KOGI STATE, THE BIRTHPLACE OF NIGERIA AND ITS CHALLENGED VISION.
By: A.G. Abubakar
For those who may not be quite familiar with Kogi state, here is a short refresher. The state was created in 1991, comprising twenty-one (21) local governments and Lokoja as its capital city. The name Kogi means river in Hausa language after the two iconic rivers Niger and Benue that traversed the state and indeed Northern Nigeria. Kogi State is strategically sandwiched between the Southern and Northern part of the country, sharing 7 state boundaries the include Ekiti, Kwara, Edo, Anambra, Enugu, Benue, Nasarawa and the FC. Its mantra is the Confluence State could metaphorically mean the meeting point of both geographical and cultural divide. Kogi could thus be likened to a microcosm of Nigeria. A tapestry of diversity in terms of culture, tradition, and faith, giving it a quilt like outlook. Lokoja, the state capital was where the history and evolution of modern Nigeria started when a British explorer William Balfour Baikie established his "expedition tent/base" in 1857. The Royal Niger Company (1879-1900), followed later to facilitate trading along the rivers. It eventually became the first capital of the British Northern Protectorate when Lord F. Lugard proclaimed it on 1st January 1900. In 1914 the Southern and Northern Protectorates were amalgamated into one political entity called Nigeria. A name coined by Flora Shaw the wife of Lugard, in 1902 after the River Niger that incidentally connects the hitherto independent Regions. Missionary activities soon followed with the first school in the North established in 1866 under Bishop Crowther. Zungeru and Kaduna took over as successive capitals. The town of Wusasa-Zaria became the second Northern city to a missionary school established in 1926. The then major inhabitants Lokoja namely, the Igala, Egbira, Oworo-Okuns, Nupe and Hausa were the first set of Northers to be exposed to western education, which produced great scholars, technocrats, professionals, clerics, military officers, and entrepreneurs. Mayoralty as a leadership form was also first introduced in Lokoja where the Colonial Administration appointed a Maigari, a Hausa term for mayor. The Maigaris came from diverse backgrounds such as the Hausa, Nupe, Kanuri etc. one of famous being Bukar from Borno. The city too has the unenviable record of housing a pantheon of more than seven deposed Northern emirs/chiefs who lost the Favors of the Colonialists including, Alu Maisango (Kano), Aliyu Dan Sidi (Zazzau), Muhammadu Aliyu (Gwandu) and Abubakar Dan Abubakar (Gumel). The great Warrior Queen Amina of Zazzau has her resting place arguably at Ida still Kogi after a failed military expedition. Contemporary Kogi bears the marks of its past greatness as it gave the Nigerian state a class of highly patriotic citizens who served both the defunct Northern Region and the nation meritoriously. In no particular order they include Chief Awoniyi who was Sardauna's Private Secretary. Abdulrahman Okene a Cabinet Minister, Isa Koto, Oheiri, Achimugu, Adukwu G, Aliyu Ogbaje, Ado Ibrahim, Sani Omolori, Sunday Danian, Ahmadu Ali, Stephen Achema, Abdullahi Ibrahim, Salihu Ibrahim, Jibrin Usman, Ibrahim Ogohi, Ben Ekele, A.T.Ahmed, Abubakar Audu, Idacheba, Okpanachi S. etc, in addition to indirect beneficiaries through the Wusasa connection, like Gen. Gowon, R. B. Dikko, I. Audu the Beikies, the Millers in tow. Great individuals paid and/or still paying their dues to make Nigeria great through Wusasa connection with Lokoja missionary. It is on this curious pedigree and importance of that made Kogi state and its politics of great interest to the Northern and indeed Nigeria. However, to the disappointment of many, the fortune of the state has failed to march its great past, since the era of late Abubakar Audu who governed for total of five in the third (1992-1993) and fourth (1999-2003) republics. It was termed the golden era of Kogi because the massive developments that took place. The visionary initiatives of late Abubakar include the establishment of the first state-owned University, Ayingba (the first in the North) and the Kogi State Polytechnic, Lokoja. He also built the 5-star Confluence Hotel aside 1,500 housing units, a TV and FM stations, among other strides. Feats, that became too difficult to replicate or built upon by successive governors Idris (2008-2012), Ichala Wada (2012-206) and Yahaya Bello Adoza (2016-2025). The trio of Audu, Idris and Wada are of Igala extraction indicative of the ethnic group's dominance in the state. Democracy they say is a game of numbers or rather a tyranny of numbers. In Kogi like anywhere else in Africa the numbers are embedded with ethnic and religious enclaves. The Igala commanding over 58% of Kogi population is dominant in 9 out of the 21 local councils followed by Egbira (Tao and Koto) 5 and Okun 4, the remaining three shared with other ethnicities in varying proportion. The two major faiths Islam and Christianity are almost split in middle with the balance in favour of the Muslim group. The Igala inherently called the political shots in the state until Providence truncated the chain when Abubakar the presumed winner of the 2016 elections, returned to his Creator. Political power thus shifted to the Egbira through a second run-up Yahaya Bello Adoza. up through divine hands got thrusted on the laps of Yahaya Bello Adoza. It however became a rough ride for him as ghosts of competing ethno-religious interests and his poor handling of same kept haunting the Administration throughout. One would ordinarily expect that after a checkered two four-year tenure Yahaya would take a well-deserved rest and make peace with his aggrieved constituents. But no, he wangled the last election (the case in Court) to pave way for his protege, a tribe's man in the person of Ahmed Usman Ododo. The Igala and Okun were livid as they knew the voting pattern in the State like all others, follow ethnic lines. There was no way the Egbira vote could have elected Ododo governor. Barefaced manipulation did it, they so contended with evidence to show. Kogi State is likely to continue living precariously as obtained under Bello, for maybe another 4 years. This time around with the support of the contemplated creation of the "Office of Immediate Past Governor" to be domiciled in the Governor's Office. A bizarre political development among a supposedly highly enlightened state where elected leaders embarrassingly prostrate before political godfathers even at formal official functions. And worse still the declaration openly made by the Governor that Bello shall have the final say on governance in the state. Power really intoxicates. Governor Ododo and former governor Yahaya should do well to realize power is transient and always locate the locus of numbers. So the brazen attempt to keep power in Egbira land through alleged "electoral ambush " needs to be reassessed. Bello and Ododo should tow the path of collaboration over competition. In politics numerical is of essence and the lower will have to build credible alliance with the upper for power to keep residing with the latter. Contemporary history is clear about this fact. The minority white Boer regime in South Africa could hold the Black majority beyond a point despite its powerful state apparatus. The French could not keep down Algeria by force. America had to flee Afghanistan after about two decades of military operation, and so on. For, numbers don't respect sentiments especially a wobbly democratic dispensation. Yahaya couldn't have problem with his vision if he belongs to the Kanuri or Tiv groups places like Borno and Benue. The Kanuri in Borno has absolute majority over the Babur and other Southern Borno ethnic groups. Same applies in the case of the overwhelming Tiv electoral strength over the Idoma and so can keep with ease, sustainably. Yahaya Bello would do well to save Kogi the needless political suffocation and economic stagnation. But then it behooves the Igala, the Tiv, the Kanuri of Kogi, Benue and Borno respectively to cultivate the political habit of being their brother’s keeper. They should engage, to allow/facilitate power to shift in their states without acrimony. It creates a win-win environment for all.
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COMRADES,