There is something fundamentally dishonest about faceless political actors hiding behind the tired label of “Concerned Citizen” to circulate bitterness disguised as civic activism. Courageous public criticism does not fear identity. It does not survive on distortion, selective amnesia, and manufactured outrage. And it certainly does not insult the intelligence of the people while pretending to defend them.
The so-called “open letter” against Senator Jibrin Isah is not an act of democratic accountability; it is a politically motivated pamphlet soaked in resentment, misinformation, and calculated deception. It follows the familiar script of anonymous propagandists: ignore facts, exaggerate problems, erase visible interventions, and hope emotional rhetoric will overpower reality.
Unfortunately for the writer, facts are stubborn.
The greatest irony of the entire diatribe is that the anonymous author chose Odu as the emotional centerpiece of his accusation of “neglect,” only to completely ignore the extensive footprint of Senator Echocho across the Odu axis itself.
Across Odu communities, the senator facilitated Primary Health Care Centres at Ajiyolo Ajikpome and Ajiyolo Ojaji, while the ongoing construction of another Primary Health Care Centre at Odu Igegeli further demonstrates sustained intervention in grassroots healthcare delivery. At Okete, the community also benefited from healthcare support through interventions at the Primary Health Care Centre.
On water infrastructure alone, the record completely demolishes the propaganda of abandonment. Senator Echocho facilitated solar-powered boreholes at Ajiyolo Okoda, Ajiyolo Ojaji, Odu Anana, Ebeje Owala, Okete, Ajenejo, and Ajakagwu, alongside boreholes at Odu Igegeli and Odu Ogbaloto. The Ajagwumu community borehole was equally renovated to restore water supply to residents, while Odu Ate benefited from both borehole provision and solar streetlight installation.
In education, blocks of classrooms were constructed at Akpelu and Odu-Ofomu, while the renovation of Government Secondary School, Odu Ogboyaga, has already been captured in the budget awaiting payment. These are tangible educational interventions in communities the anonymous writer falsely portrayed as abandoned.
Infrastructure and community development interventions are equally visible. Senator Echocho facilitated the construction of the market at Ajiolo-Ojaji and the construction of a town hall at Ajiolo-Ojaji, creating communal and economic assets for residents. The proposed construction of Odu-Ofogo market shops has also been accommodated in the budget awaiting implementation.
On security, the senator provided a patrol vehicle to the Odu vigilante branch and facilitated the ongoing construction of a police station at Okete — interventions aimed at strengthening grassroots security architecture within the axis.
Beyond physical infrastructure, Odu communities have also benefited from empowerment programmes including cash support, motorcycles, tricycles, Keke Napep, and other economic assistance targeted at youths and vulnerable residents.
These are not imaginary projects invented for campaign posters. They are visible interventions with identifiable locations and beneficiaries spread across the Odu axis.Related News
It therefore takes an astonishing level of political dishonesty for anyone to loudly accuse Senator Echocho of “abandoning Odu” while healthcare centres are being constructed, classrooms are standing, markets are built, solar lights are functioning, police infrastructure is ongoing, vigilante groups are supported, and boreholes are serving communities daily.
That is not criticism. That is political gaslighting.
More embarrassingly, the anonymous writer displays either a poor understanding of governance or a deliberate attempt to manipulate public ignorance by attributing every historical infrastructural challenge in Kogi East to one senator. Federal roads neglected for decades are suddenly presented as though Senator Echocho personally awarded and supervised the contracts. Such arguments may excite partisan echo chambers, but they collapse under basic civic literacy.
Legislators facilitate projects, sponsor bills, move motions, attract interventions, and advocate for federal presence. They are not governors, ministers of works, or contractors combined into one office. Even at that, Senator Echocho has consistently sponsored motions targeting strategic infrastructure deficits, including the rehabilitation of critical roads, completion of the Abadigba power project, and inclusion of key regional roads within federal infrastructure priorities.
Beyond Odu, his stewardship stretches across the nine local governments of Kogi East: integrated rice mills in Ibaji and Omala; cassava and cashew processing plants in Ankpa and Ofu; healthcare facilities in Olamaboro, Ankpa and Dekina; tractors and mechanized farming support schemes; relief materials for flood victims; educational interventions; police and NDLEA facilities; solar-powered streetlights; boreholes; and extensive youth and women empowerment programmes.
There is also the quieter but more consequential dimension of representation: opportunity creation. Through interventions linked to the senator’s office, numerous youths across Kogi East reportedly secured employment into federal agencies including FIRS, FRSC, NSCDC, Customs, NIMASA, NCC, FAAN, the Nigerian Army, Police, and several others. In today’s economic reality, such opportunities are not ceremonial achievements; they are lifelines for families.
Then there are the legislative interventions: bills seeking the establishment of the Federal University of Education, Ankpa; Federal Medical Centre, Dekina; Federal Eye Centre, Ochadamu; alongside motions addressing electricity, roads, humanitarian support, agriculture, and regional infrastructure.
No serious person claims Kogi East has achieved perfection. The district still faces developmental challenges accumulated over decades. But there is a vast difference between constructive criticism rooted in facts and anonymous propaganda rooted in bitterness. One seeks improvement; the other seeks political destruction through distortion.
Thankfully, the people of Kogi East are not politically naïve. They know anonymous outrage cannot erase visible projects. It cannot wish away functioning boreholes across Odu communities. It cannot demolish classrooms already standing. It cannot pretend markets, health centres, police stations, empowerment schemes, and solar lights do not exist simply because they disrupt a preferred political narrative.
History is rarely kind to professional cynics and faceless propagandists. It remembers builders more than hecklers, substance more than slogans, and measurable impact more than anonymous outrage. Long after today’s sponsored bitterness fades into irrelevance, the visible record of Senator Jibrin Isah’s stewardship across Odu and Kogi East will remain far more enduring than the noise of anonymous political merchants hiding behind pseudonyms and gossip platforms.
– Kenneth Akoji, a public affairs analyst, writes from Lokoja.
