Igala leaders must learn from history before 2027 becomes another political lesson written in regret. The greatest danger is not merely losing power; it is empowering political actors whose rise may eventually eclipse the very people who facilitated it.
The painful irony is that Igala politics has witnessed this phenomenon before. Following the death of Prince Abubakar Audu, some Igala political leaders helped introduce and consolidate a political figure who was then comparatively peripheral to the dominant political order. Today, that once-unheralded figure stands as a formidable political phoenix.
That history should provoke sober reflection, not bitterness.
The question is not whether individuals have the right to rise. They do. The question is why Igala political actors repeatedly assist in creating political structures that later marginalise, fracture or weaken Igala collective interests.
It is a deep tragedy when Igala spends its political energy fighting Igala while outsiders merely watch the contest and harvest the consequences.
Politics, however, is not sentimental. It rewards strategy, organisation and foresight. A political sparrow can become a phoenix when established leaders underestimate its potential, provide it with political oxygen and mistake temporary usefulness for permanent subordination.
History should therefore be treated as an institutional memory.
The lesson from the post-Audu era is not that Igala leaders should fear emerging politicians. It is that they must understand the consequences of political sponsorship. Every endorsement creates momentum. Every alliance builds networks. Every political platform can become an instrument of future power.
The most dangerous political calculation is therefore: “We can use him now and control him later.”
History repeatedly proves otherwise.
A politician who enters the arena through another man’s political doorway may eventually build his own house, recruit his own followers and redraw the political map. By the time his former sponsors recognise the transformation, the sparrow has already become a phoenix.
This is why 2027 demands something beyond the familiar politics of personalities, factions and emotional allegiance. Igala leaders need strategic political thinking capable of distinguishing temporary electoral convenience from long-term collective interest.
But this must not degenerate into the politics of exclusion. No individual should be denied legitimate political ambition merely because he or she might become powerful. The issue is not preventing people from rising; it is ensuring that political power is used to advance democratic institutions, development and the dignity of the people.
Igala leaders must also confront an uncomfortable internal contradiction: we are often our own political adversaries.
Instead of constructing durable institutions, we construct factions. Instead of developing a common negotiating strategy, we pursue individual influence. Instead of asking what benefits the Igala people collectively, we sometimes ask which Igala person will benefit personally.
That is how a people can possess numbers yet lack political leverage.
The tragedy of Igala politics is therefore not a shortage of intelligent people. It is the fragmentation of intelligence into competing camps. We have capable leaders, professionals, intellectuals, traditional authorities, businessmen, academics and young people. Yet our collective political capital often dissolves into intra-Igala rivalry.
Igala fighting Igala is not political strength. It is political self-sabotage.
The 2027 election must consequently become a test of political maturity. Before any endorsement, Igala leaders should ask difficult questions: What is the candidate’s record? What are his interests? What political structure will his emergence create? Who benefits? Who loses? What happens after the election? And, most importantly, does the arrangement strengthen or weaken the collective bargaining power of the Igala people?
These questions may be uncomfortable, but responsible leadership is rarely comfortable.
The old political habit of sacrificing tomorrow for today’s appointment, contract, access or personal advantage must end. A community cannot mortgage its political future merely because one faction wants immediate gratification.
The Igala political class needs strategic patience, institutional thinking and a capacity for political forgiveness without political amnesia.
We must remember what happened after Prince Abubakar Audu’s death—not to reopen old wounds, but to avoid reopening the same political wound in 2027.
The objective should not be to stop every sparrow from becoming a phoenix. That would be undemocratic and intellectually bankrupt. The objective is to ensure that those elevated through Igala political support understand that power is a public trust, not a weapon against the community that helped create the opportunity.
2027 is therefore bigger than individual candidates. It is about whether Igala political leadership has finally learnt to distinguish political strategy from political sentiment, collective interest from factional ambition, and temporary victory from permanent consequence.
The lesson is already written.
Some helped a sparrow take flight.
Today, the phoenix is powerful.
Let 2027 not become another chapter in the shameful history of Igala fighting Igala while political beneficiaries rise from the ashes of our division.
A people that forgets how yesterday’s political giants were made may wake up tomorrow wondering who gave them wings.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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