The Governorship election has just been held in the state. Ordinarily, it will look premature to start talking about 2023 but unfortunately we are operating in an unusual situation that no doubt require an unusual response.
I don’t want to be tagged a sectional politician or an ethnic champion but that has been what has been trending in our state since the creation of the state where by the Okun nation has been sidelined in occupying the governorship seat by reason of numerical strength.
Thank God that the reasons given by many of our political leaders and money bags in Okun for decamping to APC, the ruling party, in the wake of the last governorship election was to pave way for the emergence of an Okun man to be Governor in 2023, with the expectation that His Excellency Governor Yahaya Bello will pay back by supporting an Okun man to be Governor.
There may be some other reasons not known to the public but the possibility of Okun man being Governor was what was publicly canvassed.
Looking at the history of Okun from Kwara, their struggles and permutations, it is a well deserved dream. What then should be the strategy of Okun Nation in clinching this coveted seat? The answer lies in UNITY OF PURPOSE.
Our elites and political leaders must come together and begin to think of how we can identify very serious minded individuals that are fit to occupy this exalted position of service. Apart from identification, those who come up with the belief that they have what it takes to be Governor can also be considered irrespective of party affiliations.
The qualifications to the position will include among other things experience, public and private service records, exposure, community service, humanitarian service, political experience and their performance in the handling of the public offices they held in the past.
Okun must be focused this time, it must not be business as usual. The race this time must not be that of character assassination, arrogance, personal aggrandizement and self glorification.
The potential Okun flag bearer must be ready to serve and should be a man in the Okun image. A man who has no compassion has no business with governance. A man who looks at positions as an end and not a means to an end stands disqualified. This strategy of short listing our first eleven two years to 2023 will avoid the mad rush for power, mud slinging, imposition and indecent use of power and money by money-bags who know not much about our politics but have over the years been co travelers and sponsors of those who have frustrated our dreams for good governance and good representation and who have no capacity to call them to order while in office.
Okun must cry out aloud this time around. Otoge!
– Hon Dayo Akanmode
Former Executive Vice Chairman, Ijumu Local Government Council, Kogi State.
