We come from the great state of Kogi. A Land rich in culture and diversity. The home of beautiful people who hail from different creeds, ethnicities and walks of life. We, however, pay too much attention to these differences and ignore that which we share in common. We ignore the things that unify us. Our desire to live better lives. Our love for Kogi, and need to see her progress. But more importantly our shared status as indigenes of Kogi. We are all Kogites irrespective of our differences. The current political class often fails to remind us of these similarities.
They press on our differences, for this is how they control us. They divide us and conquer. They pit us against each other as rivals on both religious and ethnic lines, because they are afraid of our unity. They are afraid of what we can accomplish together. It threatens them and everything they stand for, and we aid and abet them in doing so.
We naively fall for their tricks and indulge in their bigotry. We further their prejudicial speech and practice their sectarianism. We must deviate from these childish squabbles and face the real issues before us. The problem of Kogi is not Igala or Ebira, it is not Okun or Bassa-Nge. The problem of Kogi is not Muslim or Christian. The problem of Kogi is governance, bad governance. The problem of Kogi is the current threat to our livelihoods and our future. The problem of Kogi is the current administration’s induced adversity we are currently facing.
For adversity knows no religion, it knows no ethnicity. It exists outside the ambits of those parameters. It is a plague that stalks in the night and strikes in the day. It takes many shapes and forms. The most prominent of our day being fiscal irresponsibility and salaries in arrears. Through these, the current administration has subjugated us to hardship. It has brought our great state to its knees. But our age of reckoning has arrived. Their divisive tactics should not work on us anymore, they simply cannot. Bigotry must be put behind us.
We must accept this truth in order to face the future, and shun those who hold us back. For today we confront a crisis. We must elect a governor willing to bring us together, rather than divide us. We come from the Confluence state. Thus, we must elect a Governor who shall be the confluence of our interests, the confluence of our ambition and the confluence of our people. We must look to the likes of QS Aminu Abubakar Suleiman. A man of pedigree. A man with the moral probity to focus on our collective good. A man with the intellectual might to erect bridges rather than destroy them. A man willing to be the convergence of our prosperous future, and the divergence of today’s strife. QS Aminu is that man. A man with the Capacity to build our great state and sustain that growth.
A vote for QS Aminu is a vote for inclusion. A vote for QS Aminu is a vote for the unification of our great state and our great people. Under him we shall maintain our individuality, our ethnicity and religion. These shall always remain sacrosanct, but not as a means to create disharmony amongst ourselves. Our collective interest is paramount to all these nuanced sentiments in today’s political landscape. Our heterogeneity is an asset. It places us on a vantage point to view things from unique perspectives, and ultimately proffer numerous solutions to our problems. This is the Kogi we shall all be beneficiaries of under the guidance of QS Aminu. Guidance which shall be the springboard that propels Kogi into a whole new stratosphere of economic affluence and ethnic inclusion. We must believe in ourselves. We must believe in QS Aminu Abubakar Suleiman. We must believe in our future, a prosperous future.
For Kogi can, and God willing…Kogi will.