Elder statesmen from the western senatorial district of Kogi State has called on all registered political parties to cede their governorship tickets to the zone in 2023.
Arising from the meeting of Kogi West Elders’ Forum (KWEF) in Iyah Gbede on Thursday, the respected statesmen announced that zone rejects running mates’ slots from all political parties, insisting that the area must produce the next governor of the state.
Reading the communiqué issued at the end of the meeting, former Managing Director of Daily Trust Newspapers, Alhaji Isiaq Ajibola, decried the prevailing power imbalance in Kogi state between the three senatorial districts – Kogi East, Kogi Central and Kogi West.
Ajibola stated that the Edlers’ Forum insisted that all registered political parties must consider candidates from Kogi West senatorial district in 2023.
The communiqué signed by Major General David Medaiyese Jemibweon (rtd) called on Governor Yahaya Bello and all political actors in the state to take “conscious note of this demand and support every arrangement that will meet the aspiration”.
“The forum is dismayed over the skewed political power play in the state that has denied the good people of the west, despite their good intention and active participation in previous elections, the ability to produce an Executive Governor of the state since the creation of the state in 1991. In contrast, the two other senatorial districts of east and central have occupied the seat of the state governor for about 21 yrs now and 25 years by the time the incumbent leaves office in 2023.
“It is in the light of the above that the forum states that all political parties in the West Senatorial District must endeavour to work together to stimulate actions that would produce credible candidate(s) leading to their state primary elections in the state.
“All political parties in this regard must, however, align with the Eastern and Central Senatorial Districts of the state to accomplish the objective by working to produce a governorship candidate that will be acceptable to flanks of the state in the 2023 governorship election.
“The forum wishes to remind his Excellency of our unalloyed support during the last election when we made a public statement that endorsed his re-election based on our insight that he was a democrat, courageous and would honour our modest agitation for power rotation in the state.
“As an aspiring president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the governor needs to more than before, demonstrate his support for an enduring power sharing and restructuring arrangement at the grassroots level in Kogi State and then Nigeria as widely conversed by all critical and discerning minds in Nigeria. This demonstration will show the infallible strength of good character and integrity he poses to lead a multi-ethnic nation like Nigeria,” the communiqué read in part.
The Elders’ Forum stated that Kogi West Senatorial District has embellished numbers of qualified candidates that are loyal to Governor Bello and that understands the need for good governance that will benefit every part of the state.
They counseled the Governor not to allow individual or group of people to lead the state back to the woods when the whipping of sentiment, pettiness and selfishness of interest groups influenced previous administrations to be parochial in the management of the power equation among the various ethnic groups in the state.
“The Governor must speak out now to support power equity and measured balance in favour of Kogi West senatorial district to complete his administration’s principle of EBIGO which has been popularised to manage the power-sharing complexity of our confluence state.”
Kogi West Elders’ Forum (KWEF) is a non-political pressure group comprising of leading personalities and opinion leaders.
