How Kogi Politics Moved From Exclusivity Into Getting The White Lion With A Roar, And Some People Are Unhappy
The Oasis Reporters
February 17, 2025
Deeply religious persons, always pray for protection from unforeseen circumstances, be they Christians, Muslims or Animists in Nigeria, the most outwardly set of religious people in the world. But Character, love and fairness is the first point of contact with the spirit realm. Yet people forget.
But this post is not about religion. It is about politics and doing the right thing to all manners of people. For when politics becomes the development of only the governor’s home town and his tribe alone in exclusion of others, bitterness sets in and just one day, the equation can change.
We recently had a road trip around some states from the South west to the Middle Belt, then the South South and South east.
It was an eye opener. When we arrived in the Middle Belt with Okene in Igbirra land, believed to be the second largest ethnic group in the state as a first major point of grand entry into the region, what we first noticed was a fresh makeover of the town that was initially said to be rustic and rocky.
This time, it was looking lively and buoyant.
As the road trip progressed, we got to the city of Anyingba in Igala Land, said to be the hometown of a former governor of the state, Prince Abubakar Audu. It is such a beautiful and bustling place with a University, called Abubakar Audu University. It used to be known as Kogi State University.
Soon afterwards, we passed Anyingba and civilization seemed to end as we slid into one of the worst roads ever seen by us. It was bumpy, dusty and archaic. Like a throwback to Nigerian roads in the 40s and 50s. This was the road between Anyingba and Ankpa, all Igala towns. The well taken care-of road is the former governor’s hometown who served two terms but the second term was cut short because of a military coup that terminated civilian rule. the 3rd Republic.
It was obvious that Prince Abubakar Audu took very good care of his hometown and that was all. The neighboring town was ignored.
Driving through Ankpa unto other Igala towns was tortuous to the level of almost wrecking the vehicle we were driving in. We didn’t quite know whether we should shut the car widescreens to save us from the dust or leave everywhere open to let the dust circulate while we inhale everything, which actually made us very sick.
Besides Abubakar Audu, Kogi State has had two other governors, all from Igalaland like Ibrahim Idris from April 5 in 2008 and Idris Wada from January 27 2012.
When I pointed this out to an Igala friend about a larger dose of Igala politicians governing Kogi State, he chuckled ruefully and said that was democracy, all about the larger numbers that carry the vote. It didn’t matter if the large numbers are almost always from the same ethnic group.
According to Wikipedia, Prince Abubakar Audu (24 October 1947 – 22 November 2015) was a Nigerian career banker and politician who was the first civilian governor of Kogi State.
.He ruled Kogi State twice (first in the Third Republic and second, in the Fourth Republic). His first tenure was from January 1992 until November 1993 and the second from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2003.
He died due to a bleeding ulcer before the announcement of the election results on 22 November 2015, while seeking to be re-elected as governor on the platform of Nigeria’s ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC).
By a court decision, the inheritor of the votes cast for Abubakar Audu and his running mate, James Faleke would have to go to the second runner-up during the All People’s Congress (APC) primaries, and that was Yahaya Bello, sometimes humorously hailed as the White Lion, ( January 27, 2016 till January 26, 2024), a young politician from Igbirra land, which is a different ethnic group.
As it is in the armor of politics of exclusivity, Igalaland would call what happened a chink. Ordinarily, it would be called a character flaw, whenever and wherever selfishness abounds.
The supposedly second largest ethnic group, without a proper census database started scoring high numbers and attracting huge numbers of supporters to the extent that Yahaya Bello finished his two term tenure successfully. And guess who succeeded him.
Governor Usman Ododo (January 27, 2024 till date, until 2028), some people say is his Igbirra kinsman. You may need to guess again who could possibly succeed Ododo after his 8 years tenure.
Meanwhile, it is expected that development in Igbirra land should pick up significantly. Bad roads like the Anyingba-Ankpa road in Igala land might bring crying a little bit harder for road users in that area of the state. That is the ethnic group section that governed the most, but failed to build an egalitarian society.
Power has left them now. Getting it back would be a task that appear herculean in the meantime.
That is the myopia that is found in selfish politics of underdevelopment. Something former Delta State governor James Ibori saw ahead of time and made politics in his state inclusive. Every ethnic tribe is a stakeholder as each group waits for its turn.
Greg Abolo
Wikipedia
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