Latest ugly and shameful events rocking the troubled camp of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Kogi State in the last couple of weeks, have finally shattered our hearts into pieces like a broken mirror.
I am speaking for some of us who share the conviction that the coming on board of Alhaji Yahaya Bello as governor of the State, after a titanic political battle, have finally offered his party (APC), a golden opportunity to re-invent the wheel of governance in the State.
Remember that APC or its precursors as an opposition party in the wilderness for over twelve years, had unsuccessfully sought this rare opportunity to rescue the State from long years of locusts, economic doldrums and underdevelopment.
This write up is therefore largely provoked by my understanding of the mesmerizing politics of shifting alliances, loyalties, jigsaw puzzle and a cobweb of intrigues that have become the hallmark of the All Progressives Congress, under this democratic dispensation in Kogi State. It appears the party, as divided as it is, has lost grip of how best to manage its sudden electoral victories that had opened a new chapter in the political history of the State.
I am one of those Kogites, who were fully optimistic on the day of the historic inauguration of the dynamic and pragmatic governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, that God had finally answered our collective prayers over the years, that a focused leader, imbued with new vision, right content of character and political will should emerge in the political space to chart a new direction that would take us to the promised land.
So far, the indefatigable governor, who is the first university graduate to rule the State, has not betrayed that trust and confidence, given his visionary style of leadership that is a complete departure from the age-long order, that have held us down in a miasma of backwardness and grinding despondency in the land of great and boundless opportunities in the confluence State.
From his first day in office, the youthful governor brandishing a sacred blueprint, he carefully put in place even before his entrance into the murky waters of politics, had announced his intention to do things differently in tandem with the change mantra and manifesto of his party. It was in keeping with this resolve, that he quickly and carefully head-hunted an assemblage of highly resourceful, innovative and competent tested professionals to form his small-size cabinet of change agenda.
The governor had also reiterated at different forums since his inauguration, that he would only give appointments and other political patronages to deserving people who shared his new vision and was willing to add value to good governance in the State, irrespective of party or ethnic affiliations.
He has also made it abundantly clear that his administration would not embrace the unfortunate celebration of mediocrity in official quarters that was the practice by previous administrations in the State.
Viewed against this background therefore, I am completely at a loss why some so-called progressive elements in the State, including some of his own party faithful, are apparently finding it difficult to be on the same page with Alhaji Yahaya Bello on his new political philosophy, carefully designed to remove the State from the ignoble and odious league of poor and insolvent States in the country.
I wonder why some people are finding it difficult to understand that it can no longer be business as usual under the Yahaya Bello led administration.
If you ask me, the ongoing war of words and unnecessary face-off by some stalwarts of the APC and the camp of the governor over alleged marginalization of “APC members” in the recent political appointments made by the governor, is not well handled by all concerned parties.
It is my candid view that, the aggrieved party chieftains should have explored all diplomatic official channels to ventilate their grievances without resorting to the traditional media space and other unwholesome social media platforms, that would only open them to ridicule and embarrassment in the eyes of well meaning people in the State and beyond, at the end of the day.
Nobody can convince me that the APC apparatus as presently constituted in the State is bereft of internal mechanisms to resolve issues of differences among its ranks and files, without heating the polity.
This latest political battles of wits that the governor is contending with since fate brought him to Lugard house, is one battle too many to bear. Arguably, it is a big challenge and a humongous cross to carry, when a leader is confronted with ferocious and piecing arrows from different angles, all at the same time.
However, people like me are comforted that our amiable governor was fully aware that government business is not a tea party when he made his foray into Kogi politics at the age of forty years in 2015. But then, it is an incontrovertible fact that this is not the best of time for the tough-talking governor of Kogi State. In less than 100 days of his highly eventful and impactful tenure in office, the very core of his strength of character and leadership quality is been tested by all manner of unpatriotic people both from expected and unexpected quarters.
Be that as it may, if I were the governor I would not be distracted at all by agents of darkness who are yet to come to terms that a new Sheriff is in town. The days of “democracy of the stomach” at the expense of the larger citizenry, has gone forever. The sad era where anything goes had been consigned to the dustbin of history in Kogi State.
It is in our best interest to face the reality that a new government that is totally committed to the task of transforming the State beyond the level of rhetoric, that we were used to in the past, has emerged.
Governor Yahaya Bello is fully on course and no amount of mischief and shenanigan by some self-serving people can stop his “new direction train” on the way to our promised land.
Otori Ozigi, a veteran journalist and social critic writes from Lokoja.
