Igala as a metaphor for Equity, fairness and Justice in the ongoing Kogi political fiasco.
Truth is like a pill, very bitter to swallow but potent in restoring health– Anonymous.
The Igala as a people are now between two extremes. On one hand we have been sidelined by the two major political parties- APC, Governor Bello’s Third term agenda for the Central and PDP for the West Senatorial District and on the other hand , we have been tempted to adopt lesser political parties in the forthcoming governorship election , bearing in mind our supposedly huge population to give us victory at the polls.
It is trite for humans when faced with hard situations to seek for wisdom to wriggle out of it.
We had held on to power for sixteen years, with our indomitable Population as a defence, until Divine intervention halted us.. The halt has since then dismembered our unity and political cohesion.
The beneficiary of that divine arrangement, Governor Yahaya Bello from the aggrieved Central Senatorial District, has quickly forgotten the hand that swinged him the luck and has arrogated the powers to himself.
Our attempts for a way forward in the logjam , we seemed to be getting it wrong with myriads suggestions that may permanently dim our political future.
We may be tempted to buttress our point of clutching to power with what erroneously happened to us in Benue state. In Benue , which we have equal strength at creation, with the same three districts with Tiv and a District to Idoma, we cannot be said to be maligned by the Tiv either in politics or in civil service.
In politics, we have equal number of senators Ahmodu Alih and Andrew Abogede , Ditto with Tiv and one to Idoma.
We had the slot of Deputy Governor back to back, 1979 -1983 and , if not the truncation of democracy by the then General Muhammadu Buhari’s led Junta, Igala would have taken over as Governor on expiration of that tenure.
On the state civil service, Igala left Benue state with over 7,000 workers to Kogi out of 13, 000 total workforce, leaving the Tiv and Idoma to share 6 ,000 and from this raw analysis where were we maligned . I kindly plead for this justifiable digression.
Back to the knotty issue at hand. Yes, we have superior population but,how potent is this population in this present predicament.
We have a saying that if one does not want small shame , one should act swiftly to avert the bigger shame that lurks in the corner.
We are people noted for doing the right things no matter whose ox is gored. This epistle is to energise us in re-enacting our spirit of doing the right things.
Kogi state is on the gun power waiting to explode . And God in his infinite mercy that used us in 2015 to avert continuous distrust by our brothers from the other zones , is also determined to use us again to balance the power rotational agitation in the state.
It is antithetical for the law of nature that Just because, your senior brother did a wrong thing , you should also use his error to justify your own wrong.
Agreed that the 16 years of Igala in power, was a wrong thing, should a man who got it divinely, now toe the line of injustice, God forbid .
Politics is about numbers, but actors in many states across the country have been and are adopting measures to protect the weak.
Many states around us – Niger, Plateau, Kwara, Adamawa, Enugu just to name a few – have gentlemanly codified rotational arrangement in their polity and I ask, why Kogi should be exempted.
Let’s we forget in a hurry, our brothers who are now the beneficiary, took up arms against the state in order to ensure that the three zones have their fair share at the Lugard House.
And when the divine hand changed the political pendulum to their favour , men of good conscience heave a sigh of relief with the hope that a new dawn for the people of the state has emerged.
For the hindsight, the framers of our 1999 Constitution delineated each state into three senatorial Districts with equal rights and privileges as no zone , no matter, the population and other endowments cannot produce two senators, hence, the need for mutual agreement for power rotation among themselves became imperative.
Unfortunately, the kettle that had called the pot black, has suddenly not seeing the pot black again.
What then should we do.
As a people of great integrity, we should drop the toga of our presumed population and embrace the law of what is good for the goose is equally good for the gander and form alliance and build bridges irrespective of creed and political appendages with the new weakling–the West- to upend the political calamity starring us in the face.
Therefore, I call on the Royal Fathers, Religious Leaders , Youth leaders, political leaders across all parties in Kogi East to form alliance with the west to institutionalise power rotation in the state.
Just as the leaders in Bauchi state in 2019 did by dropping their differences and formed a united front against the then governor, Mohammed Abdullahi Abubakar who was gunning for second term to rescue their state from retrogression, anything otherwise,we may be doomed for many years to come.
Therefore, it is time to act with integrity, bearing in mind Equity,
fairness and justice. A stitch in time saves nine.
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# equity,Fairness ,Justice# Musa Ocholi writes from Lagos.
