No aspirant whether Natasha Akpoti-Uduaghan or Yahaya Adoza Bello Is a flawless angel. You can vigorously campaign for your preferred candidate while still calling out their misdemeanours, excesses, or poor conduct. Treating any politician as beyond scrutiny only breeds sycophancy and the kind of “educated illiteracy” that excuses uncouth behaviour under the guise of ethnic solidarity or political strategy.
Poverty and hardship may explain why some people turn to patronage and praise-singing, but they do not justify it. Getting angry simply because someone holds a contrary view about your candidate whether the critic is from your locality or not reveals insecurity, not strength. Healthy politics demands that we defend our choices with reason, accept honest criticism, and refuse to sacralise any individual. That is how accountability survives. You are not more important as a constituent more than other constituents who decides to think differently.
In Kogi Central the contest is real and high-stakes ~ an incumbent senator with a track record of legislative activism and constituency projects versus a former two-term governor whose tenure remains polarising and who faces ongoing legal challenges. Voters are entitled to weigh both records without being shouted down. Treating disagreement as ethnic betrayal or “classless” behaviour simply lowers the quality of debate and entrenches the very “spurious and classless excuses” my brother Suleyman Abbas Asuku decried.
A fellow indigene who points out problems is often performing a higher form of solidarity than the cheerleader who pretends none exist…….
Ngwao nini andai Anebira.
– Asuku Sufyan Onimisi (PhD) writes from Okene
