For a state as developmentally challenged and lacking in facilities as Kogi, it is the height of absurdity for any rational and well-intentioned citizen of the state to condemn developmental efforts that aim to bring succour to the people, whatever their reasoning. But such has been the publicly touted position of a section of Kogi State indigenes, as the intervention of the wife of the Kogi State Governor, Hajia Rashidat Bello in giving a facelift to the hitherto rundown Ekirin-Adde Primary Healthcare Centre seems to be the latest storm in the Kogi State political atmosphere.
Prior to the commissioning of the noble project, which by the way was an initiative of the wife of the governor herself, a former local government chairman in the area was reportedly picked up by the police, apparently on the grounds of some ill-advised public comments he is said to have made condemning the hospital renovation project, and the planned visit by the governor’s wife. And in keeping with that unfortunate trend, avowed eternal haters of the governor including some dissenting voices in Ekirin-Adde have continued to pour invectives on the governor for what they term bad politics, thereby lending credence to the calculated nature of this series of events.
The fact that Hon James Faleke, the governor’s chief antagonist hails from Ekirin-Adde is moot. Some indigenes of the community took their explanation of the said “bad politics” to ridiculous levels by giving an unnecessary historical account of the Ekirin-Adde people and Faleke’s roots in the community. I honestly fail to see what that has to do with anything. But their overwhelming point is that, in the light of the ongoing litigation at the Election Petitions Tribunal where their man is demanding to be declared governor of the state, the governor ought to have stayed away from Ekirin-Adde until all litigation on the matter is concluded. That is a most incredulous thing to say.
So, because Faleke and his band of supporters have refused to acknowledge the substantive legitimacy of Governor Yahaya Bello as the state’s chief executive, the governor must desist from setting foot in Ekirin-Adde? Some have even gone as far as saying the governor was “warned” against coming to the community because the timing would be bad. Exactly the sentiments the former LGA chairman who was arrested reportedly expressed. Making utterances that are tantamount to preempting a breakdown of law and order in the community, all because development is coming to your community from someone you love to hate is utterly irresponsible. What exactly are they trying to do? Create a state within a state? All because Faleke must have his way? Some of them brazenly declared it “Faleke Territory”!
The ultimate loyalty of every law-abiding individual should be to the State and to constituted authority. And by virtue of his swearing in on January 27, Yahaya Bello effectively assumed the position. Whether anyone chooses to address him as substantive or caretaker governor is subject to the rights of the individual as enshrined in the constitution. However, the security agencies are similarly empowered by the laws of the land to determine what aspects of public speech are inimical to public peace and order.
It is unfortunate, this turn of events. Even if Hajia Bello’s efforts were to benefit only one or two Ekirin-Adde community dwellers, it would have been worth it. And I doubt those ones will see any sense in their kinsmen ridiculously asking “Why Ekirin-Adde? Why not Ogori LGA where the governor’s SSA Electronic Media comes from?” I can only ask, why sacrifice the lives of others who genuinely need these facilities and services on the altar of politics? By the way, is there anything that forbids the Ekirin-Adde indigene from walking out from that healthcare facility on an election day and voting against Governor Yahaya Bello, then returning to their bed in the hospital? Why the unnecessary angst and bile? What exactly are Faleke’s people scared of?
And for those who ignorantly yoke the governor with the travails of their former LGA chairman, they probably need to be reminded that the security agencies would be failing in their responsibility of forestalling possible breakdown of law and order in the state if they rely on the prompting of the governor to do what they need to do. It is their duty to apprehend anyone deemed to have made reckless and inciting utterances, and to make them account for whatever it is they may have said and, any consequences thereof. It is unfortunate for people to keep seeing Governor Yahaya Bello in their every nightmare, and proceeding to needlessly drag his name in the mud at every turn.
In keeping with his promises to bring development to every nook and corner of the state, the governor remains unshaken in that commitment. And until Faleke State is legally carved out of present-day Kogi State, Governor Yahaya Bello’s mandate covers the so-called Faleke Territory. But unless aggrieved elements within Ekirin-Adde can point to a law that has been broken by renovating a healthcare facility in Ekirin-Adde before the ones in Ogori my LGA, the sooner they realise the absurdity in their assertions, the better. In any case, Ekirin-Adde comes before Ogori alphabetically.
