In the early hours of Wednesday, 26th February, 2025 news filtered in that one Mr Austin Okai, a Kogi Indigene has been abducted by unknown gunmen from his residence.
Later, a video footage showed Mr Okai being arrested by operatives of Nigeria’s Department of State Services DSS, allegedly on the orders of the Kogi State Government.
Later in the day, a popular activist and lawyer, Deji Adeyanju confirmed through his Facebook page that Mr Okai was arrested by the DSS and detained at their FCT Command in Abuja.
As of the time of this publication, there were reports that Mr Okai had been arraigned before a magistrate court in Lokoja for cyber stalking and criminal defamation.
Let us x-ray his recent activities in the media where he had continued to spew hate, outright falsehoods and defamatory comments against the person and government of Alhaji Ahmed Usman Ododo.
The climax of his unbridled accusations was the recent one alleging the governor of direct stealing of public funds without any single evidence.
It is therefore crucial that the public differentiates between critiques, activists and ethnic bigots.
A critique is one who is expected to possess detailed facts and capacity for unbiased analysis and evaluation of performance or idea. A critique tries to examine the strengths and weaknesses of a subject or policy and provides constructive feedback for improvement based on evidence and facts and devoid of personal opinion or biases.
In the same vein, an activist actively and passionately advocates for and works towards creating social, political, economic and environmental changes. Thirdly, an ethnic jingoist often exhibits excessive or blind loyalty and enthusiasm for his/her ethnic group.
In all, Mr Okai has through his conduct in the media, aggressively and arrogantly promoted his ethnic interests while displaying hatred and discrimination against other tribes in Kogi state.
Ever since his preferred governorship candidate lost the last gubernatorial election both at the polls and in the courts, Mr Okai has been restless in his pursuit of an agenda to bring down the government through constant misinformation and inciting media publications.
For example, on 17th February 2025, Okai through his Facebook page accused Gov. Ahmed Usman Ododo of diverting the sum of N10B from the state treasury. He alleged that the governor lied and deceived the people into believing the money was invested in agriculture. This heavy allegation against a sitting governor comes without any single evidence.
Again, on the 14th February 2025, Mr Okai equally made a spurious allegation that was widely circulated through his Facebook page accusing the Kogi State Accountant-General of usurping the duties and functions of both the Finance and Humanitarian Affairs commissioners. Still, without any proof but a mere failed attempt at portraying the government of Gov. Ododo before the public as being weak and biased.
Mr Okai using different media and fora tried unsuccessfully to ridicule, demean, and label Gov. Ododo as a weakling. He publicly accused him of being answerable to a particular appointee working under him. Honestly, these are ridiculous, callous and irresponsible statements against the governor which is a reflection of a serious hatred not criticism.
Mr Okai in his recent press conference and Facebook post accused Gov. Ododo of nepotism and running a government that marginalized the Igala ethnic group both in terms of appointments and capital projects.
This false allegation and narrative was created to mislead and incite the public against the governor thereby attempting to cause disaffection and pitch one ethnic group against the other. Of course, Okai never placed any evidence on the table.
In the whole, during this period of his media outbursts, it was obvious Mr Okai was still hurt over the outcome of the last governorship election where he had hoped his preferred candidate from his own ethnic group would win, even if it meant that he, Okai, was involved in anti party.
Again, it is on record that Gov. Ododo had magnanimously extended hands of friendship to Okai by visiting and encouraging him to be a good ambassador of Kogi state.
However, little did the governor know that Okai still haboured so much hatred for him and his government just as he did to his predecessor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello.
In spite of all the highly commendable achievements of Gov. Ododo in the last one year, hatred and ethnic bigotry continue to drive Okai’s sense of reasoning and finally to his present state of ignominy after months of insulting, and brandishing wide and unsubstantiated allegations against the governor just to mislead unsuspecting members of the public. Unfortunately, Mr Okai and his co-travellers mistake Gov. Ododo’s gentility, civility, simplicity and humility for cowardice.
Finally, while the nation’s constitution acknowledges the right of every citizen to hold leaders and public officers accountable through dialogues and constructive engagements as part of the rudiments of democratic norms and processes, this civil obligation does not in any way protect citizens from prosecution if he intentionally displays hatred, propagate falsehoods, engages in cyberstalking and criminal defamation of character to achieve pre-determined objectives.
– Abdulmumin Abubakar writes from Okene LGA
08066223843 (Whatsapp only)
