The people of Kogi Central and Kogi West in Kogi State are now going
\nthrough serious siege mentality because the people of Kogi East, the
\nIgalas have colonized them since the creation of Kogi State in 1991 and
\nare now ready more than ever before to maintain the status quo in
\nperpetuity . What is more glaring ! the Igalas have emerged as the
\ngovernorship candidates of the two major political parties in the State,
\nAPC and PDP for the governorship election scheduled for 21st of November,
\n2015.
\nImmediately after the two times former governor of Kogi State, Prince
\nAbubakar Audu emerged as the APC flag bearer in the State, investigations
\nand personal observations revealed that Igalas everywhere were
\ncongratulating each other and or one another. Why the congratulations
\neverywhere on an election that has not been conducted and won by anyone?
\nThe answer is that now, heador tail, they believe the governor of Kogi
\nState is once again theirs. If Audu wins and Alhaji Ibrahim Jibril Echocho
\nis not going to get the ticket of PDP in 2019, he (Echocho) will be
\nprevailed upon to defect to APC so that Audu can hand over to him. Where
\nEchocho secures the ticket of PDP in 2019, Audu would work for him even
\nas APC governor. This anti-party activity will mean nothing to him as far
\nas the Igala Agenda remains intact according to rumours making the rounds.
\nI will now trace this long-standing Igala Agenda. Immediately Prince
\nAbubakar Audu became the first governor of the newly created Kogi State in
\n1991, the Igalas are believed through what they say and do to have come up
\nwith this Agenda that what happened to them when they were in Benue State
\nthat they never tasted Political power as governor must also happen to the
\nEbiras and the Okuns. This Agenda is without prejudice to the fake
\nMemorandum of Understanding (MOU)according to Abubakar Audu between him
\nand the late Chief Sunday Awoniyi and Alhaji Sule Okene in his residence
\nin Okene concerning rotation of governorship between the Igalas, the
\nEbiras and the Okuns.
\nThe first knowledge of this Igala Agenda was Audu argument that he was
\nnot disposed to hand over political power to the Ebiras because as he put
\nit, Okene in Ebiraland is already the London of Kogi State! To concretise
\nthis Agenda, Audu created 15 additional Local Government Areas from the
\noriginal six that came with the State and which was two each from the
\nthree Senatorial Zones that make up the State, Of the 15 new L.G.A, he
\ngave Kogi East 7, Kogi West 5 and Kogi Central 3. Yes, Mission
\naccomplished! It is based on this number of L.G.A he shared political
\nappointments and other positions and resources. While the Igalas are given
\n65-70%, 30% to the Okuns, Ebiras are usually given 10% or so. National and
\nState resources, Political positions and appointments are not shared
\naccording to populations of the federating States or L.G.A alone.
\nOther criteria include equality of States or L.G.A, availability of
\nnatural resources (derivation
\nprinciple) and so on.
\nUnfortunately for the Ebiras and the Okuns, this is what the Igalas have
\nbeen doing since the Sexteen years they have been ruling us in line with
\nan Agenda they consider to be sacrosanct. I used the word fake for
\nthe so-called MOU referred to earlier in this article because of the later
\nactions and utterances of the Igalas. Audu transferred all the operating
\nequipment of Obangede School of Nursing in Okehi L.G.A. to Igalaland. The
\nSchool of Nursing was established when the Ebiras were in Kwara State and
\nit was second of its kind in the State then.
\nMany Igalas were alleged to have said that their men, women, wives and
\nin-laws would continue to rule the Ebiras and the Okuns in perpetuity.
\nAnother demonstration of the existence of the Igala Agenda was by Governor
\nIdris Wada when he was incapacitated for more than three months in
\nhospital as a result of motor accident. Impeachment was staring him in the
\nface in line with the constitutional provision. He was said to have
\ndischarged himself from his sick bed, used his walking-stick to his
\nawaiting Vehicle to go quickly and enter his office so that no non-Igala
\nperson would sit in the Lugard Hall as acting governor even for a day!
\nThis is because if he had been impeached, the then speaker of the State
\nHouse of Assembly, Honourable Abdullahi Bello, an Ebira man would have
\nacted as governor for six months in line with the constitutional provision
\nbefore election is conducted to elect a new governor.
\nAudu was quoted to have argued that he wants to be the governor of Kogi
\nState again for the third time instead of an Ebira man because he would
\nnot be able to control an Ebira governor in the State. Who Controlled him
\nwhen he was governor of the State two times? In what capacity does he want
\nto control the governor of Kogi State? Is he the Chairman or Leader of the
\nparty in the State?
\nIn fact, no Chairman or Leader of any party controls the governor of any
\nState today anymore. Yet, this is the same Audu some person in Ebiraland
\nbelieve will hand over to him as governor of Kogi State in 2019 if he wins
\nagain.
\nThe former Prime minister of Britain, Wilson Churchill said: I will
\nnot be the first Prime Minister to preside over the liquidation of the
\nBritish Empires. I bet those Ebiras with blind political ambition
\nand other doubting Thomas that no Igala man, woman, wife or In-law will
\nrelinquish power to another person other than Igala in Kogi State.
\nThe late Alhaji Abdulrahaman Okene as Secretary of Interior, Alhaji Aliyu
\nattah as the Inspector General of Police and retired General Salihu
\nIbrahim as the Chief of Army Staff during former president Ibrahim
\nBadamasi Babaginda regime were instrumental to the creation of Kogi
\nState in 1991.
\nAssuming the Igalas are magnanimous enough to appreciate the contribution
\nof the aforementioned people to hand over political power to the Ebiras at
\ntheir own chosen time, are we supposed to wait for that? When off course,
\nwe can fight for it and collect it from them when they are not more than
\nthe Ebiras and the Okuns combined together. I will return to the question
\nof population very soon.
\nPrince Abubakar Audu is not actually qualified to be governor of Kogi
\nState again on legal and moral grounds. Having taken the oath of office as
\ngovernor of Kogi State first on the 22nd January, 1992 and second time on
\nthe 29th May, 1999, he is disqualified to vie for the same position the
\nthird time. As a result of the annulment of June 12 presidential election
\nby president Ibrahim Badamasi Babaginda and the coming on board of the
\nlate General Sani Abacha on the 18th of November, 1993, Audu first
\ntenure\/term was shortlived, having spent only one year, ten months.
\nHowever, Prince Audu completed his second term from the 29th of May, 1999
\nto the 29th May, 2003. This is where he is again disqualified from seeking
\nthe same office a third time as he has spent five years, ten months
\npreviously. If he contests again and win, all other things being equal, he
\nwill spend another four years, plus the previous 5 years, 10 months,
\nmaking 9 years, 10 months. This is above the cumulative 8 years
\nrecommended by the constitution and he swore two times to protect and
\npreserve the content of the constitution both in its letters and spirit.
\nHis moral burden serves as a disqualification for him. His indictment by
\nthe EFCC in 2007 for siphoning a whooping eleven billion naira from Kogi
\nState coffers led to his disqualification by INEC during the April 14 2007
\ngovernorship election. INEC had used the EFCC indictment and arrest and
\nuncompleted prosecution to disqualify him, even when his then party, ANPP
\ncleared him. His case with the EFCC is still pending today.
\nSince the emergence of Prince Abubakar Audu as the flag bearer of APC in
\nthe forthcoming governorship election in Kogi State, there has been a lot
\nof disquiet among the Ebiras and Okuns. The questions on the lips of the
\npeople are:
\n1. Why APC with the slogan of Zero tolerance for corruption allow the
\nlikes of Audu to contest in an election under its platform?
\n2. Why has EFCC been sleeping over this celebrated case since 2007?
\nThe answer to the first question we think is an oversight on the part of
\nthe leadership of APC then since the stand of the party on the former
\ngovernor of Baylsa State, Timipre Sylva should and must be the stand of
\nthe party on other aspiring members of the party like Audu and others.
\nPeople who lave cases with EFCC and other anti-corruption agencies must
\nfirst clear their names before they can contest in any election. This is
\nbecause what is good for the geese is good for the ganda.
\nFor the second question, we strongly believe that for whatever reason the
\nEFCC has been sleeping over Audu case, it is a slap by Audu on the
\nfaces of all anti- graft agencies in general and EFCC in particular for
\ncoming out to contest again. The concerned Ebiras and Okuns would want the
\nEFCC to reopen Audu case without further delay.
\nOn the population of Kogi State, I would like to argue that it is criminal
\nfor the Igalas to have been cornering 70% of the resources, Political
\npositions and appointments into the State Civil Service for 16 years now
\njust because they are more in number than the Ebiras or the Okuns. Some of
\nthem say that it is because they are more than the other two senatorial
\ndistricts combined together. This is a pathological lie. No one senatorial
\ndistrict has more people than the other two in any State in Nigeria. There
\nare 3 senators from each State irrespective of the population. Everything
\ncannot be based on population. Ditto for governors: One State, one
\ngovernors, One State, One Minister. That is why the two biggest States of
\nKano and Lagos with 44 L.G.A and with over 9 million people and 20
\nL.G.A with over 9 million people respectively have the same number of
\n3 senators and one governor with the two smallest State of Bayelsa and
\nNasarawa with 8
\nL.G.A and 13 L.G.A. and with less than 2 million people each
\nrespectively.
\nAccording to the 2006 Census final results, the population of the Ebiras
\nand the Okuns combined together are 355,755 more than that of the Igalas
\nCENSUS RESULT FOR KOGI STATE:
\nKOGI CENTRAL
\n1. Adavi 217, 219
\n2. Ajaokuta 122, 432
\n3. Ogori Magongo 39, 807
\n4. Okehi 223, 754
\n5. Okene 325, 623
\nTOTAL: 928, 655<\/p>\n
KOGI EAST
\n1. Ankpa 266, 176
\n2. Bassa 139, 687
\n3. Dekina 260, 968
\n4. Idah 79, 755
\n5. Igalamela Odolu 147, 048
\n6. Ibaji 127, 572
\n7. Ofu 191, 480
\n8. Olamabolo 158, 490
\n9. Omala 107, 968
\nTOTAL: 1, 479, 144<\/p>\n
KOGI WEST
\n1. Mopa Muro 43, 760
\n2. Ijumu 118, 593
\n3. Kabba\/ Bunu 144, 579
\n4. Kogi 115, 100
\n5. Lokoja 196, 643
\n6. Yagba East 147, 641
\n7. Yagba West 139, 928
\nTOTAL: 906, 244<\/p>\n
PER CENTAGE
\n1. Kogi Central 28%
\n2. Kogi East 45%
\n3. Kogi West – 27%<\/p>\n
From this data, the Ebiras and the Okuns are 355, 755 people more than the
\nIgalas. Yet, these people are usually given about 30% to share while the
\nIgalas cart away 70% of whatever is available to share in Kogi State for
\nthe past 16 years now! This population figure must have changed
\nsubstantially in favour of the Ebiras and the Okuns in the past 9 years
\nnow. While the Igalas are almost 50-50 per cent muslims and Christians and
\nthe Muslims there are permitted by their religion to marry more than one
\nwife thereby giving births to more children than their Christian brothers,
\nthe Ebiras and the Okuns are between 70 to 80 per cent Muslims and that
\nmeans more population in those two senatorial districts than the other one
\nin the past 9 years.
\nAudu Stated that he wants to be the next governor of Kogi State because
\nmost of the people jostling for the position are inexperienced and are
\nmostly school certificate holders! Why all this hocus pocus by Audu and
\nsome Ebiras are allowing themselves to be deceived by him?
\nWhoever he had in mind cannot include senator Nurudeen Usman Abatemi,
\nAdinoyi Onukaba Ojo, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, not to talk of our highly
\nrespected 8 years Deputy Governor of Kogi State, Chief Philip Salawu.
\nAbubakar Audu was not near Chief Philip Salawu in qualifications when he
\nfirst ruled Kogi State. Chief Philip Salawu is a qualified and
\ninternationally acclaimed Accountant par excellence. He was for 8 years
\nDeputy Governor to Alhaji Idris Ibrahim who is a carpenter cum hotelier.
\nHis vast wealth of experience in accounting which he brought to bear on
\nthe management of financial and human Capital resources saved Ibrahim
\nIdris administration from insolvency. What we are witnessing today in
\nKogi State under Captain Idris Wada administration is result of the
\nlack of the likes of Chief Philip Salawu in a high-ranking position at the
\nGovernment House in Lokoja.
\nAccountants as governors and other forms of Chief Executives are known
\neverywhere to be prudent Managers of both financial and human resources.
\nChief Philip Salawu is one of the most loyal, hardworking, dynamic and
\ncolourful Deputy Governors in Nigeria. The research I carried out on such
\nloyal Deputy Governors revealed that, if they are given opportunity as
\ngovernor, they are high achievers. Examples include: Babatunde Fashola of
\nLagos State, present Governor of Kano State, Dr. Abdullahi Umar Ganduje
\nand Alhaji Abdulrahaman Shagari, former Deputy Governor of Sokoto if he
\nhad been given the ticket by the PDP to contest in Sokoto State and won.
\nToday in Kogi Central and Kogi West, Chief Philip Salawu is our only
\nsaving grace. We must thank God he is contesting as Governorship Candidate
\nin Kogi State under the Labour Party.
\nUnless the Ebiras are under curse by the Yoruba elders of Ilorin, as some
\npeople believe when the late Alhaji Adamu Attah was Governor of Kwara
\nState and we Manhandled them in their very home, We must rally round Chief
\nPhilip Salawu to collect back this position which God gave us during
\npresident Babaginda regime and we gave it to the Igalas to enjoy first
\nbecause we wrongly thought that they are like us.
\nEven if we are under curse, the effect of that curse can be neutralized
\nwith our unity the way those elders sat down together, united and cursed
\nus.
\nThis now leads me to talk about the Ebira National Dialogue Conference of
\n20th June, 2015. EPA National President, Dr. Abdulrahaman Musa Adeiza
\ncharged the participants thus:
\nArising from this meeting, I expect this message to be taken to the
\nhamlets, cottages, villages and towns in the senatorial district.
\nThis part of his speech gives me the copy right to quote him copiously in
\nthis article. Dr. Adeiza said: Our physical boundaries are being
\ndaily challenged on all fronts by our, More resolute and united neigbours;
\nOur identity is gradually being attenuated through a well-designed and
\nheavily- funded programmes of the ever domineering, manipulative and
\ninsatiable greed of our partners in the State enterprise. Dr. Adeiza
\ncontinued: While not absolving the collective failure of our
\nLeadership for this failure, the biggest culpability for these breakdown
\nof our society should be laid squarely at the doorstep of the successive
\nregimes of Kogi State since its creation. They have employed
\nmarginalization in various forms to deny us a right to humane
\nexistence.
\nThis oppression and suppression must come to an end henceforth.
\nEbiras have two cards to play viz; remain in slavish obeisance to our
\nexternal tormentors and volunteer our historic liberty or jettison all the
\ncleavages that has presented us as weaklings to the world, and close our
\nfingers into a fist to confront our enemies who now see us as less humans
\nand as a pliable objects that could be manipulated to suit their pleasure.
\nThe opportunity of the forthcoming governship election presents a
\nveritable space for us to ventilate our anger by uniting with one voice,
\none choice, one vote to rescue the drowning image of our forebears. It is
\na war that calls for brains and unity and not brawns. We must all rise to
\ndenounce any financial inducements.
\nThe present and future generation will hold our leaders, including my
\nhumble self-responsible for our failure to deliver victory to our people.
\nThe numerical statistics of voting strength is on our side. We must be
\nunited behind any candidate that will ensure power shift and rescue us
\nfrom internal colonization.
\nWhere are those Ebira important personalities that attended the Ebira
\nNational Dialogue Conference? What are they doing now? Where are Alhaji
\nUsman Enesi Bello and Dr. Abdul Aziz Farouk? They both struggled with the
\nlate A.T.Ahmed in Ebiraland to become the governor of Kogi State. Where
\nare they now?
\nWhere is Mohammed Ohiare who is representing Kogi Central as our Senator
\nfor the second time now? He nearly defected the present Governor of Kogi
\nState in 2011 but later fell by the way side due to the Igala Agenda.
\nWhere is he now? Where is Adayi Ademoh Ovurevu Isah? He should step
\nforward to join in this fight.
\nThe only Ebira present Philanthropist I know, that A.A. Oil is helping
\npeople financially irrespective of tribes or religions should kingly put
\nhis weight behind this fight by helping individuals and groups involved in
\nthis fight. A.A Oil will never lack in life as givers never lack.
\nEbira people should emulate the late Ahmadu Bello and A.T. Ahmed who did
\nnot differentiate between Muslims and Christians as far as you are a
\nnortherner. Ahmadu Bello appointed Professor Ishaya Audu as the pioneer
\nVice- Chancellor of Ahmadu Bello University. He also appointed the late
\nGeorge Uru Ohikere as his personal Secretary and entrusted him with
\ncertain sensitive assignments.
\nHe also appointed George Uru Ohikere as Minister of works. The late A.T.
\nAhmed gave the position of Deputy Governor of Kogi State given to appease
\nhim to his loyal, trusted and ever reliable ally, Chief Philip Salawu.
\nThis distinguished son of the soil represented the Ebiras in that position
\nfor 8 years without any blemish.<\/p>\n
Ebiras should emulate our Igala brothers and Sisters. Dr. Alex Kadri was
\nmore popular than Audu but when the late A.T. Ahmed emerged in Ebiraland,
\nhe stepped down for Audu who could match A.T. Ahmed financially and
\notherwise. Ebiras rallied round Pius Lasisi to defeat Senator Isah Abonyi
\nObaro because of certain Ebira Agenda then.
\nHere we are again with another Agenda of power shift this time around.
\nThe Ebiras should do it again by rallying round Chief Philip Salawu in
\norder for us to also realize our own Agenda.
\nBy Saka Raji Audu, email: arewatrust2015@yahoo.com, Kano, Nigeria.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The people of Kogi Central and Kogi West in Kogi State are now going through serious siege mentality because the people of Kogi East, the Igalas have colonized them since…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":42558,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n