By Menyanga Abu

Politics under normal circumstance does not intrude on everyday lives of its  practitioners but when the lives or interests of the politicians are bumped up against the political world, it can most often be intimidating.

It is a fact that the genuine world falls short of ideal situation, that on its own should not however prevent good politicians from adopting such a method that will help them to successfully navigate through the human minefield without resorting to killing and the use of unemployed youths as thugs.Gov.  Bello, without visibly executed projects and performance in Kogi state apart from his romance with the kogi traditional leaders and the federal government is able to understand or do I say misunderstand the psychological dynamics of power brokers and influencers in Igala land. He believes that an average Igala man is easily motivated by “what is in it for me” and not “what is in it for the Igalas”. Bello has been able to build an informal psychological dossier on politically-non-assertive and ravenous Igalas that are in his political force field just by giving them stipends. The greatest power and weapon in politics is the ability to get along with others and influence their actions through subtle diplomacy and conviction but not by the use of thugs to scare the opponents, voters and supporters of other political parties. The Igalas should file behind Eng. Musa, steering together a common course if they don’t want to suffer the fate of the ancient mariner.

Eng. Wada and governor Bello are at the tipping point in their campaigns and political trade. This is the point in time that the political activities in kogi state have reached the decision level that important issues such as the performances of Bello’s three and half years of governance have to be critically analyzed, x-rayed and put to debate as to whether he should be voted out or not. This is the point at which issues and ideas cross a certain threshold and gain significant momentum triggered by some minor or major factors or changes. This is a critical point in an evolving situation that will lead to new and irreversible developmental changes in kogi state. All odds seem to be against Bello, from non-payment of salaries for upward of 38 months, lack of visible projects to romance with the traditional leaders. No doubt Bello has carried out one or two federal projects in the state, one of which is leading the kogi traditional rulers who claimed to have endorsed him and presenting him to federal government in Abuja –  a new dimension in politicking. The situation in kogi needs to change but not with Bello at the helm of affairs. The state has reached that point that with Bello’s style of governance it will never get out of this despondent state of affairs unless there is paradigm shift, which I believe is not likely with Bello. Kogi state has gotten to the critical point in an evolving political state of affairs that will eventually lead to a new and irreversible development. Kogites especially the kogi east should not feel intimidated by threats or gull with filthy offers and stipends by governor Bello. People should not be scared from voting, come out en mass and vote for the candidates of your choice; they cannot kill everybody. Kogites should be ready to pay Bello in his own coins for the pains and anguish he inflicted on them in the last three to four years.The swing senatorial district in the state is East.

The votes from Kogi East are the determining factor because of the population and high number of registered voters. Although the people who cast vote in this part of the world don’t decide the outcome of the election but those that count the votes decide everything. The Igalas need to put their house in order, come out with block vote and massively cast their vote for Eng. Musa except they are satisfied with the position of a deputy governor with their population and the development  or none of it so far witnessed in the state. Kogi west is watching and waiting to know the direction that the Igalas will take. In most cases those who vote and elect corrupt politicians, thieves, non-performers and traitors are not at all the victims of the consequences but accomplices. I don’t want to see Igalas as cheap people who pride in their number that means nothing to them in this governorship election as some of them are said to have been bought allegedly.

The governorship election in Kogi state is a referendum of supremacy between APC and PDP, Igalas and Ebiras, the poor masses and the rich politicians in and outside the state who are bent on fostering Bello on the suffering Kogites despite his poor performance. What are the campaign points that Bello will use to appeal to the conscience of Kogites to vote him for the second tenure? I have in my wild imagination tried to figure out those little achievements, if any. May be to the Kogi East he is going to tell them that he has given them the position of a deputy governor which I believe  they won’t accept because they on their own and kogi West can equally produce a governor. He may likewise tell the Kogi East that he has done well by buying Rolls car for the Attah of Igala; that too is not an achievement as it is part of social or shared responsibility of any governor in any state of the federation. He may tell Kogi Central that he is their own and though he has failed  woefully he needs to be there to protect their “political interests”. And to Kogi West and the rest  Kogites he may wish to tender apologies for his dismal performance with promises to do well in his second tenure. As I mentioned earlier, one of the federal projects embarked upon by Bello was leading kogi traditional rulers who have endorsed him to Mr President, maybe for some of them to just see the president whom they have never met physically. I don’t know whether we should call this one an achievement or mal-achievement; the demolition of the round-about in Lokoja town. In the first few days of Bello‘s administration he embarked on the pulling down of most of the round-about in the state capital calling them” Igala shrines”, may be looking for Igala amulets, what an insult? The thought then was that he was going to build befitting edifice for the state capital but what do we have today, sites of the shattered round-about without hope of erecting new ones. One painful aspect of Kogi issues is the external forces working against the development of the state. Let me ask this simple and intriguing question, could Tinubu have tolerated Bello as a governor of Lagos state? Were Ambode’s sins up to half of Bello’s mal-administration? Yet Ambode was removed for “non-performance” while doing everything beyond comprehension to retain the non-performing Bello.  A governor that failed to pay salaries for workers for upward of 38 months is adjudged to have performed well by the same Tinubu. We are not even talking of infrastructural development which is zero; just workers salaries, this man could not pay for almost well three solid years, yet Tinubu and Oshiomhole are busy telling kogites that this man Bello has performed wonderfully well. Is this Tinubu’s vision for Nigeria that he is aspiring to lead come 2023? If so Nigeria as country is a goner. What is happening in various state of the country today is a microcosm of the goings-on in Nigeria. It is unfortunate that our so called leaders are not ready to admit and face the hard facts. Tinubu, is this your apparition for Nigeria or you just want to be president for the sake of it? You should have been the first person as APC’s national leader to tell other party leaders and the NWC the implications of fostering a non performing governor on the people of kogi state.

APC is all about Buhari, the president has been going from one country to another to woo investors to the country, yet some of you, his followers, seem not to be on the same page with this man. My advice to Mr President is, don’t give up, one day people will come to value what you are doing. The developed countries are watching Nigeria state by state. They know the states that are serious-minded in terms of development, if we like let’s continue to politicise the issues of development and feeding ourselves with blatant lies that Bello has performed well but the facts are there for whoever care to know.  What we need in Kogi is  a free and fair election, and for goodness sake let the votes of Kogites count on November 16. Enough of the so-called federal might and their plans to install Bello by all means and at all costs.