For sometime now, I have observed with amusement the various positions expressed by Barr. Zacchaeus Dare Michael on issues ranging from topical to mundane.
His latest unsolicited response to Dr. Toyin Akanle’s Christmas message to Kogites has really shown that the Barrister is incredibly delusional.
While not trying to play the ethnic card here, Okunland is famed for ideals and virtues which Zacchaeus Dare Michael has copiously displayed he lacks.
Dr. Toyin Akanle’s Christmas message to Kogites aptly captured the sad but avoidable situation Kogi State is presently in. Can anyone sincerely declare that all is well with Kogi State? The answer is obviously, No.
From civil servants in the state, it is a long story of pains and agony in terms of salaries and other benefits. The local government workers are the worst hit with abysmally low percentage salaries that the bailout accessed by the Government ought to have resolved. To now claim that no Kogi State worker is owed salaries is the stuff fairy tales are made of.
Businesses are crumbling and those with the means are relocating away from a stifling economic environment foisted on business persons.
The average Kogite apart from Barrister Zacchaeus Dare Michael and his likes with access to the crumbs from their Master’s table knows all is not well with Kogi State and its people.
In terms of the resources the present Government in Kogi State have accessed; Bailout 1 & 2, Paris Club refund, refunds for federal roads constructed by previous administrations, several grants among others, what Bar. Zacchaeus Dare Michael is shamelessly glorifying as achievements when properly scrutinized will earn some people long jail terms for unprecedented misappropriation of state resources.
While other States are paying a 13th month salary bonus to its workforce, Kogi State workers are still expecting and are at a loss of when they will be paid less than 48 hours to Christmas.
One begin to wonder how stating the obvious about the situation of Kogites and non indigenes alike is related to fanning embers of discord.
How can anyone reasonably pronounce that a man who dedicated a Chapel in his hometown recently, an absentee for six years when the same Dr. Toyin Akanle participated in the APC Kogi West Senatorial Primaries that preceded the 2019 general elections less than three years ago?
Sadly, it is only in a twisted State that a State Counsel in the State Ministry of Justice will continue to brazenly play partisan politics and call himself a “Political Party Chieftain”
Bar. Zacchaeus Dare Michael is allowed to continue in ignominious self deceit but the reality Kogites are living with can not be wished away by the feigned ignorance of a hustling political busybody whose antecedence is replete with playing the devil’s advocate for pecuniary gains.
On the laughable and resources wasting Presidential bid as referred to by Bar. Zacchaeus Dare Michael, Nigerians are sane and will never pray for a replication of the juvenile and prodigal rulership Kogites have grappled with since 2016 which they must endure till January, 2024 when the curtain will be drawn on the most agonizing of governance in the history of Kogi State till date.
Bar. Zacchaeus Dare Michael is advised to understand that, it is not mandatory for him to comment on all issues though it is understandable if he must be seen working hard by his benefactors but he must realize that no individual needs to be told if the life he/she is living has improved or deteriorated.
Instead of the silly response from Bar.Zacchaeus Dare Michael, what Dr. Toyin Akanle deserves is commendation for his courage to walk where others fear to tread.
His message is an apt appraisal of what Kogi State has become under the governance of Alhaji Yahaya Bello and the hell survival has become for the average person in Kogi State. The message equally gives hope that very soon, the people will be free from the shackles of bad leadership that lacks empathy for the people.
How such noble effort will elicit ranting condemnation from any sane person is the question Bar. Zacchaeus Dare Michael should be able to give a rational answer to.
Until then, he should keep mute and stop being unnecessarily meddlesome.
– Abdulhamid Tijani
abdulhamidtijani6@gmail.com
