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Kogi Crisis: Buhari Should Not Sit on The Fence
By adminMar 31, 2016, 00:00 am
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By Femi Olugbemi, Abuja.
With the persistent overcast on our lives in Kogi state, occasioned by the political debacle foisted on us in the aftermath of the 21st November, 2015 governorship election, it has become imperative for me to write this piece to bring to the attention of President Muhammadu Buhari on the absurdities that have become a disturbing feature of the politics in our state. I am constrained to ask which offence we have committed in Kogi state to deserve the present situation whereby our state has been turned into a laboratory for different bizarre political experiments that have aggravated the sordid situation of our people; we have indeed gained notoriety for negatives in the politics of this country. It is as if Kogi State has become a state operating under different standards under INEC, judiciary, APC and wait for it – The Presidency.
I am struck by the incongruity of the president’s indifference to the worrisome political situation in our state. It is disheartening that the regression of the party leadership into the politics of seclusion and marginalization which is a manifestation of intrigues and corrupt power play have complicated a process that, ordinarily ought to be smooth. From the time the hard won victory of the Audu/Faleke ticket was mischievously declared inconclusive and the unjust and compromised decision of the party thereafter, our state has been mired in an avoidable contrived crisis. The party leadership demonstrated an amusing and amazing inability to manage success with its ill-conceived decision to submit the name Alhaji Yahaya Bello as substitute for Late Prince Abubakar Audu despite the fact that he never participated in any of the activities that ensured the victory in the first instance; a classical example of rewarding rather than reprimanding disloyalty.
The absurdities playing out in our dear State started when INEC declared the November 21, 2015 Governorship election inconclusive despite the fact that the APC Governorship Candidate, Prince Abubakar Audu and his Deputy, Hon James Faleke had secured the highest number of votes and also one third of two thirds of the votes cast in all the Local Governments in fulfillment of section 179 of Nigeria’s constitution.
Sadly, Prince Audu died same day the election was declared inconclusive, and other absurdities started playing out. The issue of who was to replace Audu as the Party’s candidate in the ill-advised supplementary election ordered by INEC became so shamelessly handled by the leadership of the party. Instead of asking the Deputy Governorship candidate of the party, Hon Faleke to step up as the Governorship candidate of the party, the runner up in the party’s primary election, Yahaya Bello was thrown up to the utter indignation of party faithfuls in the state even when there are no provisions for runners-up in primaries. Primaries are meant to produce only a candidate. And even when there was ample opportunity for the leadership of the party to manage the furore generated by the ill-advised decision to bring Bello, the stakeholders meeting held in Abuja turned out to be a mere display of unabashed arrogance by no less a person than the National Chairman of the party, Chief Odigie Oyegun who insisted that the party’s decision was final and there was no going back.
The action and lack of same of the national leadership of the party resulted in another abnormality that had the candidates we voted for getting disqualified from the National Assembly election re-run polls in Kogi East and Kogi Central Senatorial Districts respectively. This has further exacerbated our fears that there must have been more to all these than we are made to know because INEC was very much aware that Primaries were held yet it played dumb to the court rulings barring our candidates who are still smarting from the sudden death of the leader of the party in the State, Audu.
The prevailing political situation in our state has the tendency to snowball into anarchy if not nipped in the bud. The volatile security situation in our state cannot be allowed to deteriorate further as governance is now virtually stagnated and there is a bleak prospect for development except the needful is done to restore our state to the path of sanity. I am disturbed because what is at stake for us as a people is beyond the inordinate ambition of any individual or group of persons. The desire to be free from poverty, misery and agony that we were compelled to endure for more than twelve years of corrupt and clueless governance informed our decision to join the change train which has become a painful and agonizing experience for us.
Although many of us share Mr. President’s resolve to belong to nobody but to everybody, sitting on the fence as it affects us is not a pleasant option for us. President Buhari’s indifference so far to our plight is a source of concern and disappointing considering the efforts and support of our people that culminated in the victory of the party at the state and federal levels. The peace, tranquility and development of our state should not be sacrificial items on the altar of the ignoble interests of some people.
The crummy situation in our state is becoming unbearable and no longer acceptable; this is not the change we voted for and therefore I implore the president to be more concerned and show more than a passing interest in happenings in our state to halt this ominous glide to anarchy. I pray for good health and divine guidance for the president as he strives to put Nigeria back on the track of prosperity devoid of impunity and corruption.
Femi Olugbemi, a Kogi APC stalwart, writes this piece from Abuja.
