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I am very sure, the old generation we all chorused to have placed Kogi State on the low graph of development are laughing at us. In obvious subdued giggle, they laugh in mockery of our infantile manifestations. That we gave them the reasons for the loud jibes is not contestable, the combined assemblage of kogi youths have failed the states, no one is exempted here. We are all guilty.
When Governor Yahaya Bello was divinely hoisted on the state, we all thumped in chesty bravado. When he appointed young people into his cabinet, we jived in ecstasy. When he cried on the day of his inauguration, thousands joined him in his emotional frenzy. The conclusion was unanimously agreed that at last, kogi has come to stay. A new lease of life was here. And expectations were here high.
Like a badly arranged cards under the manipulative hands of the wind, the hopes came crumbling. People like us fret in shock and fear enveloped us. In what seemed like a spell, the youngest governor metamorphosed into the traditional kind of politician. He began to perceived enemies, he allowed those around him to court enemies for him. In no time, the man became derailed and ever since it’s been one distracting template after the other in kogi.
Governance that ought to be a platform for affecting lives is being used as a theatre of bickering. Instead of coordinated synergies, we have youths of kogi in coordinated energies for fights, scorn and verbal missiles. The discordant tunes in kogi is enough to trigger an earthquake. I blame the Governor for giving the room for the rancor in the state. He has allowed people around him to take over the narrative of governance. Instead of vision, they spew threat. Instead of harmonizing potentials, they create blocs of dissenting energies. No state can thrive in this kind of tensed environment. There is a distant gap between Governor Yahaya Bello and the people of Kogi state. He must urgently address this otherwise a looming crack await the fragile state.
The unending screening should come to an end, civil service is not the only fulcrum of governance. The youngest governor should devise other governance strategies. The lands in Kogi are fertile breed for agriculture. Convert the army of political appointees into extension workers and see Kogi in the news for the good reasons. Governance has gun beyond having people sit in offices, government succeeds only with tangible workforce. See the agricultural revolution in Kebbi State. That is how agriculture can change the fortune of government. Having people coming to office everyday adds nothing far fetched to governance.
It will be a generational blunder to have kogi educational institutions collapsed under the reign of a youthful governor. It didn’t happened during the grips of the elders, please posterity won’t be kind to you if this trend continue. The consequence of having all education institutions closed in Kogi state is uncontrolled crime surge, increase in social vices and unmitigated societal nuisance. You can’t afford to have a generation uneducated citizens. Do whatever it takes to reopen the closed schools in Kogi state. Having our kids go to school everyday while those whom we govern have their children at home because of strike action is not a good commentary sir.
Go back to your original template that had humane dispositions, that template where you wore humility as a garb, that Yahaya Bello who was a father, husband and mortal and not this transformation into a white lion. The greatness of a leader is measured by the impact of his manifestations in his society. It is the people’s verdicts that confer on you the identity of immortality.
My Governor, I want the goodwill that greeted you when you assumed office to return back to you. The people are hungry and angry with you. This discordant tunes cut across Okene, Imane, Koton karfe, Ijumu, Ogori, Odagba and chintako. Regardless of your conviction in your policies, when the people feel pains and no succor, please devise a new direction. You are first for the people before you are conviction driven.
This is the quick win for you Mr Governor, convey a summit for all kogi citizens, open the session and take a backseat. Sit down and listen to your people. At the end of the day, sift from the volume of talks and make due with tangible ones. This is gonna reconnect you back to your citizens and endear you to their hearts.
Make your aides take the backstage, take back the face of kogi. Let the only voice that come from the government house be your own. You came on board to seal a social contract with the people. Speak to them in the language of hope, love and respect.
Go back to the elders and seek their wisdom not to come on board but to pour in their expansiveness. The world is better off when there is convivial embrace between the elders and the young. At the long run, the land is ours to plough and not to ponder.
Critically musing.
– Abdullahi Haruna Haruspice
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