On the 2nd of September 2019 our great party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), shall come together to decide who shall be our flag bearer for the upcoming Kogi gubernatorial elections. This is a crucial moment in our polity. It is a time for us to exercise our ability to choose who shall lead us into tomorrow.
In this moment you, the delegates, are king. Words cannot do justice to the power you wield. The power to alter the trajectory of our great state, which shall affect generations to come. The decisions you make now, in this day, shall have a multiplier effect on all our children and their own children to come. You have it within you to make or break our future, here in Kogi.
Thus, I implore you to be brave in the face of this immense task. I implore you to rise to this occasion for the sake of the rest of us. I implore you to displace both religious and ethnic sentiment and do what is best for our great state, rather than what is best for you as an individual.
The APC has already announced the incumbent governor as their flag bearer for November, and we must react to this. In protest, we must ensure we field the most competent amongst our ranks. We must show the electorate that we have the solutions to their problems.
Unlike the APC, we shall not bend to the whims of the powerful, for power resides in the hands of the people, and in this context of the primaries you the delegates are the people.
There is no logic that can explain how the incumbent governor has been given the ticket to seek a second term after the disaster of his first term. We must show the nation that we are different from them. We must ensure we do not produce a candidate that defies all forms of conventional reason or logic, like the APC. We have to be different.
We have to be intelligent and depart from the norms of vote buying. We must dispense with these short-term gains in order to attain long-term success. By taking their money and voting along their lines we are selling our future to them. We are selling the next four years of our lives to those who may not have our best interests at heart.
It is time we dispense with the plague of ‘Godfatherism’, these so called ‘gatekeepers of Kogi’, and all they have to offer. No set of individuals or families have dominion over Kogi, for she belongs to us all. The time of the Ibros, the Audus and the Wadas is over in Kogi. They have nothing more to offer us, and it is time we move on from them.
In their wake, it is important we usher in a new class of politician in Kogi. Politicians skilled in leadership and governance. Specialists in fields that can have a positive effect on our great state.
It is important to scrutinise those we elect into office to ascertain what they are made of. Our candidate must be selected based on their individual track record, or the vision or manifesto they have for our state.
We must look at each aspirant’s solutions to address pertinent issues in our society. What is their plan to boost the education of our youths and include them in the decision making for our future? What is their plan to improve our healthcare frameworks, making health accessible to even the most rural areas of Kogi? What is their plan to bridge our infrastructural gaps, erecting the necessary framework for our people to thrive? What is their plan to address economic hardship plaguing the masses and subduing our people to unimaginable suffering? A man who cannot confidently answer all of these questions is out of depth and is incapable of leading us.
Whomever we endorse in the upcoming gubernatorial elections must be a candidate that embodies these questions posed. We must look only to those who epitomise what we stand for and have the best interest of Kogi at heart. Someone who shall assure our welfare, our health, and our collective happiness. The fate of our state is in your hands and we must not let ourselves and the rest of Kogi down.
Upon assessment of the aspirants on offer, QS Aminu Abubakar Suleiman is the only man with solutions to these questions. He has carefully laid out a well-thought-out plan to address the key areas of governance and fix these long-standing problems. His approach to these primaries has been to show the people what he has to offer, and it is a lot.
He brings to the table what the others lack. He is highly competent, a skilled leader, has a wealth of knowledge and is a maestro in infrastructural development. With a prolific track record as a Quantity Surveyor and Public Private Partnership expert, Kogi cannot hope for a better candidate.
A few months ago, he undertook to a state-wide tour of Kogi, and his message greatly resonated with the people. They embraced him as their own, and shall surely do the same in November. I appeal to your good conscience to maintain your fortitude, and to be courageous in the coming week to ensure we do right by ourselves and Kogi.
For leaders are encouraged to remember seven generations in the past and consider seven generations in the future when making decisions that affect the people. Remember who you are, remember where you come from. Be earnest in your decision.
Four more years of Yahaya Bello and the APC is not an option for us. The PDP is our only hope. The PDP is the peoples party, the peoples hope. Let the 2nd of September 2019 be known as the day we decided enough is enough and we picked a candidate that can uplift us from our plight and bear them as his own. We must look to a man who shall champion our cause and deliver our future.
Through the simple exercise of picking the right man for the job, posterity shall be kind to this sheer act of valour, and God willing our future shall be bright again.
– Mohammed A. Yunusa Esq writes from Abuja.
