Just like yesterday, I remember twenty-eight years ago when Kogi state was created. I remember the joy and excitement on the faces of our parents. Oh, what euphoria!
As a fourteen-year-old growing up on the streets of Zaria, Kaduna State, North Central Nigeria, I beheld hope in my father’s eyes that day; hope that this creation would usher our community and several other communities into new realms of existence. I saw hope for the future. A future where his sons and daughters would be proud of their home; proud of Kogi state; a confluence flowing with wealth and prosperity. Upon that hope, my confidence was built.
Today, I stand atop the great Mount Patti. I look to the Central, the East, and the West. I search for the translation of that hope. Rather, I see despair. I see pains. I see disillusionment. I see a people whose backs have been bent from years of suffering and deprivation. I see poverty. I see underdevelopment. I see the worst forms of deception. Yet, the confluence still flows with wealth and prosperity.
How can a people be so wealthy, yet so poor? In shame, I bow my head. Though shaken, my confidence grows.
Dear friends, our confidence must propel us to greater heights. Out of these doldrums, we must recreate a new Kogi State.
We must recognize that the primary goal of state policy and government action is the well-being of her citizens. Nothing less is acceptable.
Recreating a prosperous Kogi State where her people recognize economic opportunities, create wealth, provide jobs with dignity, uphold peace and the dignity of human life, and ultimately stimulate long term inclusive economic growth, is non-negotiable.
This responsibility we must embrace with the whole of our hearts. We cannot afford to fail!
I am running for the office of the Governor of Kogi State and I am asking for your support, morally, spiritually, materially, and ideologically. I hope you will believe in me as much as I believe in you, together a new Kogi is possible.
Please do share your thoughts and opinions on the way forward as we make progress.
Do have the assurances of my highest regards now and always.
Let’s do it guys!
– Henry Anibe Agbonika
PDP Gubernatorial Aspirant, Kogi 2019
