As gubernatorial election in Kogi State hots up, a former Senator and one time Chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, Dangana Ocheja has blamed the Igala ethnic nationality for leadership failure of the state.
Speaking at a forum of Igala All Progressives Congress in Abuja, which played host to a gubernatorial aspirant, Air Vice Marshall Salihu Atawodi, the Senator admitted that his kinsmen were responsible for backwardness of the state.
“This is no time to pretend about mis-governance in Kogi State, which has been under the leadership of Igala people and when people complain that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has failed in Kogi State and the Igala people were ruling the state since 1999, then Igala race has failed the state”, he submitted.
The Senator apologized for bad leadership perpetrated by those who ruled the state before, while pointing out that every other senatorial zone had the right to govern the state.
He revealed that such was the reason all former political office holders across the three senatorial zones in the state had come together as a group to work for APC’s candidature of Air Vice Marshall Salihu Atawodi, whom he described as “tested and trusted man with intimidating pedigree to take Kogi out of doldrums”.
Responding, the gubernatorial aspirant, Air Vice Marshall Salihu Atawodi explained that he was driven by the need to get governance right in view of the uniqueness of Kogi State in terms of natural and human resources.
He noted that the first former capital of Nigeria was in tatters as a result of lack of preparedness by those who governed the state in the past.
According to him, “governance should not be a difficult thing if the person was well prepared”, stating that local government administration would remain an agent of development in his time.
He further stressed that financial sleaze occasioned by joint accounts of local government councils remained a disservice to the people, while aligning himself with President Buhari’s stance in direct allocation to local government areas.
The aspirant disclosed if voted into power, he would not touch the local government allocation, but would set a target of infrastructural development to include, provision of borehole, health care centres and renovation of schools.
