Just recently the Executive Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, in the spirit of democracy asked the Administrators of the 21 Local Government Areas in the State to step aside and allow for a proper electoral process that would provide an opportunity for the masses to choose their representatives through the ballot box.
Interestingly, most of the Administrators have spent more than three (3) years in that office and are still clamouring, interested and campaigning to contest for the office of Chairman in the respective local governments after their dissolution.
Of course, every Kogite is qualified by law, party, association and choice to contest for the office but in the spirit of fairness, as entrenched in democracy, the Administrators should be considerate enough give up their ambitions and allow other aspirants have fair contest at the primaries, contest at the polls and represent the people fairly too at the grassroot after their own tenure in the office.
I remember that during the last primary elections that brought up the candidates for House of Representatives and Senatorial poll, particularly in Kogi West senatorial district, our great party, the All Progressive Congress (APC) lost a few seats because our primaries were not perfectly balanced in the interest of the party members and electorate.
Of course, I was part of the lone voices that clamoured against the process. The rest is history. For me, as a true progressive, as I have moved on.
In order to avoid a repeat of the political scenario, the All Progressive Congress (APC) and our governor, who values fairness, should disallow previous Administrators from contesting the upcoming local government elections or else there would be glaring resistance from the people against certain candidatures in some of the local government resulting in losses for the party at polls.
– Julius Akinrinde writes from Jege, Yagba East LGA, Kogi State.
