By Yusuf, M.A.
Kogi State can no longer afford a political architecture designed for the comfort of a few and the quiet suffering of the many. A state consistently supplied with federal allocation yet perpetually starved of proportional development is not a victim of scarcity, but of the wrong philosophy of power. Democratic governance is not defined merely by who occupies office, but by how power circulates, who benefits from it, and whether succession is owned by citizens or captured by closed cycles. This is the foundation upon which the Kogi Equity Alliance (KEA) has risen—with intellectual force, civic legitimacy, and political inevitability—to insist on a future where balance replaces monopoly and rotation defeats appropriation.
Speaking to citizens on UrahTv, Hon. Omale Adaji and Comrade Unekwu Ocheje elevated KEA’s message from a regional argument into a statewide democratic doctrine. Their voices did not ride on anger, rumor, or provocation—they rode on sequence, evidence, contrast, and strategic democratic reasoning. They stepped forward as voices of truth in a landscape crowded by praise but empty of balance. Their mission was clear: to alert Kogites that democracy is not endangered by ambition—it is endangered by entrenchment. When one Local Government Area governs back‑to‑back for over a decade under the influence of the same political cycle, elections cease to be democratic contests and become succession queues. Citizens are no longer voters—they are witnesses. KEA seeks to restore citizens from witnesses back to stakeholders.
Between 2003 and 2016, Kogi East held the governorship through a sequence of leaders who governed the state but never inherited it. Leadership was distributed, rotated, and pluralized across Local Government Areas, proving that even in its moment of ascendancy, Kogi East understood that internal diversity strengthens legitimacy, while localizing succession weakens it. The historical order speaks for itself: Prince Abubakar Audu was from Ofu LGA, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris hailed from Omala LGA, and Captain Idris Ichalla Wada came from Dekina LGA. These transitions reflected zonal representation and local plurality—not back‑to‑back dominance by one local government. This history defeats the myth that rotation is foreign to Kogi’s political DNA. Rotation in Kogi is a tradition. Monopoly in Kogi is mutation.
Kogi Central, the zone currently holding governorship power, is equally a plural political geography, comprising Adavi, Ajaokuta, Okehi, and Ogori‑Mangogo LGAs. Yet, in unprecedented back‑to‑back succession, the last three governorship cycles have been tied specifically to Okene LGA, first through Governor Yahaya Bello’s eight‑year tenure, followed immediately by Governor Usman Ahmed Ododo’s succession. The issue is not that Governor Ododo is a Kogi Central son—no zone should be denied aspiration. The issue is that his succession perpetuates the third straight term tied to one local government axis under the same political influence cycle, without internal rotation within the zone itself. This sets a precedent more dangerous than tenure: it sets a doctrine—that succession is the property of influence, not the product of democracy.
KEA’s intervention is anchored on an unanswerable equation: If Kogi East could govern without consecutive LGA dominance, and if Kogi Central contains multiple LGAs with equal legitimacy, then 2027 must restore the moral order of power circulation by rotating the governorship to Kogi West. KEA is not rejecting Kogi East ambition—it is protecting every zone’s right to a turn. The Alliance is not driven by vendetta—it is driven by demographic fairness, constitutional logic, and conscience.
KEA proposes a political insurance model that monopoly, by design, cannot offer. Rotation reduces tension by making power predictable. Inclusion removes desperation by making succession shared. Internal balance disarms ethnic entrepreneurs by denying them combustible grievances. Democracy is the only asset that matures when it is shared—and withers when it is hoarded by a few.
Hon. Omale Adaji and Comrade Unekwu Ocheje are doing more than participating in politics—they are resetting the state’s democratic compass. Their advocacy aligns strategically with Distinguished Senator Sunday Steve Karimi’s ideology of a Kogi West and East alliance anchored on equity, mutual political elevation, shared responsibility, and long‑term state stability. His doctrine is clear: One man’s ambition is not the same as a people’s mandate. One LGA’s dominance is not the same as a zone’s consent. Succession must never become black‑box designation.
Kogi’s political crisis cannot be separated from its corruption crisis. Kogi has not merely been misgoverned—it has been structurally drained. Democracy built on extraction requires silence. Democracy built on rotation requires accountability. KEA has chosen accountability as its philosophy, refusing domination as its doctrine, and rejecting dynasty as its future.
Kogi is not rejecting brotherhood. It is rejecting entrenchment. It is not resisting ambition—it is resisting monopoly. Kogi is not disowning the Center—it is disowning dynasty. Kogi is not reducing anyone—it is raising everyone by turn.
The argument shaping Kogi 2027 has become too logical to silence, too fair to reject, and too historic to dispute. With truth‑bearers like Hon. Omale Adaji and Comrade Unekwu Ocheje amplifying KEA’s message on UrahTv, the state is moving toward its most credible democratic therapy: rotation, geographic balance, and zonal dignity anchored on logic, consensus, and constitutional arithmetic.
