By John Akubo, Abuja.
The immediate past Governor of Kogi State, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada has challenged President Muhammadu Buhari to leave a legacy by signing into law the electoral amendment bill which was passed by the eight National Assembly to fast track a free, fair and credible election in Kogi and Bayelsa States come November 16th.
It would be recalled President Buhari returned the Bill for the third consecutive time to the National Assembly after it was passed and finally he declined to signed the bill citing the closeness to the 2019 general election.
The former Governor spoke yesterday in a lecture titled: History of Kogi Politics during the launch of a book; The Chronicles of grassroots politics at the International Conference Center, Abuja.
He said it is very important that President Muhammadu Buhari signs the amendment to the electoral bill authorizing electronic transmission and collation of results from the polling units to INEC headquarters. This he said will lead to limiting the human interface which is infested with corruption and dishonesty in the electoral process.
“It will help to improve our Democratic experience. So all of you should use the social media, the conventional media to pressure President Buhari to sign that bill.”
Wada indicated that with the bill signed into law, “Many of the challenges we are facing with fabricated results and all that will disappear and we will have a more credible electoral system.”
The former Governor explained further that the political history of Kogi State shows that it has undergone both transformation and turbulence, ups and downs of the political scene coupled with mutual ethnic mistrust as its albatross in the collective desire to attain full actualization of the aspiration of its founding fathers.
“Desperate politicians injected violence in to our body polity in the form of thuggery. The just concluded 2019 general election was marred by wide scale violence and electoral malpractice.
“This has become a troubling threat to the survival of our democracy as we navigate our way into the November 16th Governorship election.”
On the continuous agitation for creation of State he said one of the things that will help to slow the rate is when there is equity and justice.
He said at the moment there are some Igalas still canvassing for Okura State now.
“As the 9th largest tribe many Igalas are right to believe that we should have a State of our own. When you look at places like Bayelsa, Dekina Local Government is bigger yet it is a State.
“There are benefits from being a State. So people’s can only be slowed down when people feel a sense of belonging, they feel they are not missing from the national cake, they feel a sense of recognition and a sense of participation.
“So I will advocate strongly that in our political discuss we should look at power rotation at local government levels.
“Most of our Local Governments have 3 or 4 districts from Kabba province days that is the original political structure of those days.
“So let us ensure that key positions are Basketed like, A, B or C district. The chairman should come A, the Secretary should come B and the treasurer from C. As you it rotates when the chairman goes to B, we go along that line in clockwise direction.”
He said, there should be sequence like A, B, C then it should revert back to A like that adding that the same thing should apply in the state where there are 3 senatorial zones like Kogi East East, Central and West.
“The east has dominated power for the past 16 years and it is now in the central, the next time it should go to the west. But this should not be arbitrarily like it happened, Yahaya Bello was an accident, it was not planned, what I am advocating is for our leaders to work out a template for power rotation because so long as you don’t have power rotation there would be continuous struggle for power which leads to disunity and sometimes violence and the lost of lives.
“The function of government is to protect lives and property. So I think this is an issue we should strive very hard to put in place in our State if we want stability and sustainable progress.”
He said though he was asked to speak on the topic Political history of Kogi State.
“As you know I am not a historian, I have made my mark on the International Aviation Industry, that is where my strength is. Politics is not my take but by providence I got into politics and of course because I was Governor for four years the author thought I am an authority of Kogi Politics but I want to confess I am not one.”
According to him, Kogi politics is very complex saying that it is not like in other states in this country.
“Anybody who thinks Kogi politics is straight forward is making a very big mistake,” he said.
