Indeed, Yagba is blessed.
From the fertile plains of Yagba West to the cashew and yam belts of Yagba East, down to the granite and limestone hills and human capital of Mopamuro, our land is rich in soil, in spirit, and in people. We are farmers, traders, teachers, professionals. We are a people with unending opportunities.
Yet for years, Yagba Federal Constituency has remained a paradox: rich in potential, poor in delivery. While other federal constituencies across Kogi state and Nigeria are commissioning federal projects, attracting industries, and lifting their people, Yagba is still debating roads, water, and security.
The question is simple: Why?
The Failure We Must Not Recycle
For years, Yagba has had representation in the Green Chamber. And in all these years, what do we have to show?
- Roads: The Mopa-Egbe-Ilorin road, the lifeline of our commerce, remains a national embarrassment. Save for the recent intervention, Potholes have chieftaincy titles. Erosion cuts off villages every rainy season. Is this the “unprecedented representation” we were promised?
- Jobs: Our graduates sell data and recharge cards, run POS stands and suddenly became online vendors. Our women fry akara by the roadside with degrees in their bags. Meanwhile, federal job slots meant for Yagba youths are sold to the highest bidder or given to strangers.
- Equity: Mopamuro has been treated like a forgotten cousin for over two decades. No major federal project. No deliberate inclusion. No justice. How do you represent three LGAs and abandon one for years?
- Security: Bandits now send notice before they strike our border communities. The sound of guns have become a normal music in the ears of our people. Gunmen visits communities like Egbe just as if a man visits his friend. News of kidnapping and abduction has become a normal thing in a once peaceful Yagba.
Farmers are afraid to go to their farms. Our mothers sleep with one eye open. Where are the motions?
Gunmen can operate for hours, unchecked in a community that has a forward operation base, yet they walk away freely with their victims. Where are the military outposts? Where is the federal presence?
- Empowerment vs. Development: We are tired of “empowerment” that begins and ends with motorcycles, sewing machines, and rice sharing. Empowerment without roads is a trap. Empowerment without industries is a campaign. Yagba does not need handouts. Yagba needs infrastructure, policy, and jobs. We are tired of displaying dummy cheques just when elections are around the corner.
Look Around Us. Yagba Is Behind.
Let us be honest with ourselves. Federal constituencies are not equal, but the gap between Yagba and others is man-made. Our Neighboring Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency is a good example. The difference is clear.
Go to Ikeja Federal Constituency: Federal tech hubs, completed inner roads, functioning primary health centers in every ward.
Go to Jos South/Jos East: Agro-processing zones, irrigation dams, federal housing projects.
Go to Nnewi North/Nnewi South: Industrial clusters backed by federal legislation, export hubs, constant power intervention.
Even our neighbors in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu have seen more federal presence in the last 4 years than Yagba has seen in 8.
What is the difference? Leadership. Intentionality. A rep who sees Abuja not as a retirement home, but as a battleground to bring projects home.
Yagba has not lacked allocation. Yagba has lacked urgency.
Yagba Cannot Afford Another Mistake
The same system that failed us cannot fix us. The same politics of defection, of personal interest over public good, of campaign handouts over constituency development, will only produce the same results.
Third term is not a right. It is not an inheritance. If 8 years could not give us roads, security, and jobs, 12 years will not perform magic.
Yagba needs change. Not for the sake of change, but for the sake of survival.
The Change Before Us: Chief Dayo Akande
This is why Chief Dayo Akande has stepped forward.
He is not a seasonal politician, he has always been with his people. For two decades plus, he has lived with us, built with us, and served Yagba without a title. He funded scholarships when no camera was there. He backed farmers’ cooperatives when Abuja was silent. He trained women in enterprise when empowerment was not a slogan.
Now he seeks our mandate not to be called “Honorable,” but to do the honorable thing: bring federal presence back to Yagba.
We are a land of unending opportunities. But opportunities mean nothing without leadership to unlock them.
Other constituencies are moving. Yagba cannot be left behind again.
In 2027, we must choose between recycling excuses and embracing progress. Between party loyalty and Yagba loyalty. Between handouts and hand-ups.
Chief Dayo Akande is not perfect. But he is present. He is consistent. And he has a plan.
Yagba East, Yagba West, Mopamuro – this is our moment.
Let us embrace the change.
Let us vote for equity.
Let us massively support Chief Dayo Akande for House of Representatives.
Because Yagba deserves more than survival. Yagba deserves to thrive.
– Eld. Jonathan Adeoye.
Concerned Yagba Citizens for Equity & Progress
For Equity. For Progress. For You.
Dayo Akande 2027
