The 2023 Kogi Central senatorial election was an opportunity for the people of Kogi Central to send a strong message and correct the wrongs. The people decided to elect someone who will represent their interests and speak for them in the Senate for another four years.
It’s important to state that selfish and greedy political leaders, especially in this part of the world, will always want to have their way and impose their stooges against the will of the people. The current steersman of the State demonstrated this during the election and is still determined to fight for his stooge to thwart the will of the people despite being defeated at the Tribunal.
What seemed impossible to the naysayers happened with their mouths agape when the Kogi State Election Petition Tribunal declared Barr. Natasha H Akpoti-Uduaghan of PDP as the authentic winner of the 2023 Kogi Central senatorial election and ordered INEC to immediately withdraw the certificate of return given to the Governor’s anointed candidate.
I make bold to say that the will of the people has prevailed and will continue to prevail. This time, the emperor and his ‘anointed candidate’ will face a crushing blow and a humiliating defeat in the Appeal Court, leaving them utterly bewildered.
The good people of Kogi Central have had enough, and when the people vented their anger through their PVCs, the result was shocking.
Despite the deployment of the state machinery to stop the Amazon at all costs, the result came like what the infamous General Tommy Franks termed as “shock and awe” for an opposition party to win four out of five local government areas the ‘Lion’ had hitherto claimed to control.
The victimized people at the grassroots, who have been punished and denied their rights, understand who genuinely loves them and voted overwhelmingly for Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan.
As a third force in the 2019 senatorial election, the Amazon polled 48,336 votes despite the wanton manipulation of results and distortion of figures.
This was the same tactic in 2019 when a party ‘without structure,’ as they tagged the party, won the election at the poll and was shamelessly rigged in favor of the ‘anointed candidate.’
What we heard after that daylight robbery of the election was that Natasha had been retired, and they believed the Amazon had been consigned to the dustbin of history.
They ignorantly concluded she would be nowhere to be found because they believed they had tightened the noose and weakened every fiber left in her, melting away like an iceberg approaching the tropics. But like an eagle, Natasha has refused to give in to their evils.
Natasha has refused to give up the fight for quality representation of the good people of Kogi Central, she has refused to give up the goal of being a strong voice for the people of Kogi Central in the hallowed chamber, and she has refused to give up the fight for Kogi Central to have a Senator who will not be lacking in what to say or afraid to speak because the godfather will not be pleased with it.
The only sin Chief Natasha committed is her refusal to give up as a woman in a male-dominated society, and her refusal to be cowed and consigned to the dustbin of history, to chicken out like others before her. This is her singular sin.
This time, no matter the gang-up, no matter the evil plots, the will of the people of Kogi Central will continue to prevail over the greedy quest of the so-called emperor. The defeat at the Appeal Court will come with a crushing blow and a triumphant return of the mandate given to Barr. Natasha by the good people of Kogi Central.
Like Plato said, we can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of light. This light must shine in Kogi Central and strengthen the dangling discord of our polity into a beautiful symphony of ideal representation at the hallowed chamber.
Barr. Natasha’s victory in the Appeal Court will come as a rude shock to the naysayers and a sense of despair to the usurpers.
– Isah Bala writes from Abuja.
