By Dr. Tom Ohikere.
My decision to support and stand by the candidate of my party at the last governorship election of 21st November, 2015 in Kogi State, which saw late Prince Abubakar Audu as the winner, has attracted and is still receiving unprecedented verbal and systemic attacks. `
However, with the prevailing politics of bitterness and feud in the state, armed men and assassins have been sent against me by in-house opposition who felt I supremely deviated from the course of fighting for Ebira agenda (Power Shift Agenda) as against the collective mandate of the welfare of the people of Kogi State.
While some people have gone personal with me, others have accused me of being inconsistent in the pursuit of my political ideologies, a claim they have not been able to substantiate.
Many of the arguments have been so petty, preposterous, naive and provocative and bereft of the sophistications expected of modern political campaigns.
Some are laden with self-serving arguments and outright falsehoods in desperate attempts to mask evil agenda with colour of populism just to deceive the undiscerning masses about my true character and morals.
It is worthy of note to say that, some of the arguments are not new following our democratic maturity and our approach to political issues in the state but the effrontery and impudence of these people are so daring that they have hired evil machineries to kidnap me on many occasions.
It is germane to put on record that, my brand of politics is not materialistic and self-serving but a blend of professionalism and ‘philantropism’ which is the spirit of goodwill towards the welfare of mankind which is my reason for seeing political involvement from the standpoint of dispensation of sound leadership, generosity, benevolence and mentorship to upcoming leaders.
It is my great belief that greatness is not found in wealth acquisition or material possession but in goodness, humility and service to humanity.
Politics to me is all about adding values to others because I am a steward of the common man, representing the poor, underprivileged in our society. And I support political parties that are relevant to the agenda of my people, principled, stridently focused, well organised, effectively managed and value oriented.
I believe in the principle of merit and community service, these are some of the values which I laboured to transmit to parties and governance while I served as the commissioner of Information in Kogi State.
In many fora where I have been opportune to deliver lectures, keynote addresses and other national dailies where I served as a guest columnist, I have always maintained that, the driving forces behind my responses to national political trends is traceable to the dynamic and inconsistent nature of national political factors which also necessitates my response to them realistically and adequately.
It was this principle that inspired me to join the Peoples Democratic Party at its inception. PDP was a party that was relevant, responsive to the aspirations of the people until it derailed, the consequences of which are evident today.
When I was in PDP, I was loyal and dedicated to the vision of the party. And when I noticed a breach and cracks within the party’s wall, I left the PDP to join a smaller party then, the ACN and I made my decision public to the knowledge of all and sundry and was aired in major broadcast stations and published in national dailies.
Following the need to salvage the country from the accumulated errors of PDP’s 16 years of governance, our then party, the ACN merged with other patriotic political parties, aimed at rescuing the country from the wreckage and ill-governance of the PDP.
After protracted consultations, I became a loyal and dedicated member of the APC. Besides, I was in charge of the membership drive of the APC at formation in Kogi Central Senatorial District, during which I leveraged on my popularity and other might to bring many into the then newly formed party.
It suffices to put it on record that I didn’t join the APC as a party at the evening period of its boom but rather a foundation member who, through patience and loyalty, worked hard to nurture, grow and midwife the spread and acceptability of our great party in Kogi State.
Notwithstanding, I am also presently working hard alongside other patriotic members of our party to bridge information gap between the government and the governed and to foster a positive image of our country in the international community through principled and good reportage.
As a loyal member, I am duty bound to defend, support the vision and decisions of the party and that is what I, Tom Ohikere has been doing, a course I have faithfully pursued with vigour.
However, the choice of Late Abubakar Audu by the delegates at the party’s primary election which preceded the main election in November 21 was a superlative decision. It was a primary election that was supervised by the governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai and one of our best in this country.
All the candidates were screened by our party and Audu was duly elected by the delegates and I stood by the decisions of my party which have the supreme verdict of the activities of the party.
The National Secretariat Screening Committee, among others attested to the fact that, Audu’s roadmap for the development of Kogi State remains one of the most viable and realistic even after over 12 years that he left the Lugard House.
As a man of principle and philosophical drive, I concurred that, Late AbubakarAudu’s success, commands my respect for his leadership style, developmental stride, administrative prowess and commitment to vision with strong tenacity of Purpose.
I am humbled by their choices and decisions and with their decisions, come my realistic acceptance, determination and willingness to partner with the candidate of my party to bring about the change we need in Kogi State.
When my people, the Ebira people agitated for a power rotation, I responded promptly and yielded to their calls even when it was not too convenient. And I pursued the power rotation agenda with everything I have got. However, beyond the call for power rotation which rocked the air at the time, I, Tom Ohikere, believed more in Ebira Agenda as a more holistic agenda which is all encompassing and embracing.
I am a bonafide Son of Ebira land and I represent the interests and desires of my people. I am also committed to seeing the realisation of Ebira agenda because the nationality question is a major factor in any federal system.
However, we must not reduce the quest for Ebira agenda to a mere power rotation. It includes but is not limited to power rotation only. It involves youth employment, infrastructural development, completion of Ajaokuta project, total activation of the Itakpe Iron Ore Company and commercialisation of our cultural festivals among other important issues combined to form the much valued Ebira agenda.
These are issues that cannot be totally achieved within the confinement of the state power or by any obscure party. That is why we need a federated and nationalistic party like the APC to achieve as a platform to actualising the totality of Ebira agenda.
I devoted my total support to Audu because I saw him as a man of his word and who had, until his death, promised to initiate and facilitate the holistic plan that will see the Ebira people realising their dreams and aspirations.
I am personally consoled that we fought a good fight as advocates of the agenda in the course of the governorship campaign across Kogi State in 2015, led by Late Prince Abubakar Audu where I also served as the Head of Media and Strategy.
But the death of Late Abubakar Audu, at the point he was set to be declared the winner of the November 21st election where he was already leading with overwhelming votes, threw both the state and the party into confusion.
However, while I am not in any way fighting Governor Yahaya Bello or have any personal grudge against his emergence because he himself knows the role I played during the primary election where he came second against all odds which included his rejection by Ebira political leaders, my concerns and disagreement are the processes that led to his emergence as the replacement for the Late Prince Audu Abubakar which stemmed out of the wrong decision of our great party.
Following the need to put a square peg in a square hole, it became necessary for me to divorce emotions and sentiments and stand by the principle and philosophy of fairness, equity and justice on which I have been standing in all my political sojourn so far.
On this note, I will like to conclude by appreciating all my well-wishers who have been standing by me in prayers and encouragement all through these trying moments and I also wish to inform them that, I will be dishing out periodic articles on my opinions as touching the state of affairs in Kogi State, henceforth.
I will ensure that, the articles are devoid of political, tribal, religious, clannish and economic sentiments but will be centred primarily on good leadership and what is proper to the people of Kogi State.
Therefore, I will expect as usual, threats to my life and property as it has always been done in the last few months by those that feel that being successful in one’s political career involves kidnapping, extermination and killing of people.
I remain committed to Ebira Agenda!
– Tom Ohikere, a media consultant, wrote in from Abuja.
