It is quite normal for Kogites who had anticipated a hitch-free, credible and transparent governorship election across the state to feel terribly sad and disappointed over the shambolic manner the exercise was conducted by INEC and other stakeholders yesterday.
What transpired across Kogi state yesterday fell far short of what election should be in this age and time. The exercise was everything, but credible, transparent and decorus. What we had across the 21 LGAs in the name of election was a charade that should be condemned by all lovers of democracy and rule of law.
But as disappointed as we are with the entire election, I urge us not to give in to despair. Understandably, I know many of us are seriously hurting, especially families that lost their loved ones during the exercise. You have all the reasons to feel bad and possibly give up on hope. But I urge all grieving families to hold on to hope and look up to God for comfort and strength. May their souls rest in peace, Amen.
I equally enjoin families that are yet to establish meaningful contact with their wards for close to 48 hours now not to lose hope. For a fact, this is not the end of the road for us as a people. It is but a trying phase that requires serious introspection and soul searching on our part as citizens of Kogi state.
The scale of violence that we witnessed yesterday was unprecedented and portrays us in bad light before the world. Never have we had such an experience since Kogi was created in 1991. We’ve had and conducted elections in the past, to be honest, none can match this in terms of violence and electoral malpractices.
Even though we can’t have a perfect election, yesterday’s was far below average. I mustered courage to see a number of videos which showed the remains of young, innocent Kogites drenched in their blood after some bloodthirsty gunmen opened fire on them while trying to exercise their democratic rights. I saw other videos of weeping loved ones and families who scampered to safety when political thugs invaded their polling units while voting was ongoing.
It was a war-like situation in places like Lokoja, Kabba, Anyigba, Ayetoro, Dekina and parts of Olamaboro where armed men in military uniforms raided polling centres and went away with polling officials and election materials. I truly feel ashamed of the gory images and scandalous stories coming out of my dear state. Friends have been calling to register their disappointment and worries over the show of shame and grand bestiality recorded in Kogi state in the last 48 hours.
My dear brothers and sisters, their intention is to simply break our spirit and render us helpless and hopeless so as to freely mismanage our collective patrimony without being questioned. But let’s prove to them that we are indomitable, and we shall remain committed to enthroning civility and modernity in our body polity.
We shall never bow to agents of darkness who are bent on silencing men and women of good conscience through violence, intimidation and harassment. Dear Kogites, clean up your tears, put yourselves together, remove the sackcloths of pity and cheer up for there will be light at the end of the tunnel.
We should all take solace in the fact that we aren’t alone in our determination to salvage our state. The rest of the world have joined us in condemning and exposing the evil that holds us by the jugular in the state. Let us be resilient and refuse to be deterred by the machinations of desperate politicians and their lackeys.
Those who bring about or engineer change are men of steel, not lilly-livered lots who easily chicken out of popular struggles. Let no situation break your spirit, for the enemies we see today shall in the fullness of time become men and women of yesterday who frittered or misused the opportunity of leaving lasting legacies in their trail.
May Kogi Succeed!
– Dr. Safiya S. Musa
