By Shaibu Stephen Ojate<\/p>\n
Growing up water scarcity was usually the greatest challenges of
\ninhabitants of Ikuehi people in Okehi local government of Kogi State.
\nIkuehi is one of the areas that form the nuclear Town called Ihima. The
\nmajor source of water supply for these people at Ikuehi was from ever
\nnon-drying stream which the local named and called \u2018Otite\u2019.<\/p>\n
Otite is usually a center of beehive of activities during the drying
\nseason as people from far and near usually come to the stream to fetch
\nwater. I could remember that people of different ages and sex would
\nqueue their container and Jugs in a line to get water from the stream
\nfor their domestic needs. The water from this stream was very pure and
\ndoes not have any sediment when finally fetched. It is even purer than
\nthe bottle water we buy these days.<\/p>\n
Inspite of the great importance the stream played in the life of the
\nlocal people; it turns to another thing during the raining season.
\nDuring the raining season, the flowing down water from uphill would
\nbring all dirty materials and mud to mess up the stream water. As this
\nwas the case, the local people usually abandon it for drinking rather
\nthe water from this stream during this time is mostly use to wash cloth
\nand other domestic cleanings.<\/p>\n
This was the case in early late 19s and and late 20s before I finally
\nleft the village for higher education and subsequently to Abuja upon the
\ncompletion of my National Youth Service Corp in 2006. I could remember
\nthat the state of the stream and how to make it better was usually one
\nof the party manifestos and campaign promises of any aspiring councillor
\nfrom the wards as they do promised the locals on how they shall take
\ncare of stream when elected.<\/p>\n
Just as how deceitful some politicians are, after being elected, they
\nturn deaf ear to the state of the stream even if they got the support of
\nthe people to make the stream better. This has been the case in every
\nelection years and the stream remained the same for decades inspite that
\nthe people rely on it as their major source of water during the raining
\nand dry season.<\/p>\n
The stream remained unattended to even up to 2015. It will interest my
\nreader to know that when I travelled to my hometown last December, what
\nI observed was shocking and amazing. When I arrived the point of the
\nstream, I saw a well-decorated stream with fence and decorated flooring.
\nThe atmosphere of the stream was just too cool and the water from the
\nstream was just like one from the refrigerator. There was no single
\ndirty in it as the stream was well covered.<\/p>\n
Seeing this, I declare to myself that this must be one of the
\nconstituency projects of one of the serving elected officials in our
\narea. On getting to the house, I quickly called my mum to enquire about
\nthe politicians behind the renovated and decorated stream and I was
\nshock when she told me it is one of the humanitarian works of Natasha
\nAkpoti.<\/p>\n
My mum declared to me that Natasha renovated the stream long ago when
\nshe never shown interest in any political positions. I equally enquired
\nmore about her doing in the village and many were able to point to two
\nor three things she has done for the local people. Today, that same
\nNatasha is distributing truck load of rice to Villagers as part of her
\npalliate measure for an order by the government urging people to sit at
\nhome due to coronavirus spread.<\/p>\n
In Ebiraland, I came to understand that the people hardly forget the
\ngood deeds done to them by anyone. Natasha is however not the first to
\nstart good gesture as immediate past Senator of Kogi Central was one
\nperson who have done wonderfully well for the villages in the past.
\nOgembe of a truth engendered himself in the mind of the local people
\nbefore showing interest in political positions. Before seeking for
\nelective positions, he sunk many borehole in nooks and crannies of Kogi
\ncentral and the society never forget about that good gesture. He was
\nrewarded thereafter.\u00a0 Despite losing at every elective contests in many
\nelection years, he was later elected council Chairman and later Senator
\nof federal republic of Nigeria.<\/p>\n
Going by the stance of Natasha to always come to the aid of the local
\npeople when they need service of influential and rich people the most, I
\nforesee that one\u00a0 day her long dream of serving the good people of Kogi
\ncentral and Kogi State will come to pass.<\/p>\n
This would not be a long distance time but the coming election as she
\nis presently doing an uncommon thing for the people, which will motivate
\npeople to massively vote for her despite her shortcoming in the past. To
\nme, she is presently not a push aside in Kogi central if we have to tell
\nourselves the truth as her good deeds is glaring to everyone.<\/p>\n
Shaibu Stephen Ojate is a Journalist and public affairs writes from
\nAbuja<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Shaibu Stephen Ojate Growing up water scarcity was usually the greatest challenges of inhabitants of Ikuehi people in Okehi local government of Kogi State. Ikuehi is one of the…<\/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-72687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles-opinions"],"yoast_head":"\n