By Musa Bakare
The intervention by former Kogi State Commissioner for Information, Dr. Tom Ohikere from Kogi Central, belongs to the historically known Ebira tradition of equity, fairness and justice. His argument is simple, historical and difficult to dismiss:
Kogi West has never produced an elected governor since the creation of Kogi State in 1991, while Kogi East and Kogi Central have occupied Lugard House for extended periods.
That is not an allegation. It is the political history of Kogi State.
Ohikere’s declaration that, as an Ebira man, he cannot defend the existing imbalance is particularly significant. His position demonstrates that the argument for Kogi West is not an ethnic campaign against Kogi Central, nor against Kogi East. It is an argument about equity, fairness, justice and the preservation of trust among the three senatorial districts.
And this is where the people of Kogi Central deserve particular recognition.
Kogi Central has a proud history of political consciousness. Its people understand that political power cannot permanently belong to one section of a federation simply because that section has the numbers, influence or opportunity to retain it.
The principle is elementary: What is good for Central must also be good for West. What was legitimate for East must also be legitimate for West. What produced stability yesterday must not become exclusion tomorrow.
That is the essence of fairness. The greatness of a political community is not measured merely by how fiercely it protects its own interests. It is measured by whether it can recognise justice when justice points beyond its own doorstep.
That is precisely why voices from Kogi Central or East supporting the rotation of power to Kogi West should not be dismissed as ordinary political rhetoric.
They represent an important tradition of statesmanship: the willingness to defend a principle even when the immediate beneficiary is another district.
The arithmetic of Kogi’s political history has become impossible to ignore.
Kogi East has produced governors for approximately 17 years, while Kogi Central is projected to have accumulated about 12 years by the end of the present dispensation.
Kogi West, meanwhile, remains without an elected governor since the state’s creation in 1991.
Whatever terminology political actors choose to employ, the fundamental question remains:
How long should one leg of the Kogi tripod remain outside the circle of executive power?
Kogi is a three-senatorial-district state. A three-legged stool cannot stand permanently on two legs.
This is not about denying the achievements or contributions of Kogi East or Kogi Central. It is about completing the circle of inclusion.
East has had its opportunity. Central has had its opportunity. West deserves its opportunity.
That is the logic of rotation.
The announced Kogi Power Rotation Summit is to be chaired by Vice Admiral Joseph Ajayi (Rtd.) from Kogi West, while Major General Patrick Akpa (Rtd.), a Kogi East indigene, is to serve as Co-Chairman.
Major General Akpa has long been publicly associated with Kogi East; indeed, he has previously been identified as an Igala leader and former National Leader of Uk’Omu Igala.
Therefore, the composition of the summit’s military leadership can reasonably be read as another reminder that the debate over equity is not exclusively a Kogi West conversation.
The fact that no general from the Central is also involved is not accidental.
I had some relationship with the late Lt. General Saliu Ibrahim, a former Chief of Army Staff. My friend Stephen Adajinewa and the late Anarugu were with the general at the time of my reference.
Through General Saliu, I had first-hand knowledge of the stuff the generals in the Central are made of. It would have surprised anyone with sound knowledge of any general in the Central for such a person to co-chair a summit of this kind.
The identities and personal views of summit chairmen do not, by themselves, establish a collective position of an entire senatorial district. But the broader political message is still significant in a state on a three legged tripod. This is the question that should trouble every fair-minded Kogite.
The argument for Kogi West should not be presented as though a conference has the constitutional power to award the governorship.
This is perhaps the most profound lesson in the present conversation.
When an Ebira man from Kogi Central says, I cannot defend 17–12–0, he is doing something larger than endorsing another zone.
He is defending the idea that justice must not depend on whose turn it is to benefit. That is statesmanship.
And if voices from Kogi Central continue to acknowledge that Kogi West’s aspiration is legitimate, they will be demonstrating that political maturity is not merely about winning power.
Sometimes political maturity is about knowing when to release power so that the larger house can remain standing.
There is a fundamental distinction between discussing whether rotation is desirable and recognising the historical facts upon which the rotation argument rests.
What Kogi needs now is not an endless intellectualisation of an obvious political imbalance, but the courage to convert the principle of equity into political practice.
The real summit should therefore not be: Should Kogi West have its turn?
The more constructive question should be:
How do the three senatorial districts peacefully, democratically and transparently institutionalise a fair rotation that gives every part of Kogi a meaningful sense of belonging?
That is the conversation worthy of a modern Kogi.
When Central speaks for West, it is not abandoning Central. It is strengthening Kogi.
When East recognises West’s legitimate aspiration, it is not surrendering East. It is strengthening Kogi.
And when West demands its turn peacefully, democratically and respectfully, it is not threatening Kogi’s unity. It is asking Kogi to make its unity credible.
The question before Kogi in the coming political cycle is whether Kogi West will finally be allowed to have its turn.
And perhaps the most powerful answer is already emerging from within Kogi Central itself, through men of goodwill like Tom Ohikere.
Kogi West deserves its turn, not because anybody is giving it a gift, but because a fair political arrangement cannot permanently leave one of its three constituent parts outside the circle of opportunity.
– Musa Asiru Bakare, a political analyst and commentator, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
