Knowing real stakeholders in kogi, KYF
By Benjamin Adewale
A youth Group under the aegis of Kogi Youth Frontier (KYF) has berated self acclaimed ‘Kogi East Critical Stakeholders’, describing them as all weather politicians who are out to latch unto any situation for relevance.
The president of KYF, Comrade Danjuma Ibrahim disclosed this in Lokoja on Tuesday to the newsmen.
The group said by all assessment , the intention of those who paraded themselves as Kogi East Critical Stakeholders at last Thursday Abuja Press Conference was mischievous, questionable and a mockery of themselves .
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The youth group added that stakeholders in any environment are people or leaders known to have demonstrated capacity, consistency, loyalty and commitment to a cause in field of human endeavour for the betterness of the society .
“Unfortunately , the records, antecedents or profiles of the self arrogated stakeholders in the kogi east are clinically at variance from what they claimed to be .
” The can therefore be described as mere errand boys with no political value in their various communities, but decided to use image of east district to re- launch back their dwindling political career.
“To put the record straight, in the last few years, the only leader that was known to had shown total commitment to party cause in the kogi East District is Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka while he was in the All Progressives Congress (APC) party.
“This is the man who gave out over forty five cars to APC in the state to ensure total victory for the Presidential candidate of the party, then, Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu during 2023 presidential election in the state.
“He crisis crossed the whole districts in the kogi east, in particular, with heavy funding which accounted for the reason the party presidential flag bearer received heavy votes at the polls in the district above the two other districts in the state .
“That singular act also made the APC party to inflict heavy defeat on the rival political party, People Democratic Party( PDP) at the ensued presidential election, with over whelming majority votes at the Kogi East District without blinking an eye.
“That could be said to be a true demonstration of capacity , loyalty, consistency and commitment that qualified him( Muritala) a status of real stakeholder while in the party .
The KYF group stated that the vacuum created by the exit of the real kogi east stakeholders headed by Muritala Y. .Ajaka while in APC manifested in the poor outing of the party in the kogi state governorship election of 11th November 2023.
The KYF argued further that the result of the last election in the kogi east had qualified the said critical stakeholders as political jobbers, errand boys and feather weight leaders who are out to use Igala nation to feather their political nest rather than their party .
“The records of the last election at our disposal showed that Daniel Isah managed to score 14 at his polling unit where SDP got 1,427 votes.
“While Senator Dagana Ocheja scored 25 votes for APC, the SDP received 276 votes in his polling unit , Professor Stephen Ocheni ,a former Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria scored 2 for APC where SDP got 634 votes in his polling unit.
According to Comrade Ibrahim, besides the poor votes recorded at their various polling units in the last governorship election , many of them, if not all, have consistent political harlotry antecedent that made them irrelevant at home .
KYF said : “For instance, Isah Daniel whose principal died while coasting home victory was virtually removed from the party as the administration of Yahaya Bello disbanded the APC structure that brought the votes he inherited.
“Isah was abandoned; chased or shut away from the activities of the party in Kogi for 8 years, leaving him with crumbs. He later pitched his tent with a retired Naval Chief who crashed again in 2019 governorship election party primary.
“Through the effort of Muritala Ajaka and other real stakeholders in the party, then in the kogi east, he was made to play active role in the APC rival presidential election campaign team in 2023, as the then governor Bello distanced himself from him and the rival team, because of his perceived personal interest .
“It is worthy of note that Isah played a nominal or sleeping role for the party in the last kogi governorship election, as his body political chemistry was with his Boss, former chief of Naval staff, Usman jibril who contested the election on Accord party (A) , with no impact .
“In the same character, Senator Dagana Ocheja defected from PDP to APC , as he could no longer fit in ; again, left the APC to Accord party(A) to join forces with the retired Naval chief the last governorship election. Few weeks to the election , he ran back to APC”.
However, the KYF group advised the said critical kogi east stakeholders to sort out themselves in their own way to express their political ambition , but not to drag Igala nation into murky waters of politics created by fugitive Yahaya Bello who had drawn a battle line with president Bola Ahmed Tinubu because he lost the party presidential ticket battle.
The group stated that “ex governor Bello has not hidden his desire to embarrass president Bola Ahmed Tinubu , viewed from his outburst during the party primary election , his lukewarm attitude during the last presidential election and mobilisation of people across the country to protest against the federal government in his attempt to evade arrest over alleged financial sleaze while in office , weaken the law and create image challenge to the present federal government .
“By deciding to key behind the controversial ex governor Bello and governor Ahmed Ododo to dare or breach the law of the land , you are on your own, don’t bring kogi east into it “.
