As the Hope train hits the Confluence State, the message that the presidential candidate of the APC brought has both united and inspired residents of the State behind a common dream. The visit also reveals that whether a leader is charismatic or methodical, or whether he be eloquent or ineloquent, the one who will bring about prosperity must be one whose life, both in words and actions, inspires HOPE.
And true to form, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s address at Kogi on the 8th of February leaves a massive dose of energy, zest and hope.
BAT’s message elicited a renewed hope among residents, giving them a substance for which to be patient and alive. We feel there is something in the horizon for which to yearn, prepare and be wise on the polling booths.
Asiwaju spoke to the specifics of the very things that Kogites are passionate about. Of course, it is not as if some politicians have not campaigned with these things in the past, but Sen Ahmed Bola Tinubu is a candidate DIFFERENT from.. He has built for himself a strong testimonial of performance. A track record. So, believing in him isn’t some fantasy. As a young politician, this is for me a lesson and a blessing. I believe it makes sense to assume that investors are taking note. Real investors and not ripoffs are dusting up their files.
The over 30 different solid minerals which Kogi has in commercially viable quantities, the navigable rivers of the Niger and Benue including the massive Omi dam in Yagba West, the unmatched tourism potentials of this same Kogi – a territory upon which Lord Lugard and his girlfriend Miss Flora Shaw (as she then was) merged and administered the vast protectorates of the North and South, the massive plantations of cashew and palm, corn and legumes and a reported huge plantation of the other ‘grass’, the City Boy definitely knows what’s up. He knows our land is green.
Mr Bola Tinubu knows where the clean dollars are hidden and appears set to unlock them. He is convincing. Good for him. Good for us. This is good for us all.
For me, I have no fears about feasibility. For Bola who beat the Atlantic Ocean to its game, impossibility is truly nothing. Where there is a will, we are told there is always a way. Besides, everyone of us in Kogi is in prayers. We are rebuking the spirits of ‘promise and fail’. He has promised to fix Ajaokuta, and that shall he do. He will. Amin.
– Tade Oshaloto, ANIPR, is a researcher and community relations practitioner. He serves in the government of Dr Yahaya Bello as Senior Special Assistant on Grassroots Sensitization
