at the residence of a front line politician, Capt Joe Agada (rtd) was disrupted in Olamaboro Local Government of the state. Same day, Hon Linus Enenche, an incumbent member of the Kogi State House of Assembly escaped death by whiskers on his way to a meeting at the same location. This is not democracy and we must learn how to shun violence before it is too late.
Politics should not be defined by the number of thugs hired and the number of opponents killed before or after the polls. Evil will continue to thrive especially when the silence of good men is no longer golden.
In the forthcoming polls, caution must be imbibed and any sane Kogite should not attempt to throw stones to the market place because we are all brothers and sisters striving for survival in the midst of untold hardship, championed by myopic leaders without foresight. It would amount to grave injustice to support the shady dealings of our oppressors who are quick to loot our common wealth but are on standby to dole out a meagre sum as stipends for the confused imbecilic thugs to cause mayhem during election.
Kogi youths must understand the realist notion that election is not an ample time to flex muscles, rather it is the best time to purge self centered politicians without any achievements out of the system to enable the emergence of credible leaders.
We must all attest to the lucid fact that no politician will permit his or her own kids to serve as thugs whenever they indicate interest to contest any election. Rather, most of their kids are enjoying the luxuries of foreign scholarship in diaspora while the gullible minded, poverty stricken youths accept with grievous ignorance to fight as thugs for the triumph of these egocentric leaders at the polls.
Dear Kogi Youths! Do not allow anybody to empower you with guns. Apply wisdom because it is profitable while mistake is costly and cannot be reversed.
Election is defined by arm struggle, it should rather be the best time to elect the best hands to steer the affairs of our beloved state and country to a lofty height and in replacement of muscle flexing, it is rather a time to showcase ideologies through credible manifestos and crystal blueprints.
True leaders are not killers rather they are healers of dying economies who are committed to serve the people through the rendering of selfless service beyond sentiments and personal gains.
In the time past, we have all witnessed the dubious engagements of political thugs; they once thrive in Okene, they succeeded in Anyigba, they triggered pain in Kabba but today they are no where to be found. They all exited the world untimely at gory scenes and today they are now history however, their kith and kins will forever live to suffer the stigma originating from their over indulgence and shortcomings.
Dear Kogi Youths! Evil practices does not pay. It can only trend for a short while. To this end, it pays to be good. We must learn how to succeed together in peace or suffer the wrath of our shortcomings by perishing together as fools. It is time to elect our leaders and there is no point flexing muscles and wielding arms to satisfy the inimical interest of any dubious politician. It is a shaming scenario to witness supporters of political aspirants fighting amongst themselves while these politicians meet to wine and dine behind closed doors.
Come to think of it, no political thug has ever won a national or state award in Nigeria. In other words, the life span of many political thug is always short perhaps because “those who live by guns, die by gun”. There is no crime supporting any politician of your choice but it should not dwindle to a point you serve as thugs to support their emergence.
Do not be lured by the juicy offer of any lazy politician who cannot empower his / her constituents to succeed but are quick to sponsor thugs to kill and maim political opponents during elections.
No doubts, they MUST meet their Waterloo in no distant time but do not succumb to their sugar coated words rather be bold to rebuke and possibly fight them with their arms.
Kogi state is not a theatre of war and nobody have the monopoly of violence but we must pursue peace at all times because no nation or region can excel in flames.
Kogi youths are renowned as a battalion of leading social media campaigners. However, we must learn how to prompt and encourage issue based dialogues by shunning every act of personal attack emanating from the casting of lazy aspersions on perceived opponents. Hate speech is a crime.
Spread the message: Drop your guns, pick up your PVC. Na election time, no be war!
I remain your brother from another mother,
– Ajogwu Jerry Ochada
The Black Lion
