Dear Natasha, I hope this open letter meets you well.
Let me state here that I am one of those who publicly condemned the way and manner you were treated in the last general election and has lampooned INEC over your disqualification as governorship candidate of the SDP in the forthcoming November 16th election in Kogi state. I share in your anger as I strongly hold the opinion that everyone should be given a chance to freely participate in a democratic contest, leaving the electorates with the choice and opportunity to select their leaders.
Against the backdrop of the suit you filed before the Federal High Court in Abuja, praying for the disqualification of governor Yahaya Bello as a candidate for the coming election.
The suit marked FHC/ABJ/CS/122/2019 filed on Monday, anchored your prayer on governor Bello’s alleged double registration as a voter.
Apart from seeking a disqualification, you also asked the court to bar governor Bello, the governorship candidate of the APC in the forthcoming poll, from holding public office for ten years, while seeking an order compelling the Independent National Electoral Commission to “thoroughly investigate the act of double registration” and“ to immediately prosecute him upon the expiration of his first tenure in office as governor of Kogi state by January 2020”.
I have carefully followed your press releases and interviews, where you have vowed to sue INEC and seek a legal redress over your disqualification, and I believe majority of Kogites and Nigerians are overwhelmingly supporting you on that. Giving the lawyer that you are, I believe you are adequately armed with the necessary provisions of the law to enable you successfully prosecute and prove your case to a logical conclusion.
However, your decision to shift attention from your disqualification and focus on how governor Yahaya Bello will be disqualified instead is surprising. Nigerians are confused, Kogites are perplexed and Anebira are to say the least shocked on your reason for refusing to fight your disqualification with the required vigour but rather turn around to fight governor Bello by seeking his disqualification.
Yourself and Governor Bello may have had some feud in the past, I do not think it is the right thing for you to turn against the interest of Anebira just so that you can feel good. In case you were too young to follow Kogi state politics from 1999 till 2007, let me educate you that it is untrue that Anebira didn’t have politicians with ample political sense or calculation needed to successfully become governor of the state, but the mentality of “no one must get it, if I can’t” among the crop of politicians at the time was what made it difficult for an Ebira man to become governor untill God almighty smiled on us with governor Yahaya Bello.
The questions many are itching to ask you are; why are you really doing these. Does your so called strive to liberate Anebira and industrialize Kogi state involves fighting against our interest and dissipating needless time and resources at destroying your fellow Anebira. What really is in it for you, what have you to gain if governor Bello is disqualified, will that automatically put you on the ballot or make you governor of the state?
My priceless advice to you is; no one gets to the top by pulling others down. Please do not bring back our old political style of “no one must get it, if I can’t” that relegated us to the back seat of Kogi politics before the advent of governor Bello.
Continuing your case and quest to disqualify governor Yahaya Bello will be tantamount to dancing naked at the market square. You still currently enjoy the love and sympathy of a few who believe you are working for the interest of Anebira and Kogi state at large, pursuing this case against Yahaya Bello will give an impression that you are merely on a selfish quest to grab power and pull others down at all cost.
I implore you to drop the disqualification suit against the governor and concentrate on seeking a redress on your disqualification by INEC if you don’t want to be seen and treated as an enemy of Ebira land.
An African proverb says “When two brothers fights to death, an outsider or stranger inherits their father’s wealth” Please do not allow this to be our lot in the forthcoming governorship election. To this end I wish to use this medium to call on the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland to do the needful and put an end to these rancour, acrimony and animosity among his frontline subjects. The silence of the Ohinoyi is no longer golden on this matter. I also implore governor Yahaya Bello to please, extend a hand of friendship. Compromises and concessions needs to be made and grounds must shift in the interest of peace and progress of Ebiraland. A word is enough for the wise.
#LetCommonSensePrevail
– Hussain Obaro
oseniobaro@yahoo.com, 08157719456
