#KogiAt25: Yahaya Bello And The Sins Of Our Fathers

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The issues that have bedevilled my beloved Kogi State in the recent past, especially the current administration of Mr. Yahaya Bello had actually driven home the saying that “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. How can one be fine  with the wearing of a crown that one’s ancestors (with different sizes and shapes of head)  had worn over time? Just imagine El-Rufai wearing the caps of Obasonjo! Or Oshimole wearing the robes of Buhari! gods forbid. How then are we in a hurry to judge brother Yahaya?

I remembered just like yesterday with so much sense of nostalgia the creation of my beloved Kogi. I partook  in the jubilations  not because I was interested in the perceived benefits to follow, but because I know deep down within me that one of the beatitudes that my CRK teacher refused to teach us is “Blessed are those that jubilate, for they shall reap the fruits of their newly created state”. Hearts were broken. I left my friends in Ilorin, even taunted them of a new and better beginning, better than Kwara State.

We all dreamt of a Kogi where there will be no marginalization from the Ilorins, from the Tivs and Idomas (sorry, it was the dreams of my fathers, my dream then  was to have a good football pitch to play football). We all came wearing the dreams on our faces. Lokoja was peaceful. From the streets of Felele, to Karaworo, to Adankolo, to Newlayout, to Lokongoma, to Army Barracks; the streets were clean, well organized and so fresh that you can even smell the colonialists. That was the Kogi that we took off with. The Kogi which we the children knew and can vouch for ourselves on the streets of Lokoja irrespective of whether you are  Bassa, Ebira, Ebira-Kotto, Igala, Okun or Oworo. That was the Kogi of my formative years.

I smiled with an aching heart when I heard stories like “Yahaya Bello is tribalistic, that all he is doing is ethnic cleansing. That he is displacing the Igalas and appointing his people in their stead” then I remember the saying that “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. How dare we to forget that this crown had been worn by his ancestors of Lugard House. That those ancestors (with different shapes and sizes of head) had moulded the crown to what it is today. How dare we forget so soon?

How dare we forget that like the proverbial free slave who in turn went and bought slaves, our brothers from the Eastern part of the state had forgotten about their travails in Benue State and had seen leadership of the state as a birthright irrespective of whether a competent person is at the helm of affairs provided he is an “Oma Attah”. While our brothers from the West and Central were hell bent on the agenda and agitation for rotation of power as opposed to a qualitative leadership. These are the reason why our teeth are sour from the fruits eaten by our ancestors.

How dare we forget that visible among the deformities in the Crown Yahaya is now wearing are bad roads, ethnicity, lack of basic infrastructure, insecurity, underdevelopment, low revenue generation and above all absence of a KOGI DREAM. I cannot but agree that uneasy lies the head of Yahaya and the more reason why I look at the bigger picture rather than the individual.

We now throw pebbles and rotten fruits at Yahaya after 24 years of neglect and wrong direction because we woke up to realize it is not an “Oma Attah” that is occupying the “exalted” post. We stoned him because he got there by mistake, it was supposed to be “our brother”, our turn to eat not that of the Ebiras. We stoned him forgetting that he is a product of the society. We stoned him forgetting that uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. Why won’t we, when all we did was cheer our “Oma Attahs” even at the face of their ineptitude (Permit me to say that on the scale of all his ancestors, Prince Audu stood out, he had a direction. God rest his soul).

Why won’t we accuse him of buying cars worth 1 Billion naira for his Cabinet and Sole Administrators? When our society never taught him the value of service but that of flamboyancy. Why will 700 million naira not be spent on his 41st Birthday while workers were owed 7months salary and so many families were dying of hunger in the state? Have we suddenly lost the taste for vain things? Why will a state battling with payment of salaries, no water for its citizens (mind you the government house until recently buys “mai ruwa water”) not buy airtime on AIT to celebrate? Don’t we have so much to celebrate for?

Yahaya can celebrate on CNN after all he got to the “exalted Post” by the “help of God”, he never worked for it. Was never prepared (I doubt if any Nigerian Politician is ever prepared). Let him make his monies just like most of his ancestors and rejuvenate his transport company or furniture or hotels whichever is his case. Isn’t that the reason we often vote them in the first place? Have they ever produced a blue print about how to take Kogi forward? Do we even have a Kogi Dream? Uneasy lies Yahaya’s head.

How can a state so bless be bedevilled with such backwardness? What are we doing about the coal which is found in Okaba, Ogboyaga and Koton-Karte.  About the Limestone and marble deposits in Ajaokuta and Osara?  About the Cassiterite, columbite, tantalite and Gold found in Egbe and Isanlu respectively?  About the Iron Ore  at Itakpe, Okene? Are we also going to let the Dangotes of this world feed fat just because our state lacks the vision and will power to enter into partnership with foreign governments or take loan to establish a cement factory in Obajana that will generate revenue and employment for Kogites?

Until the race for 2020 is not about the scheme to bring back an “Oma Attah”, about retaining power in the Central or about dethroning Yahaya and installing the Falakes, but about the Kogi dreams. About mining the “crude oil” at our backyards in other to generate revenue that will make us immune to the monthly allocation from the Federal purse. Until the VC of the State University, Rectors and Provosts are appointed based on merits and not from the domain of the host Communities. Only then will the creation of Kogi State will have not been in VAIN.

Whether we will ever rise above these divides, only tomorrow can tell. Until then, “uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. Happy 25th Birthday (creation).

– Samuel Adebayo Ajayi

Senator, Kogi West Senatorial District (in view)

 


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