The Kogi Equity Alliance (KEA) calls on the people of Kogi East to watch carefully. In 2019, a groundbreaking was held for a bridge. In 2026, as another election approaches, a flag-off has been held for a road. The people of Kogi East must make sure this one is different.
KEA has reviewed a throwback video in which the late Attah Igala, Idakwo Ameh Oboni, spoke of a 5.6km bridge across the River Niger linking Idah in Kogi State to Agenebode in Edo State. He credited the then Governor, Yahaya Bello, for making it possible.
His words, as transcribed from the video:
“The governor is not paying only salaries. The governor is responsible for so many projects that come to Igalaland.
We are grateful to him. Presently, that’s a road that is going to cut across the state without his blessing, it would not have taken off. And that road is the bridge that is linking Idah and Agenebode in Edo state. He has made his own little fund available.
Please, let me ask in the history of our state, has anybody constructed a 10-meter bridge for us? Or this is coming across a 5-mile bridge across the River Niger that will link two states without his blessing could have taken this.
Is it simple for them? Who are going to be the ultimate beneficiaries there, are still the one castigating him.”
The Attah has since passed on. The bridge has not come. The people who heard that promise are still waiting for it.
Here is what is on record. Yahaya Bello was Governor of Kogi State at the time. On Saturday, 26 October 2019, he performed the groundbreaking of the bridge in Idah, at the flag-off of his re-election campaign. He said it would be built through a partnership model, and claims were later made that the state had paid its counterpart funds. Reports today describe the bridge as never completed.
Seven years after the ceremony, there is no completed bridge for the people of Kogi East to cross.
A groundbreaking held at a campaign launch raises a serious question: was this a bridge for the people of Igalaland, or a promise to win their votes? A revered father of the land lent his voice to that promise. The people of Kogi East deserve to know whether it was kept.
Now the same question must be asked of the road. On 9 November 2026, as the 2027 elections approach, Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo flagged off the 37km Ejule-Ojeba-Unale-Onyedega road linking Idah to Ibaji, with a 30-month deadline. Unlike the bridge, this project has a named contractor and a timeline, and KEA will hold the administration to both. Kogi East has seen a flag-off turn into nothing before. It must not happen twice.
KEA therefore demands that the Kogi State Government, and all who handled these projects, tell the public:
- Who is the partner or contractor for the Idah-Agenebode bridge, and under what agreement?
- How much counterpart fund was paid, on what date, and from which account?
- What physical work has been done on the bridge site, if any?
- Is the bridge still alive, and when will construction begin?
- For the Idah-Ibaji road, what is the contract sum, the award date, the source of funds, the procurement record and the mobilisation date?
- Who monitors progress, and when will the people see a public update?
KEA calls on the administration of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo to open the state’s records on both projects and tell the people of Kogi East in writing whether the bridge is alive, abandoned or cancelled, and when the road will be delivered.
We also call on the Edo State Government, the Federal Ministry of Works and the National Assembly members from Kogi East to state what they know about the bridge.
KEA invites former Governor Yahaya Bello and the officials who handled the bridge to publish any agreement, payment record or progress report that shows it was ever funded or started. We will publish what we receive.
Public money is public business. A groundbreaking is not a bridge, and a promise is not a project. Those who spoke for them, and those who gain politically from them, must account for them.
To the people of Idah, Ibaji, Igalamela-Odolu and all of Kogi East: ask for the records, visit the sites, and do not accept ceremonies in place of results. Kogi East, watch carefully.
KEA will keep following the money from allocation to project, because accountability starts with information.
#KogiEquityAlliance #FollowTheMoney #IdahAgenebodeBridge #KogiEastWatch
Signed:
Adams Yusuf
Convener, Kogi Equity Alliance (KEA)
info@kogiequityalliance.org.ng
