First of all, I would like to address the inaccuracy of the title of the article in question. The title is a massive misconception and misrepresentation of the body and substance of the article. Plainly speaking I seriously doubt whether the author even understands what a metaphor is. Giving him the benefit of doubt and assuming he does, he has employed it in a horrendous fashion and has butchered the literary device.
With all due respect to the author, the substance of the article itself was quite unfortunate to read. Ignoring the spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, I found the arguments delivered very primitive and unintelligent. To put it nicely, the author made too many circumstantially vague conclusions, lacking any real logical coherence.
I certainly hope the author is in no way or form connected to the official campaign team of Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim. That would be a catastrophic reflection of the stock of people the Governorship aspirant has surrounded himself with, and an indication of the type of people we would be putting in Lugard House, if he is elected.
When it comes to governance and competency, a man is only as good as the team he works with and the people he surrounds himself with, so it would be very unfortunate to support a man who is unable to find good hands to do simple tasks like this.
The son of his Excellency, the former governor, is a man not known for any great achievements. Yes, indeed, much of the public backlash and out roar he has faced stems from the simple fact that his father was a Governor, but that is not the full story. As I alluded to earlier, we do not know the son of the former Governor and we do not know what he has achieved. All we know about him is that his daddy was a Governor. We only know his name, and that is because it is his father’s name as well. Those are terrible grounds upon which to sell an aspirant. This sentence is not criticism but advice, it would do him and his campaign team good if they distance themselves from poorly written narratives like the article in question and focus more on trying to portray the pros of their aspirant, if any exist.
Whether it is unfair to punish the son for the sins of the father is irrelevant in this conversation, because Kogi is too tired to care right now. Our people are tired of the same recycled names in our polity. Kogi is tired of being hoodwinked at the polls every four years. We want someone new, we want someone with the capacity and ideas to uplift us from our plights. We want a visionary with a track record of development and investment in human capital. Someone who can walk the talk and has the CV to back it. Not someone whose greatest achievements is being the son of a Governor.
It may not seem that way, but I mean no disrespect to Alhaji Abubakar Ibrahim. It is a tough pill for him to swallow, but these are just hard truths he must come to terms with. Kogi is tired, and is in no mood to aid him in creating political dynasties.
Other aspirants such as Captain Wada and Musa Wada are complicit as well. They are individuals who think their former offices or relationship to those in office grants them some claim to Lugard House. It is almost as if these aspirants view the seat of the governor as a monarchy, moving from father to son or brother to brother.
These two families cannot have a monopoly on governance in Kogi, especially after the bad jobs they have already done. Captain Wada had his four years in office and was largely underwhelming. He is a man heading into his 70s, with his best years behind him. It is fair to say, had he not disappointed the people of Kogi, the APC wouldn’t have won our state, and we wouldn’t be subject to this Yahyah Bello predicament we are in right now. So why would be now turn around to vote in a man we already voted out? It is unfathomable and beckons simple reasoning and comprehension.
The most farcical aspect of this whole scenario is Captain Wada’s brother, the aspiring Musa Wada, also happens to be an in-law to the Ibrahim family. The icing on the cake of the Ibro-Wada political dynasty Kogi shall surely reject.
Luckily for us, there are emerging alternatives. Kogi is renowned for the strength of our human capital. Unfortunately, these strengths have not been apparent on the ballot sheets. The wide array of technocrats and success stories of our great people has not been extended to our political sphere.
As I mentioned earlier, our polity has been saddled with the same names for years, but this political season we have someone new. We have a political maverick on our hands. A trailblazer of infrastructural development, and one of the best Quantity Surveyors to come out of Kogi. He is a man blessed with a certain skillset that has set him apart from the rest. As a maestro in Public Private Partnership (PPP) his trade has taken him to all parts of our nation. There, he has embarked on numerous infrastructural projects, leaving people where ever he goes better off. A man who does his job to the best of his capabilities. An unbiased leader who has worked with people from different walks of life, different religions, different social and economic backgrounds, different ethnicities, and has thrived doing so. An aspirant who can bring his personal successes and replicate them on the state level, for all to benefit from. Under the flag of the PDP, this future candidate is non-other than, QS Aminu Abubakar Suleiman. A man popularly known and revered as Mr. Capacity, for obvious reasons.
It is fairly evident that in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic the most successful Governors, the ones who have brought about meaningful change, have been the ones who have initially excelled in the private sector. The ones who came into governance with a knack for administration. Not the usual career politicians we’ve been saddling with since 1999, with their greed and unrelenting thirst for power. We need real technocrats with real skills to build our beloved State. This point is more evident with Quantity Surveyors.
We’ve seen the likes of Nasir Elrufai of Kaduna and Adamu Muazu of Bauchi. Two Quantity Surveyors that have plied their trade and expertise to better their states. QS Aminu is en route to do the same for Kogi, and is poised to even surpass the aforementioned. Of all the numerous Governorship aspirants, QS Aminu is the only man that embodies being a specialist in a field that can be intrinsically linked to development and governance. He is the only technocrat aspiring to be governor, and an impressive one for that matter.
There is one glaringly stark contrast between QS Aminu and all the other governorship aspirants. All the other candidates on offer have previously held political positions in Kogi or have been major beneficiaries of those in political positions. My point being, the aspirants in question are part of, or were part of, the current system and as a consequence have contributed to the problems we are facing today.
With QS Aminu, however, we are being offered a fresh start. A reset button to our tumultuous brand of politics in Kogi. A complete overhaul of the system in place that has brought nothing but suffering and strife to our people. The beginning of a new dawn in Kogi.
Despite his prolific track record in the private sector, QS Aminu is yet to execute a single Government contract in the great state of Kogi.
Unlike the rest there is no overbearing figure that shall impose his will on QS Aminu if he becomes Governor. He is a man who shall rule based on competence, capacity and good conscience, and shall do so unencumbered.
Kogi is tired. We are tired of poverty. We are tired of the suffering. We are tired of the trajectory in which we have been heading. We are in no mood to re-immerse ourselves, and our great state, into the hands of those who have put us on this daunting path. Kogi must and shall reject all who have already failed us. We must look to someone new, someone with the skill and know-how to lead by example, and the vision to move us in the right direction.
– Adebayo Daniel writes from Abuja.
