In a matter of months, Kogi State will usher in a new governor, marking the end of the eight-year governance of incumbent Yahaya Bello. Governor Yahaya Bello, fondly called “White Lion” by his supporters was sworn in to take over from former Governor Idris Wada in January 2016, making him the first politician from Kogi Central to govern the state since its creation in 1991. Bello is the fourth democratically elected governor of Kogi.
His emergence is that which could be described as a twist of fate. Several political analysts have argued that Governor Bello, who lost the All Progressives Congress (APC) ticket to the first democratically elected governor of Kogi State, Abubakar Audu, in 2016 would not have had any business in the Lugard’s House if death did not snatch Audu at that time. Audu, who died before the conclusion of the governorship election, threw the state into what appeared a constitutional logjam. Bello was picked by the party to replace its late candidate and substantiated by the court.
The then Senator representing Kogi West, Dino Melaye, who gave the welcome address, said the inauguration was historic because “a minority is now the governor of Kogi state”. While it is true that tribe and religion have always had their share in deciding who governs Kogi State, this coming election seem to have divided the people of Kogi State more. While, Kogi East (Igala) which has produced three elected governors within the period of 24 years is clamouring for a return of power to the region, Kogi West (Okun), which has not been so lucky to have a democratically-elected governor is joining forces to succeed Governor Bello. It also does not seem like the Central Region (Ebira) is ready to release power as Bello’s anointed candidate and a former Local Government Auditor-General in the state, Ahmed Usman Ododo (Central), was declared the winner of the just concluded APC primary.
Ododo’s victory came as a shock to many who had thought Bello would anoint his Deputy, Chief Edward Onoja, who is from the eastern part of the state. The night before the primary election, seven other aspirants including Onoja, and Governor Yahaya Bello’s Chief of Staff, Mohammed Asuku, had stepped down from the gubernatorial race. A move done out of loyalty to the governor’s will.
On Sunday, Dino Melaye (West) was announced as the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) flagbearer for the November 11, 2023 contest after he polled 313 votes to defeat his closest rival, Jabiru Usman who polled 127 votes. The Labour Party in Kogi State will also be represented by Barrister Okeme Adejoh (East).
A chieftain of the PDP, who spoke in confidence to AN24 said that the forthcoming election has divided the state across tribes. The source, who is from Kogi West, projected that the preferred candidate of Governor Bello will lose the election to his party’s flagbearer, owing to the fact that Kogi Central has produced the state governor in the last seven years. He added that there was no way the West will “leave their son to support an outsider”.
He said, “In reality, we have people in the ruling party that will work against Bello’s interest because he is not to be trusted. We cannot let the governor install his ‘data boy’ to govern us for another eight years. The people are wiser now, they know when to stop politicking and be a true son of their fathers, Okun is not divided, parties cannot divide us. It is long overdue for us to produce a governor, we are not second-class citizens.”
The source further said, the East and the West have enjoyed political marriages from time immemorial and added that “since the East did not get the ticket of the two major political parties in the state, it is safe to believe that they will throw their weight behind Kogi West. We all know that they have enjoyed our support right from time to time. Okun supported (Abubakar) Audu against their son.”
“The Ebira and Igala only preach party politics but practice politics of tribal interests absolutely, while the Okun people on the other hand are always indulged in tribal campaigns (Okun Agenda), but practice politics of absolute party interests.”
Our correspondent also observed that torrent of social media users (especially Facebook) have since the completion of both the APC and PDP primaries taken to tribal politics, with a lot of them vowing to support only candidates from their region