Kogi East is not short of men who can speak, but of those who can build. The region, once the citadel of Igala political sovereignty, now resembles a fractured mirror—each piece reflecting ambition but none reflecting vision. What began as leadership has deteriorated into competition for crumbs. The land of Attah Ayegba is caught between nostalgia and naivety, waiting for a resurrection that may never come unless the political genome of her leadership is reconstructed with precision, discipline, and hierarchy.
Politics, as Aristotle framed it, is not the art of ruling men but of cultivating order. Yet Kogi East has mistaken chaos for freedom and rhetoric for governance. The time has come to re-engineer her political structure through seven stratums of power—each not merely symbolic but prescriptive, demanding character, intelligence, and purpose. As Machiavelli wrote, “He who neglects what is done for what ought to be done will soon learn to his cost how men act.” Kogi East must now act, not merely dream.
At the top must arise the visionary architects—those who think beyond ballot seasons and shape destinies across decades. Their task is not to win elections but to design the blueprint of Igala restoration. Such men and women must imagine policies that convert ethnic energy into economic capital. They must establish leadership academies, mentorship circles, and political institutes that produce thinkers before officeholders. The Igala proverb warns, “A town without a wise man is like a farm without a hoe.” We must cultivate minds before multiplying votes.
Next must emerge the ethical stewards—the class of leaders who treat power as stewardship, not ownership. They must be molded through civic re-orientation programs and community accountability boards that monitor public servants. The region must establish an Integrity Council—an independent assembly of elders, journalists, and youth representatives—to assess political behavior. As Max Weber reasoned, “Politics is a strong and slow boring of hard boards.” Only ethical discipline can bore through the hard boards of corruption and greed that have locked Kogi East’s progress.
The third stratum is the strategic builder—the architect of structure and alliances. They must reconstruct the political machinery from village to state capital. Every ward should have a Development Council working as a local think tank, identifying community priorities and aligning them with regional goals. This will dissolve the culture of personality worship and replace it with system-based leadership. In Igala wisdom, “The hoe that works together with the cutlass clears the bush faster.” Unity, not ego, must drive our strategy.
Then come the grassroot catalysts—the communicators of governance. They must be retrained in civic education, mobilization, and policy communication. The people at the base must understand what they are voting for. Governance should not be an abstract concept but a visible reality. Rural sensitization programs, cooperative societies, and local town-hall debates must become political laboratories where ideas are tested before they reach government houses. The proverb says, “The yam that will feed the village must first pass through the hands of the farmer.” The grassroot catalyst must become that farmer.
The fifth level, the intellectual vanguard, must return scholarship to politics. Igala universities, secondary schools, and media outlets must start producing political research, public opinion analyses, and leadership curricula. Politics must be taught as a science, not a gamble. Scholars must step out of classrooms and become active participants in policy formation. Frantz Fanon once declared, “Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfill it or betray it.” The intellectuals of Kogi East must choose to fulfill it.
The sixth stratum must be occupied by diplomatic negotiators—those who understand that politics in a federal structure is an art of calculated submission and calibrated resistance. Kogi East must train negotiators skilled in inter-ethnic relations, legislative lobbying, and resource bargaining. The political survival of any region in Nigeria depends on the mastery of alliance politics. An Igala proverb says, “The river does not quarrel with the rain that feeds it.” Negotiation must not be seen as weakness but as strategic humility in pursuit of a higher gain.
Finally, the cultural guardians must emerge—the custodians of Igala values, ethics, and spiritual identity. They must infuse culture into governance, reminding politicians that leadership is sacred, not transactional. Festivals, traditional councils, and community rites should be repurposed as platforms of civic renewal where leaders renew their moral contracts with the people. As Edward Said observed, “To be a nation is to narrate oneself.” Kogi East must narrate her story again—not as a history of loss but of rebirth.
The political decay of Kogi East is not biological—it is architectural. The foundation has shifted, and so the building tilts. To reconstruct it, we must design with purpose and place each leader in their proper stratum. Visionaries must lead, not be silenced; stewards must guard ethics, not seek profit; builders must coordinate, not divide; grassroots catalysts must connect, not corrupt; intellectuals must enlighten, not retreat; negotiators must defend, not isolate; cultural guardians must remind us of who we are, not who we imitate.
What must be done is not mysterious. Establish regional leadership academies. Institute annual performance scorecards for officeholders. Enforce community-driven recall systems for non-performing representatives. Encourage traditional rulers to endorse only candidates vetted through meritocratic parameters. Create a digital political observatory where citizens monitor governance metrics in real time. Introduce public debates not only before elections but every year of governance. Let every ward council report annually to the people they claim to serve.
The time for poetic nostalgia is over. The Igala nation must rise from rhetorical ruins to institutional resurrection. We must stop electing men who talk well and start raising men who think deep. The elders must bless change, the youths must organize it, and the women must anchor it. The political renewal of Kogi East depends not on divine luck but deliberate labor.
History will not forgive another cycle of foolishness. The ancestors have done their part; the soil has carried enough tears. Kogi East must now build an architecture of power rooted in wisdom and oiled by unity. For as the Igala proverb says, “When the wind begins to blow, the weak tree learns humility.” It is time for humility, discipline, and reconstruction—brick by brick, stratum by stratum—until the political house of Igala stands again, unshaken by time, uncorrupted by greed, and unmistakable in purpose.
– Inah Boniface Ocholi writes from Ayah – Igalamela/Odolu LGA, Kogi state.
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