Following my first article on my visit to Kogi together with my friend Robert Arome Eboh, I have received a lot of backlash from party members that my action was anti party and it doesn’t matter what my views and position on any subject is, the party’s position remains superior and party members must not be seen to be supporting another rival party.
I will like to state that as a human with rights, I love the freedom of thoughts and expression and while expressing this freedom, I accept the responsibilities that comes with it.
My journey to Kogi had nothing to do with my political affiliation. I was invited by my friend to have a nice time in Kogi and the level of development I met on ground was unprecedented.
When I got to Okpo, during our usual evening hangout, he took me to “favour filling station”, I asked the people there how they saw this government compare to previous administrations and the replies I got made me dumbfounded. People praised the governor, this was totally different from what we get on social media.
Due to party loyalty, do you expect me to say something different from what I saw on ground? How will people who I met in Kogi view me? What about my integrity?
Only a wicked man goes against the truth to spite another man. My conscience would continue to hunt me if I do speak the truth as I met it on ground on Kogi.
Let’s give honour to whom honour is due, the governor of Kogi may not have done up to our expectations, he has done better than the past. What do we have to say about the economic numbers coming out of Kogi as the state with the highest investments in 2020 or its debt profile that reduced by over 53b naira.
We must learn to differentiate politics from hate, know when to criticize. My journey to Kogi was a fruitful one.
I have decided to divide my experience in a 5 series work with the above titled. One of the series will be a detailed work on the projects I met on ground and interviews from people. It may come in a book form or a mini report.
Finally, I will like to state again, that though my opinion may be unpopular, it is my truth.
Part 1 of my piece was published by Kogi Reports on January 6, 2021: An Outsider’s Unpopular Opinion on Kogi State and Governor Yahaya Bello
– Michael Chidebere Odoh, a media consultant and baker, writes from Abuja.
