The leadership of Kogi East Elders’ Council has been called upon to issue categorical statement on its purported endorsement of senatorial candidate of African Democratic Congress (ADC), Dr. Victor Adoji before it further compounds the already fragile polity in Kogi East.
Addressing a press conference in Lokoja on Sunday, the Chairman, Emerging Leaders Forum, Kogi East, Dr. Salisu Ogbo Usman picked holes in the processes adopted by the sub-committee of the Elders’ Council.
Usman stated that the criteria used for the adoption was “deliberately and manipulatively crafted to suit the set purpose without bearing in mind the derivable benefits for the Kogi East electorates”.
He University don described the adoption process as a pre-determined hatchet job that was craftily designed to favour a particular party candidate.
He, however, frowned at the attempt by “desperate politicians” to manipulate elders.
“Aren’t we tired of orchestrated manipulation that is responsible for the development challenges in Kogi East? As budding leaders, we are worried and concerned about obvious desperation by our political class who manipulate everything and not sparing our supposed elders to achieve their aims.
“We have absolute confidence in our elders that they can never be party to hasty and bias judgment, let alone reducing them to a tool in the hand of desperate politicians.
“We cannot keep quiet to the seemingly manipulations of elders as a dangerous additional dimension to the forgoing ugly trends that are inimical to the peace, progress and development of the Kogi East.
“We are using this medium to call on the Kogi East Elders’ Council to issue categorical statement on the purported endorsement report before it further compounds the already fragile polity in Kogi East. We must note seriously that unguided steps such as this in the past are partly responsible for the social vices in Kogi East; an unwholesome practice which our group is out and prepared to curtail as part of its mandate of promoting peace, progress and development of our land.
“Furthermore, we are not unmindful of the complex problems created by the desperate political class as manifested in the upsurge of ‘android – comrade – politicians’ who now misconstrue politics as a fulltime profession. These categories of people have turned themselves to accidental journalists who peddle negative publicity which are inimical to the peace and development of Kogi East,” he said.
Dr. Usman described the report of the purported adoption of Victor Adoji as worthless and called on the public, especially the eligible electorates of Kogi East, to disregard the purported endorsement.
Read the Full Press Statement
17th December, 2018
PRESS RELEASE
THE PURPORTED RECOMMENDATION FOR ADOPTION OF DR.VICTOR ALEWO ADOJI AS IGALA /BASSA SENATORIAL CANDIDATE FOR THE 2019 ELECTION BY A SUB – COMMITTEE OF THE KOGI EAST ELDERS’ COUNCIL POLITICAL COMMITTEE
Preamble
Last week, a purported report by a Sub –Committee of the Kogi East Elders’ Council Political Committee dominated the various Social Media platforms.
We initially dismissed the report and the content therein as the usual handiwork of desperate politicians being marketed by some “android – comrade – politicians”. However, the continuous and obvious silence by the purported author of the report prompted some observations for possible retraction.
We have a saying that where there are responsible elders, the younger ones do not lack. Chinua Achebe put this clearly that: “a goat should not suffer parturition on its tether while an adult is in the house”. Probably, it was in such spirit that the Kogi East Elders’ Council stepped in to have a political notch through its Political Committee and Sub Committees respectively.
The idea behind the formation of the Kogi East Elders’ Council is laudable and commendable if the aims and objectives are clearly and sincerely pursued. As a budding apolitical and Non Governmental Organization (NGO) with somewhat similar objectives and aspiration, the Emerging Leaders’ Forum, Kogi East, commend the initiators for the role so far. Part of our cardinal mission is to identify individuals and groups to cooperate and collaborate to entrench peace, progress and overall good governance for the desired but eluded accelerated development of Kogi East. It is in line with this mission that we would like to share our position on the so-called endorsement.
The purported endorsement of a Senatorial Candidate for the 2019 Kogi East Election
There seems to be genuine intention by the Kogi Elders’ Council, judging from the general mandate of its Political Committee that birthed the Sub Committee, albeit the controversial report. For emphasis and ease of reference, were produced in verbatim, the mandate as presented in the said report:
- “Provide a level playing field for contestants to political offices at the Local Government, State, and Federal levels for the governance of Kogi East Senatorial District”.
- “Screen and present the best candidates for the proper representation of Kogi East Senatorial Districts into Chairmanship of Local Government, State Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives, Senate and Governorship irrespective of political affiliation. Such selections will be presented to the Kogi East Elders’ Council who will in turn present same to the appropriate constituted Authorities in the Senatorial District for ratification”.
- “Deploy all legitimate means necessary to assist and ensure the success of all cleared candidates from Kogi East District”.
It is from the above mandate that the error of judgment that led to the purported recommendation of Dr. Victor Alewo Adoji of the ADC for support out of the ten (10) candidates that are vying for the Kogi East Senate slot in 2019, become manifest as politically bias.
Obviously, we are suspicious of the timing of this purported meetings and decision (7 – 8 December 2018). More worrisome is the singling out of the senatorial seat among other offices for support by the Committee. In addition, the location and venue (Chida International Hotel, Abuja) for the meetings is also suspicious. Moreover, the hasty release of the purported report through Social Media for public consumption even before the consideration and adoption by the Kogi East Elders Council as well as the elitist criteria all robbed off the supposedly laudable prime intention of the initiator.
Before discussing in details the specific issues in the said controversial report, we must not fail to express how perturbed we are like other sons and daughters of Kogi East, that the Kogi East Elders Council did nothing visibly to arrest the endless litigations over the Kogi East Senatorial seat since the 2015 general elections. That Court(s) produced four (4) Senators for Kogi East in less than four (4) years (Senators Abdulrahaman Abubakar, Attai Aidoko, Isaac Alafa and now Attai Aidoko) and still counting, only for the elders to have suddenly found their voice to endorse a candidate for the next election is of concern to us.
In fact, that our Elders have not made visible attempt at calling the contenders for amicable out-of-court resolution for the sake of the eluded/development of Kogi East even as we are less than two (2) months away from the 2019 general elections, further heightens our suspicion of political motive and bias in the makers of the purported endorsement report in circulation.
That we are less than two (2) months away to the 2019 Senatorial election and the Sub Committee waited this too late (7 –8 December, 2018) – after all the candidates have spent resources to purchase forms at various levels and had gone far with their campaigns – before the purported endorsement is not only capable of creating bigger problems in an attempt to solve lesser one, it is also bound to be misconstrued as a manifestation of the partisan interest in the Kogi East Senate tussle.
More curious is the focus on only the Kogi East Senatorial seat for the purported endorsement without any mention of the other offices such as the Members of House of Representatives, Members of the House of Assembly or whom to support for President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria as itemized in their self – made mandate. Why the specific interest in the Senatorial seat if not partisan inducement?
More hilarious is the meeting of the Sub Committee not only in a Hotel, but also in far away Abuja to decide issues that exclusively affects Kogi East. Who paid for Hotel bills for the meetings? Who bankrolled the transport and accommodation of the members of the Committee that are not resident in Abuja? Why not at Idah, Anyigba or Ankpa? Why Abuja? This again exposes the ulterior motive of the drivers and the author of the purported report.
At this point, it is important to talk about the identity of the person(s) involved, and motive for releasing the report of a supposedly Sub – Committee to the public only for the report to be brandished by supporters of purportedly endorsed candidate even before the official pronouncement by the body that set it up. This again is a pointer to the insinuation that members of the controversial sub committee under reference are partisan and bias; and it is clearly reflected in the purported report.
More laughable are the set criteria that led to the purported adoption of Dr. Victor Alewo Adoji from among the array of (10) candidates sponsored by different political parties. Aside being elitist in character and contents, it was deliberately and manipulatively crafted to suit the set purpose without bearing in mind the derivable benefits for the Kogi East electorates. In fact, the disputed criteria were arbitrarily applied in favour of the pre-anointed candidate.
For instance, isn’t it laughable for the Sub Committee to have used their criteria Number 3 – which is “Leadership experience in life, public or private sector and community service”- with 20 marks to have scored Dr. Victor Adoji 17.90 marks, while Senator Abdulrahaman Abubakar, a former Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and a former Senator 13.90 marks? Funny enough, the adopted candidate is super perfect in all to the extent that he was ahead or at per with some out of the five (5) screened candidates in the seven (7) set criteria.
Aren’t we tired of orchestrated manipulation that is responsible for the development challenges in Kogi East? As budding leaders, we are worried and concerned about obvious desperation by our political class who manipulate everything and not sparing our supposed elders to achieve their aims.
We are worried that our elders seem prone to manipulation by the political class to the point of embarking on endorsement; albeit a purported one, is capable of brewing further litigation. We are worried that our elders are not acting proactively to arrest the incessant litigations among our political class with multiplier consequences on the desired development of Kogi East.
The Essence of this Press Statement
This press statement is a call on the Kogi East Elders’ Council to call to order, those that are seemingly dragging their names to the mud with the purported endorsement of a candidate for the Kogi East Senatorial District ahead of the 2019 election. We have absolute confidence in our elders that they can never be party to hasty and bias judgment, let alone reducing them to a tool in the hand of desperate politicians.
It is obvious that, breeding of political thugs and electoral violence with the inherent induced drug abuse and addiction among our youths as well as endless litigations are traceable to the desperations of the political class. This we cannot keep quiet to the seemingly manipulations of elders as a dangerous additional dimension to the forgoing ugly trends that are inimical to the peace, progress and development of the Kogi East.
We are using this medium to call on the Kogi East Elders’ Council to issue categorical statement on the purported endorsement report before it further compounds the already fragile polity in Kogi East. We must note seriously that unguided steps such as this in the past are partly responsible for the social vices in Kogi East; an unwholesome practice which our group is out and prepared to curtail as part of its mandate of promoting peace, progress and development of our land.
Furthermore, we are not unmindful of the complex problems created by the desperate political class as manifested in the upsurge of “android – comrade – politicians” who now misconstrue politics as a fulltime profession. These categories of people have turned themselves to accidental journalists who peddle negative publicity which are inimical to the peace and development of Kogi East. We have, as a remedy, concluded plans to organize leadership training and enlightenment campaign for behavioural change for this category of people who are obviously endangered by the peanuts patronage they are currently enslaved to.
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In the interim, we urge the Elders Council to support us in this drive by distancing the body from any form of manipulations that may further compound the problems at hands.
Finally, we call on the public especially the eligible electorates of Kogi East to disregard the purported endorsement as worthless.
God bless Kogi East
God bless Kogi State
God bless Nigeria
Dr. Salisu Ogbo Usman
Chairman/Convener
Emerging Leaders Forum, Kogi East
