The air in Kogi State reeks of recycled deceit — a suffocating fog exhaled by the remnants of yesterday’s political handlers who once orchestrated the fall of the Igala nation. These relics of failed governance still linger in the corridors of influence, masquerading as saviours while perpetuating the same perfidy that dismantled Igala’s political dignity. They roam the terrain of power with deceptive tongues, mutating into new alliances yet carrying the same venom that once poisoned the confluence of collective aspiration.
Their deception is subtle yet pervasive — a well-rehearsed political theatre where puppeteers disguise themselves as reformers. In the guise of liberation, they sell dreams soaked in manipulation. They whisper loyalty but dine with betrayal. To the untrained mind, their rhetoric sounds patriotic; but beneath their smiles lie archives of political treachery — the kind that dismantled Igala unity, traded ancestral honour for transient privileges, and mortgaged the people’s destiny on the altar of self-preservation.
Kogi East, once the citadel of organized leadership, now bleeds from wounds inflicted by these political fossils. They masquerade as new converts of change, but their hands remain stained with the ink of compromise. It is an irony too loud to ignore — that the same architects of our political demise now claim to be the repairers of its ruins. Their newfound moral postures are nothing but freshly ironed garments over dirty consciences. They are experts in the ancient art of deception — political chameleons whose survival depends on the gullibility of the people they betrayed.
The tragedy, however, is not merely in their deceit, but in the collective amnesia of the people. Too many Igala sons and daughters have become spectators in their own tragedy, cheering the same actors who once sold their inheritance. The political handlers understand this weakness — that hunger erases memory and that poverty turns truth into luxury. They exploit this vulnerability, distributing crumbs of favour while harvesting the loyalty of the famished. The people’s silence becomes their license, and the cycle of manipulation continues.
Yet, the Igala nation stands at a crossroads of redemption or repetition. The conscience of a people cannot remain perpetually subdued. The younger generation must awaken from the narcotic of political nostalgia. They must discern between patriots and parasites, between those who fight for the land and those who only farm on its sorrow. History is calling for a generational audit — a cleansing of the political bloodstream long infected by hypocrisy and greed.
In every age, nations rise when truth becomes too heavy to bury. The Igala nation must now exhume her truth — that leadership is not a reward for deceit but a covenant of accountability. The people must reclaim their moral authority, expose the old handlers hiding behind modern rhetoric, and restore the sanctity of their political altar. The destiny of Igala cannot be negotiated by men whose loyalty oscillates between convenience and conspiracy.
Let it be written, then, that this generation will not inherit deceit as tradition. The undying cabal may still whisper in the marketplace of politics, but their echoes will fade when truth roars. For the Igala nation to breathe again, the masks must fall, and the remnants of deception must be buried with the past they created. Only then shall Kogi’s dawn break free from the long night of manipulation.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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