The fragile and relative peace the confluence state had experienced was put to test this past days when what was intended to be a peaceful rally to protest the recall of the senator representing Kogi West senatorial district, senator Dino Melaye, purportedly initiated by elements of the state government turned bloody and chaotic. As the supporters of the warring parties trade blame and engage each other in a banter, it is sad that up till this moment the police is yet to effect any arrest or commence any tangible investigation into the crisis that has claimed a life. Even as the efforts of the DSS and the role they have played in the chaos remain commendable and noteworthy,the same cannot be said of the Nigeria police. We hope the police is not deliberately buying time to allow for alteration of facts and distortion of the evidence.
Even as sympathizes and appointees of the state government are making frantic efforts at changing the narrative and blaming the whole fracas on the camp of senator Dino Melaye, the question the security agencies will have to unravel which shouldguide them in the course of their investigation are; what is the mission of some appointees of the state government said to have been present at the protest rally, is it true that the diseased Seidu Saka who was gun down by security agents after an exchange of gun battle is a student of Kogi State Polytechnics or a murder suspect who was released just a couple of weeks ago by a security agency in Abuja?
Truth be told, the myriad of problems presently confronting the state should have been ample to take all the time of the Yahaya Bello administration rather than wasting the resource of the state in a meaningless exercise of recalling a senator. The fact that the people of the Kogi West senatorial district have to be induced financially and otherwise to be able to get them to initiate a recall of their elected senator already makes a mess of the whole process.
Now that the narrative is suddenly changing from “plot to recall Dino” into “Plot to make Kogi state ungovernable for governor Bello” one question I have for my dear Anebira who are consumed by ethnic chauvinism, tribal sentiment and political acrimony is, what would have happened and how would they have felt if while in office, former governor Idris Wada had initiated the recall and removal of Senator MS Ohiare, would we have folded our arms and watch an Igala governor remove an elected senator of Ebira land base on political the difference between the duo? Did we sincerely expected the supporters of senator Dino Melaye and indeed the entire Okun people to fold their arms and allow an Ebira governor to remove their elected senator based on mere ideological difference between them?
Whether Senator Dino Melaye gives the people quality representation or not, it is left for his constituent to decide and initiate the process of his recall from the red chamber of the national assembly, which should be initiated within, not without. If you don’t take a shit then do not rub it on others. We urge the Nigeria police to carry out a thorough investigation, which should start by initiating the arrest of the appointees of the state government whose uninvited presence at the protest rally was the real cause of the bloody crises.
– Hussain Obaro writes from Lokoja.
osenibaro@yahoo.com
