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I’m an angry Kogite and I have my reasons! Kogi is in trouble and only God can save her! She’s hemorrhaging with excruciating felicity and only the Stone of Israel can say whether or not it is well with her soul. Dear state’s socio-economic landscape is in dire straits and it’s as if we are unjustly suffering for the impetuousness of our leaders. The leadership is far removed from the followership and one begins to wonder where relief and deliverance for the poor will come from. Unfortunately, while those who have held the state hostage are unwilling to let go, those who are struggling to rescue her do not even know how to approach this important task of life-saving for a state in distress.
Kogi is a state where patriotic citizens are reduced to mere means of self-satisfying ends. So far, ours has been a case of “bread and butter” politraders exploring the womb of ‘rice and beans’ politics with acidic fundamentalism and humor-infused activism. Inherent in our socio-political advancement is the introduction of tribal primordial sentiments. Many have been unjustly cut down in their prime while numerous others have unnecessarily lost their means of livelihood; only the more fortunate ones end up as exiles. Added to it is the administration of justice which oftentimes punishes the heroes and rewards the villains.
Another challenge is that the memory of her people is short; indeed, too short that since we tend to forgive and forget the past so easily, it has become practically difficult for the sinners of, especially, our immediate past to either repent or be treated to the real wages of sin. For instance, despite Yakubu Gowon’s geo-political absurdities and socio-economic silliness, he is now Nigeria’s chief prayer warrior. Sani Abacha, the Maximum Dictator, is now seen as a saint compared to Olusegun Obasanjo, the Maximum Democrat; while the Maximum Democrat is already comparing his place and space in history to Abraham Abraham Lincoln. Emeka Odimegwu-Ojukwu, who rated personal ambitions above national pursuits, eventually became “the voice of the injury of the Easterners” while Alfred Papapreye Diete-Spiff, that military governor who once humiliated professionalism, is now seen as the ‘beacon of hope’ for the oppressed and the depressed people of the Niger Delta.
Let me by way of conclusion state that the hallmark of a leader is his ability to realize that change begins with selflessness and sacrifice; that discipline is very germane to effective leadership even as war on corruption ensures better service delivery; and that political process gets corrupted when unfettered pursuit of money becomes a way of life. Therefore, irrespective of constraints like age, party patronage, artificial sentiments and class solidarity, Kogites see in Prince Abubakar Audu a man who understands better the complexity of the issue at stake as well as how to confront all those stubborn situations that’ve hitherto resisted remedy. So, as he defines concrete objectives with a view to raising the vision and showing to the world that a sustainable pathway to development is possible.
Except those that are seriously deranged, Kogi is in chaos and we know it. The chaos is showing no evidence of peaceful resolution instead it seems that the trend will continue into the near and far future.
– Alfa Tijani writes from Ajaka, Kogi State
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