Review… Kogi: Beginning of a new dawn?

In from Timothy Enietan-Matthews . . . .

Today, Wednesday January 27, 2016 marks a new era in the existence of Kogi State. It is no doubt a day many people in the state have longed to see. It is a momentous day that holds the possibility of a better future for the state and its long suffering people. A new governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello will be sworn in as the executive governor of the state, heralding the transition from one administration to another.

The swearing in of Alhaji Bello, despite the way and manner he emerged as the governor-elect of the state and the uncertainties still hanging on his position because of the cases before the state’s Governorship Election Petition Tribunal, is significant for a number of reasons.

Doing away with the locust years

Many people have posited that the state like many others in the country, has been very unfortunate when it comes to getting good leaders to preside over its affairs, and since the return of democracy in 1999, the people of the state have not had much to cheer about.

Those within this school of thought argue that the only time the state had a semblance of governance was during the first and second stints of late Abubakar Audu, who would have been the one standing on the podium to take the oath of office for the third time if not for the cold hands of death which snatched him away on the eve of victory.

Audu was swept out of office by the PDP in 2003, marking a gradual but eventual decline of the state that has remained a monumental embarrassment for its people. The administrations of Former Governor Ibrahim Idris and the soon to be immediate past Governor Idris Wada, seemingly impoverished the people and left infrastructures decaying.

The state capital, Lokoja is an embarrassment and a vivid example of what a state capital should not look like. The only major road that runs through the state capital lies in ruins, an eyesore to every sensible human being. The situation created by the PDP led administrations turned intelligent able bodied young men in the state into political thugs and praise singers, who only survive on a daily basis by shouting “my leader”.

Read also: Kogi: Faleke’s fate unknown 24hrs to inauguration

To cap it all, the Wada administration is leaving the state with a barrage of problems. Civil servants are owed four month salaries. Governance is paralysed as the civil servants have been on strike for about a month. Local Government workers have lost memory of how much their salaries are because the administrations in the state have been paying them different percentages for years, sometimes, as low as 10 per cent.

So the coming on board of the All Progressives Congress (APC) administration in the state is seen as a breather bringing the people a ray of hope.

The reality of power shift

One of the issues that dominated the build up to the November 21 governorship election in Kogi State was the clamour for power shift, especially towards the primaries of the APC. The shout for power to shift to either Kogi West or Kogi Central was deafening, and at a point it became obvious that the agitators would have to wait again, as the candidates of the two dominant parties in the state came from the East Senatorial district.

It is instructive to note that since the creation of Kogi State, no Okun or Ebira man has ever been governor. It has always been the exclusive preserve of the Igalas, most of who vowed to rule for life on account of their numerical superiority. So the inauguration of Bello is a dream come true for the highly marginalised people of the Kogi Central and West. It is a moment many will relish for a long time to come.

Generational shift

In his 40s, Bello is certainly a young man and the youngest among those who have presided over the affairs of the state in time past. He comes into office with the strength of a youth and the ability to appreciate what modern times like this requires. He comes with the ability to appreciate the needs of the highly bastardised young people of the state who have been reduced to beggars and touts by past administration.

The new governor is expected to be a voice and force of redemption for the youths, who are expecting so much from him.

Hurdles before Bello

If Alhaji Bello believes he will have an easy stay in office, then he must be living in a dream land. His tenure is obviously going to be bumpy and rough, not because he may not know what to do right, but because the challenges are enormous.

To start with, he comes into office with question marks hanging on the process that produced him. Except the election petition tribunal, Court of Appeal and Supreme Court speedily make pronouncements in his favour, he will continue to be bugged by the uncertainty of continuous stay in office.

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The new governor will also have to consciously fight the credibility questions hanging over him and the perception that he is not a good looser and loyal party man. He must quickly move to assure members of the APC in the state who see him as a traitor and power hungry that he is not any of the above. He must assuage the feelings of those who are still hurting and bring into the fold those who have become estranged since his emergence, first as substituted candidate, and now governor.

The new governor must not allow youthful exuberance to rob him of doing the right thing and making the state proud once again. He must disappoint critics who say he is proud and pompous. He must prove those who are beginning to think his administration will be worse than that of Ibrahim Idris and Idris Wada wrong. He must show them that he is different and that he means well.

Bello must also be careful enough not to reduce governance into an ethnic affair the way those before him did. Already there are insinuations that the marginalisation to be suffered by the Okun and Igalas will be worse under the Ebiras; he must consciously avoid this.

Bello will have a rough start in office because every sector in the state is down and requiring urgent attention. Civil servants are on strike over salary arrears, pensioners have forgotten when last they collected their pension, LG workers are dying while Wada said he is leaving behind a debt profile of over N44 billion.

Infrastructures are in ruins. There are no decent motor able roads in the state, the health sector has collapsed, security of lives and property is non-existent as armed robbers and kidnappers reign supreme in the state.  The challenges are enormous.

One way the new governor can surmount some of these hurdles is to surround himself with people with sound mind, people who share his vision of a new direction for the state, people who will rise above selfish, ethnic and political interest and work for the good of the state. He should mix experience with youth and vision and not surround himself with just political neophytes and praise singers who cannot guide him aright. At least, he should learn from Wada who lamented at the twilight of his administration last week that he regretted surrounding himself with the wrong people.

 

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