The recent write-up credited to John Paul, dripping with bile and intellectual dishonesty, is not a political analysis but a calculated smear designed to distort history, poison Igala consciousness, and derail the most organic political movement Kogi East has witnessed in decades.
Titled with melodramatic malice, the piece exposes more about the author’s desperation than about Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka.
Let us be clear from the outset: Alhaji Murtala Ajaka did not weaken the Igala cause — he resurrected it. Any attempt to paint him as a betrayer is either born of ignorance or sponsored fear from those threatened by a new political order.
The lie of “Igala Betrayal” John Paul’s central argument collapses under the weight of facts. The claim that Ajaka “engineered” Igala political decline since 2015 is laughable. The truth is that Kogi East lost power due to elite complacency, godfatherism, and internal sabotage, not because of one man’s political participation.
If anything, Ajaka was one of the few Igala politicians who consistently confronted the Yahaya Bello political machinery when many so-called Igala leaders chose silence, compromise, or outright collaboration. To now accuse him of betrayal is revisionism at its worst.
2023: The Awakening They Fear
The 2023 governorship election shattered a long-standing myth: that Kogi East was politically finished. Under Ajaka’s candidacy, the region spoke with a renewed voice, mobilized youths, professionals, traditional institutions, and ordinary voters across party lines.
Despite intimidation, violence, and electoral manipulation acknowledged even by neutral observers, Ajaka won the moral mandate of Kogi East. That frightens entrenched interests, and John Paul’s write-up reads like a script written to soothe those fears.
On Credentials and Character
Questioning Ajaka’s credentials is both lazy and dishonest. A trained lawyer, former Deputy National Publicity Secretary of the ruling party, and a man who has navigated national politics for years is suddenly being portrayed as empty-headed? This is an insult not just to Ajaka but to the intelligence of Kogites.
We should ask instead: where were these “credentialed” Igala elites when the region was being politically dismantled? Where were their voices when power was centralized and Kogi East marginalized?
Division as a Political Tool
Dragging Ibaji and Bassa communities into this argument is reckless. Ajaka never ran an exclusionary campaign. His message was unity, equity, and restoration. Any voting differences reflect local political dynamics, not rejection of his vision. Using these communities as props to delegitimize him is irresponsible and divisive.
The Senate Panic
Let us not pretend otherwise: the hysteria around a rumored Senate ambition is pure panic. The same people who mocked Ajaka’s governorship run are now terrified of his continued relevance. They know that Ajaka represents a generational shift — one not controlled by old alliances or recycled power brokers.
Calling him unfit for national representation while Nigeria’s Senate is littered with absentee politicians is hypocrisy in its rawest form.
The Real Agenda
John Paul’s article is not about Igala unity. It is about gatekeeping — preserving a failed political aristocracy that has delivered nothing but excuses. The era where a few voices decide who is “acceptable” for Kogi East is over.
Conclusion: History Will Not be Rewritten
Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka is not perfect — no leader is. But he is authentic, courageous, and connected to the grassroots, and that is why he is attacked.
The Igala people are wiser than this propaganda. They know who stood with them in the storm and who only appears during Christmas seasons to issue intellectual press releases.
The future of Kogi East will not be dictated by online essays soaked in bitterness. It will be shaped by courage, sacrifice, and unapologetic leadership — qualities Ajaka has already demonstrated.
– Edison Atumeyi Edime
For: MURI AJAKA Grassroots Mobilizer.
