By Musa Olumayowa Yakubu (MOY).
The November 11 governorship election in Kogi State is fast approaching and candidates of different political parties are bracing up for the tasks ahead. Reviewing their respective political activities so far, one can easily identify the serious and jesters among them.
While some are busy having daily town hall meetings directly with the electorates, some are threatening one another and others are no where to be found in the scheme of things. Their respective agendas and objectives towards achieving these have invariably shown what each of them represents. A cursory review of all the candidate’s activities, so far, revealed that the Action Alliance (AA) Candidate, Otunba Olayinka Braimoh has exceptionally distinguished himself as the most prepared.
This is the only candidate holding town hall meetings with the electorate and granting interviews on daily basis, to unveil his wealth creation and distribution agenda. Just like the scenes in the best selling book, “Who Moved My Cheese” which makes us to understand that a positive adaptation of change requires one to abandon fear and self-satisfaction. It might seem hard to leave what one is used to; nevertheless, experience dictates that without leaving the seashore, one will never discover new oceans, Braimoh’s agenda, which is fully packed and realistic, also teaches us the easiest way we can end maladministration in our state.
In the book, “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, the four major characters named Scurry, Sniff, Hem and Haw represents different kinds of people in life. The four of them were living fine, enjoying eating of cheese until someone came to move away the cheese which happened to be their only means of livelihood. While Hem and Haw resigned to faith, loosing hope of getting another cheese, Scurry and Sniff braces up and against all odds, decided to leave their comfort zone to go out in search of a another cheese. With a strong faith backed by workable plans, they respectively discovered another set of cheeses bigger than the ones they used to eat. This story can be compared to the present situation in Kogi State and the beautiful idea of wealth creation being preached by Olayinka Braimoh.
We’ve all been saying that Prince Abubakar Audu, the first democratically elected governor of the State, was the best governor that has ever ruled the state because, the situation of things after his tenure has been on a downward trend with regards to successive administrations and as it stand today, we hardly get the dividends of democracy such that, we have technically accepted to live in poverty till thy kingdom come. In comparison, the dividends of democry can be likened to the cheese in the aforementioned book and people who have resigned to faith, believing that the situation can no longer change can also be said to represent the characters of Hem and Haw while Olayinka Braimoh, the new sheriff in town, has however, come like Sniff and Scurry, unveiling to us how we can conveniently get bigger cheeses (Dividends of Democacy) through his wealth creation agenda codenamed STAT (Solid minerals, Tourism, Agriculture and Trade). Through the STAT Agenda, we have been made to see that the cheese we are searching for is right within our state but all we need to explore and enjoy this is visionary leadership. We have resources (cheeses) in abundance but successive administrations have not been able to consciously see this golden opportunity available at our fingerprints.
Unfortunately, development don’t happen by happenstance or by mere wish but through the conscious, deliberate actions of visionary leadership which Olayinka Braimoh has come to offer. The onus lies on us to either remain satisfied in our hopeless and poverty laden comfort zone like Hem and Haw or join Olayinka Braimoh to have access to the real and bigger cheese (Wealth) like Scury and Sniff.
I need not to talk further because I know that everyone wants to taste wealth and good things of life. May we not be satisfied in romancing with abject poverty.
Let’s be Scurry and Sniff not Hem and Haw. Let’s support Olayinka Braimoh of Action Alliance and we shall all live happily ever after.
– Musa Olumayowa Yakubu, an apostle of good governance, writes from Lokoja.
