We have twenty six (26) days to Christmas. There is palpable fear among indigenes of Kogi state, especially those in the diaspora. Rather than been excited about going home to meet with their loved ones and friends who have not seen for a long time using the window of the break to see, interact and chat over local drinks are now contemplating whether to go home or not. Many factors are responsible for this fear. Insecurity. Bad roads. Hunger in the state.
A friend recently called me to inquire whether I have heard the latest form of exchanging pleasantries in the state. He eagerly wanted to put me in the know so as to get me prepared for the season’s greetings. He told me when two or more friends meet in any part of the state, rather than say how are you? Or call you by your name, what you hear is Nosa. I expressed my shock. How does Nosa becomes a general name for everyone? I queried. My friend explained further the full meaning of Nosa is – No salary.Consequently, for those in the diaspora, as you travel home for the Yuletide, it shouldn’t shock you to hear Nosa as a new form of greetings in the state.
This is the tragedy of democracy and the situation we have found ourselves. With all the hunger in the land, bad roads, unending screening and lack of infrastructural development, the governor has the courage to move on as if all is well. I take solace in the opinion of Louis Odion, former commissioner for information in the cabinet of Adams Oshiomhole when he recently said of the governor: “With little or no inhibition, the parvenu from Ebiraland has, for instance, continued to demonstrate the grave danger a society faces when a small mind – an intellectual midget – finds himself in custody of the gubernatorial staff.”
Very apt you will say. This is a state where the governor has not inaugurated a kilometer of road in three years. No borehole sank. No housing project going on in any part of the state. No renovation of any public school across the 21 local government areas. No building or renovation of any primary health clinic in any of the 239 wards of any state. Rather, according to Dr Kabiru Zubair, the Kogi State Chairman of Nigeria Medical Association (NMA), on 2nd November, 2018 addressing a world press conference lamented; “The situation of Doctors is very pathetic in Kogi Civil Service, starting from underpayment, irregular payment to outright non – payment of salaries for over five months consecutively and still counting.
“…In the last nine months alone, 27 doctors have resigned from the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, including 2 consultants. Forty – four (44) have resigned from the state hospitals management board and 8 from the Kogi State University Teaching Hospital, Anyigba. More doctors are just waiting for the next available opportunity to leave.”
Within the same period, a doctor with the Pediatrics Unit of the Kogi State Specialist Hospital, Lokoja, Amos Ojo slumped on duty. The reason was as a result of exhaustion. I can go on and on. Is he really not into the macabre dance of the political misfortune of the people of the state? Who knew in their knowing to have rejected him at the primaries, only to be brought in through the back door and validated by the courts through the lacuna in our legal system and the overconfidence of Faleke at the time. That is a story for another day. However, my worry is no longer the non- performance or lack of intellectual depth of the governor, but the seemingly ill preparedness of the incoming governor. It is about twelve months to the next election that should ordinarily unseat the incumbent but what we see are posters on the streets and on Facebook of gubernatorial aspirants without a corresponding structure and manifesto.
Who do us? As it is popularly said in Nigeria pidgin English.
We need serious – minded aspirants who can create a political movement by constituting a group of intellectuals with viable ideas, realistic and executable blueprint. This is with a view to mobilizing the electorate for the great task ahead. It is beyond purchasing expression of interest form. The state has been devastated by the most incompetent governor to have ruled any state in the world. It is true that no state can remain static for very long. You are either progressing or retrogressing as it is in the instant case. We need a candidate in the mould of George C. Marshall who incidentally became the source of Marshall plan popularly used today. He began the task of rebuilding Europe in 1948 after the second world war. The project was later designated The Marshall Plan. Who will bail Kogi with such a beautiful plan with corresponding political structure?
Whoever wants to succeed the incumbent governor should not think the election is going to be a stroll in the park. There is a latin maxim that says “actus non facitreum, nisi mens sit rea – an act does not make the doer of it guilty, unless the mind that did it be guilty. If my village Idah can be locked down by supposedly cult boys for two days after killing five persons and no arrest was made, then you can appreciate the meaning of the latin maxim. I deliberately avoided writing about it today not to inflict fears in the minds of those who are preparing to travel home for the Yuletide.
It is not too long after writing about Anyigba been under siege. Ditto Ihima in Okehi local government area recently. I was told reliably that more lives will be lost in ldah because, a Capone was brought down. Who provided the guns? Why no arrests has been made? This is the third time in three months. This is not in the absence of endless staff verification exercise since the inception of Yaya Bello cum APC led administration workers are enduring rather than enjoying it. What behoves my mind is the pains, agony and travails of pensioners in Kogi State. Imagine aged people being tossed up and down like kindergarten; they are made to climb storey building either to the first or third floor of the Pension Board at the State Secretariat Lokoja in the name of Screening yielding no positive result in the end.The integrity gained by a pensioner for retiring voluntarily from service after thirty five (35) years, no governor can earn such a rare feat in eight (8) years.
There is an army of electorate looking for a general to lead them This is contrary to Sun Tzu’s – there is no need for a general, if there is no army. Kogi need a political general to lead the already available troop. As we count down to the forthcoming elections, let us set our minds toward forward and upward movement for the state and not be tempted to go down a step further because of our private interests and party loyalty. Whatever and whoever have anything to do with Yahaya Bello should not only be rejected but must be seen to be outrightly rejected.
– Sylvester Ojogbane
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