The former chief of staff to Kogi state governor, Chief Edward Onoja has been sworn in as the deputy governor of the state. Having Edward Onoja as the deputy governor to Yahaya Bello is not what my people, Anebira, from Kogi Central senatorial district should be celebrating. This should have been a call for prayers for Yahaya Bello to have a successful tenure, that is if he is re-elected to complete eight years as Kogi governor.
For some times now, I have been tagged an enemy to this new direction government of Yahaya Bello just because I always speak the bitter truth about the government and I will continue speaking the truth because I want my Anebira people to have something to write about in terms of development in Ebira land.
Let me remind us that it is the nature of men to create monsters and it is the nature of monsters to destroy their master. Governor Yahaya Bello is now the master while Onoja is the monster created by Yahaya Bello. When Edward Onoja was occupying the office of the Chief of Staff, Governor Yahaya Bello equipped him with excess power. This has even make a lot of people to think that the office of chief of staff is more superior to the office of the deputy governor.
The leadership structure of citizens at state level outlines the way and manner in which government officials are ranked hierarchically according to the public office they occupy. These political positions, according to the 1999 constitution of Nigeria, spells out the powers of these various citizens at the state level of which the governor is the first citizen followed by the his deputy, the number two citizen. The number three citizen is the Speaker of the State House of Assembly. The chief of staff was never in the political structure of the state because he was just appointed by the governor. But I wonder why Onoja now has more power than the then deputy governor, Elder Simon Achuba.
It is crystal clear that Onoja will want to become the governor of Kogi state tomorrow after Yahaya Bello has completed his eight year tenure, if God so wish. Onoja is a man that will always want to be superior to others, especially people from his place, Igala land.
All the three ethnic groups in Kogi state want power, the only difference is that some group don’t have opportunity to be in power as a result of low population. Kogi state is made up of three strong ethnic groups; Igala, Okun and Ebira. As it is now, it is only the Okun people that have not ruled the state.
If governor Bello really want to show that he believe in power rotation in Kogi state, at the end of his eight years, if possible by God grace, he should hand over power to the Okun people in other to have peace and unity in Kogi state.
Governor Yahaya Bello may win the election for a second tenure but might not end it successfully with Onoja as his deputy. Onoja will want to take over power from Bello at the end because a monster will never remain loyal to his master. For example, the case of Rotimi Ameachi and Nyesom Wike, Kwankwaso and Ganduje, Obasanjo and Atiku, Adams oshomole verses Godwin Obaseki, Ahmed Bola Tinubu and Akinwumi Ambode all points to the fact that no monster will ever remain loyal to his master.
No monster will want to remain a monster, at a point the monster has to betray his master for him to become a master as well and create him own monsters.
Onoja will want to become governor tomorrow but he will not find it easy because in the history of Kogi state, a Christian has never ruled as a governor and Kogi people will not likely vote for a Christian to become governor. This is our mentality, not my mentality.
Onoja may want to seize this opportunity of being deputy to achieve his aim of becoming the governor after Bello’s regime, but I pray that before the end of the regime what happened between the late former President Musa Yar’Adua and Goodluck Jonathan should not repeat itself in Kogi state, because I can see that Onoja is hungry for power and people that feel desperate, for whatever reason, can do the most dangerous things to achieve their aim. Igala people always beat their chest that they are born to rule Kogi state and they can do the most dangerous things to get the power back.
Onoja might bring Yahaya Bello down tomorrow because any time you allow someone to have a negative influence over the way you think, feel or behave, you give them power over your life. It will rob you of the mental strength you need to reach your greatest potentials.
Governor Yahaya Bello should understand that monsters are real in his cabinet just as ghost workers are real in Kogi state civil service. The truth is that ghost workers are far better than monsters because ghost workers are earning their psychological needs illegally while the monsters are meant for destruction.
Finally, I want to appreciate His Excellency for making the former DG Protocol, Pharm Muhammed Jamiu Asuku the new chief of staff. We want more of this and more achievement in Ebira land.
– Abdulmumeen Ahmed
Human Right Activist
08062737273
