Comrade Muhammed Kabir is one man that has remained consistent with his party PDP in kogi state.
In a chat with our Correspondent, the fiery Deputy publicity Secretary of PDP said kogites are counting seconds, hours, days, weeks, months for ending APC reigns in the state. He noted that APC has turned kogi People to sub humans. Excerpt.
Your Party PDP lost power to APC over five years ago. How is the party faring now in Kogi State today?
The general motions is that the PDP is dead in the state. It is a fact that we are under a regime that is more like a military regime. This Governmemt is known for not honouring rule of law or doesn’t have respect for rule of law. They see dissenting voices as those who want to take power from them.
Protesters are handled with tight fist. So, for your questions, yes PDP has not been in power for five years in the state but we thank God that even those in government are testifying that the PDP era was far better than this APC administration.
We have an adage that until a man is married to a second wife he will not appreciate what he has . Now , that the people are clapping for PDP , the party they hitherto rejected, they are counting second , hours, days , weeks for when this Governmemt would be offloaded so that they can return to their old darling party , PDP.
You said people are clamouring for PDP to come back, but you lost the last LG Elections?.
As for the last local government elections, I was in the office of the state Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) I was the PDP representative and all the materials, both sensitive and non sensitive were hijacked even by the administrators, what we had, wasn’t an election, it was a selection, we have video evidences to show their nefarious activities.we are asking Siec, where were the polling units located, were the polling units in the palaces or in the farms. They only sat in government house and wrote results.
A year after the election, Siec is yet to come up with the results. Neither Journalists, polling agents, nor Election observers were accredited. If there was an election , as they are alluding that we are not giving strong opposition, I urge Journalists to lend their voices against the sham called Elections. In reality there was no Election.
But you know that your party may not get fair share from the elections, but you participated to the end?.
You see, at that time our members were divided towards the election. Some were of the opinion to boycott the election, while others insisted we should participate, arguing that our people at the grassroots want to test their strengths and popularities, and these are our faithful loyalists, we can’t shut them out, doing so, you , weaken their spirit politically.
We came out, but,they hijacked the materials to Governmemt House. All the Elections were contested in government house lokoja. They were afraid of the people. They are in governmemt and they were afraid to take election to the people. I challenge any APC member that he or she won the election. They just allocated figures to their party. When I said this Governmemt does not respect rule of law, I meant what I said. Look , this Governmemt burnt alive a PDP woman leader late Mrs Salome Achefu Abuh, everybody kicked against the act, the NGOs , United Nations and all voices of descent kicked against it but unfortunately, the suspect, Ocholi Edicha under an APC government was Honoured with twelve years imprisonment, and cumulatively it is just only seven years, for a man that burnt a human being alive, is that judgement. Infact, the judgement came as a result of pressures from PDP , human Rights groups, if not they wouldn’t have prosecuted him.
The Governmemt had not shown remorse for the dastardly killing, rather armtwisted the judiciary to give that kangaroo judgement for a case of murder or homicide. To us , it was a miscarriage of justice , but , they should know that God is the only final judge.
The APC Governmemt under governor Alhaji Yahaya Bello has been in the saddle for over five years, what is your assessment of his performance, vis a vis the previous PDP Governmemt?.
Frankly speaking, there is no Governmemt in the state. What we have is a sham. It is not a government. Since they took over in 2016, Monday to Sunday is like public holidays. There is no sector of the economy that is working. Ministries and extra ministerial departments are in limbo. I can tell you authoritatively that the civil servants, any where they see us as prominent Members of PDP they hugged us and they will confessed that they are sorry for their actions at the last polls. It is glaring , from what the state is passing through, I’m yet to see how APC will win a ward in the next election in the state. They can’t pull a surprise against PDP. We are now the darling party of the people. APC has lost all the supposed goodwill to maladministration in the state.
Our concern now is to restructure the party , where the most credible and competent candidate will emerge. We are working to reduce the influence of money bags on our party. The people of kogi are waiting for us to give them capable candidate. They are tired of the clueless and profligate administration.
I bet you, if they had allowed the local government Council election to hold , APC would not win a single ward and they know this, that was why they conducted the election in the Governmemt House Lokoja.
Even a blind man on the streets begging knows that this is a hard time in the history of the state. Beggars are crying because the givers don’t have, civil servants especially local government workers have been reduced to sub humans, these shows that the government is not alive to its responsibility. Ask kogites to compare the excruciating economic hardships they are experiencing now with the PDP era , they will all chorus for the PDP to come back. The two Governments are miles apart.
Interestingly, this is NUJ, the most popular and busiest place for fun seekers in Lokoja, and this is 5 pm and this place looks like a ghost place. The few people you see are just panning away , waiting for when to return home without catching fun. Nobody is happy anymore. People are no longer smiling. Look around everybody is furious and this is why even discussions among friends will trigger violence of high proportion.
This is a Governmemt that is in power for five years and has not commissioned a single building, even if it is a three bedroom flat,.They have not , and they are yet to complete even the ones the PDP finished up to 95, 80, 75 percents.
These projects are still at the stages that PDP left them. Today , the Governmemt is paying more than half a billion per year as hotel charges and you have your own 5 star status hotels and you can’t fix it. Rather , they take delight in frittering away the scarce resources to lodge in Reverton, Saatof , Idrinana etc. To me , and to very many people of kogi state would not want this Governmemt in their history.
I hear somebody saying, he is building a flyover at the Ganaja junction, and I challenge who cares to know, that this project was started by Wada administration in 2014 and the contractor TEC Engineering has been mobilised to site. Unfortunately, when this Governmemt came on board it went to the company and collected the money that it needed to do some township roads. TEC has to sue the Governmemt because they were yet to see what the money was meant for and that is the Jamboree you are seeing at Ganaja junction. Even though, this is going to be the smallest flyover in Nigeria, I can bet you, that Governor Bello that I know will not complete it before his tenure runs out.
This paparazzi that he is doing cannot go anywhere. Even if another four years is added to his tenure he wouldn’t Complete it. We have a township stadium here in Lokoja, the state capital, he demolished it, started an event centre and abandoned it midway. We are begging him to invite president Muhammadu Buhari, his acclaimed father to come here to commission even if it is a borehole. Then, we will say , he has cut a scissor not the gymics or a childish play he is displaying all over the place.
The state is assumed to be the most peaceful state in the country, that one can go to sleep with his eyes closed even, farmers have no cause to panic on their farms. What is your take on the Security situation in the state?.
Recently, a first class traditional ruler, Ejeh Ankpa was kidnapped right in his house. Today Ajaokuta road is a night mare. The road is not safe. There is a time that you cannot ply the road and if you do, it is at your own risk. Recently, five siblings were abducted in their house in Kotonkarfe. Also, in cantoment area of Lokoja, boys numbering over 40 went berserk looting shops and robbing people of their belongings. They held the people hostage for up to four hours without challenge from the Security Agencies. Okene and Kabba roads are no go areas at some period of the day. He should tell the world which part of the state is safe in the state.
A world acclaimed drilling engineer late Mr.Ogacheko Atanu who came home from his base in Saudi Arabia was murdered in his country home Idah , and up till today nothing is being done about it.The late PDP Zonal chairman west, Barrister Kola Ojo, his wife was abducted along with other occupants in the eighteen seater bus on Ijumu Egbe road after completing the mourning rite of her husband, and we learnt that ransom was paid before she could be released. We are only lucky that the insecurity in the state is not as high as that of the North East and Northwest.
The Governor from his statements has shown that he did not believe in the politics of Covid 19, which has saved kogites from being lockdown. Don’t you agree with his assertion?.
His argument is a deceit. Covid 19 is an international issue. It affects the whole world and for one man to say it is a fluke then , we have to study him.
What he is saying is invariably connotes that he does not believe in Nigeria. The Federal Government set up machinery in motion through NCDC and PTF to fight the menace, and he is still adamant that the covid 19 is a fraud, we need to examine his brain thoroughly. We have seen its devastating effect in America, Europe and Asian, and it is confusing that Governor Bello is the only one in this world that does not believe in its existence.
Having seen his giant strides in the state, the people are begging him to contest the 2023 presidency to reenact his prodigy for Nigeria, what is your take on this?
Bello and his administration is a failure. The call is the biggest scam in a century. This was the same way change slogan started with Buhari. It was like if Buhari doesn’t come, there wouldn’t be Nigeria state again. But , what did we have, a worst administration in the history of this country. Across the country , people are praying for him to leave . During Jonathan, he established Almajiri schools in Kano , Katsina Borno, just name northern states and where are those schools today. What is APC presidency’s impact in the North except banditry, kidnappings of school children, insurgency and herdsmen/ farmers clashes.
To me , Bello is a calamity to 99 percent of kogites. The people are not happy with him. Civil servants are the worst hit. Imprest not paid, promotions not effected with payment, bail out in billions meant for backlog of salaries and pensions of local government workers squandered. What is good in him that the people will pray for him to be president except sychophants and mill arounds that have turned Bello’s presidency to a new industry.
Imagine a man that want to rule the country, was live on Facebook displaying his muscles at 10 ,oclock when serious minded governors were in their officers thinking how to provide good governance to their people, , Bello was busy in the gym telling the whole country of his muscular capacities.
Look at how the whole country has turned him into a caricature. Every dick and Harry, from ex nollywood stars, ex footballers, youths of pervert shades and characters have relocated to his abode in Abuja and kogi for awards that the plague has no wordings of achievements. The whole country is enmeshed in contradiction and confusion and they need an entertainer to help reduce the stress.
Bello is very good at entertaining people. I bet you, when the big masquerades would enter the ring, Bello may not be an aspirant. There is no gainsaying that Nigerians are passing through hard times and so they needed an entertainer to help them unwind, unfortunately, it is Governor Bello of kogi state that is being used to entertain the country, when his state is crying for development. To every thinking kogites , it should not be Bello that will be assigned for the drama, because , the people are enveloped in abject poverty and depravity. In conclusion, I’m not a soothsayer, but Bello, when the chips are down may not be an aspirant to talk more of a candidate.
Credit to Metrodaily.