Many Kogites and non-Kogites who reacted to this column’s conclusions on the November governorship poll in Kogi State are in a quandary whom to support. While they admit that the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Governor Idris Wada is less than effective as the state’s chief executive, they also acknowledge that the All Progressives Congress (APC) standard-bearer, Abubakar Audu, has been unable to make more friends on account of what they describe as his stuffiness and arrogance. Some rejoinders say it is difficult, if not impossible, to pick either of the two candidates in the poll. But neutrality is not an option. If a part of the electorate refuses to vote, another part will vote, and one way or the other, a choice will be made, and one of the two leading candidates will win.
Even if it is acknowledged that the two standard-bearers are uninspiring, a careful consideration of their weaknesses and strengths should still help voters determine whom to back. Mr Wada may not be abrasive and impatient, or fiery and uncouth, but few dispute his lethargy and general lack of innovativeness. He is sensitive and won’t make you feel bad in his presence, but he is almost wholly unable to make you feel good by reason of the state’s collapsed infrastructure and hopelessness about the future. The abrasive and financially finicky Prince Audu, on the other hand, is believed to be unable to make the Kogi electorate feel good in his presence, though his supporters argue he has changed, but he makes the ordinary Kogite feel good about the state on account of his passion for development and modernisation.
In short, in November, the Kogi voter will have to make a choice between pleasant personality and its concomitant underdevelopment on one hand, and unpleasant personality and development on the other hand. The choice is grim and vexing, but it is unavoidable and must be made. In making the choice, however, the state must determine whether in the case of Mr Wada they can keep his pleasantness beyond the next four years and profit from it if he wins, an unlikely proposition, or whether they can limit the underdevelopment certain to accompany his victory to only his four years in office should he win. And in the case of Prince Audu, the voter must ask what economic and social value his pleasantness confer on the state in four years should he win, as opposed to what his developmental drive would bring not only for four irreplaceable years but also far beyond, especially given the fact that even today, more than any of his successors, his imprint is still solidly embossed on the state’s development.
There is no ambiguity in the choice before Kogi. This column finds bad manners offensive, but it is not confused as to how to proceed in the face of the two choices facing Kogi. Prince Audu will woefully fail a pleasantness contest with Mr Wada; but it is hard to see the latter winning the more crucial and impactful developmental test with the former. Kogi will in November decide whether they want development or they want their ego massaged. If they choose ego over development in the face of the appalling realities of poverty and infrastructural collapse of the state, they will find it difficult to tell Nigerians they are not gluttons for punishment or that the shame of underdevelopment and poverty has not afflicted them enough. In four years, Kogi will be rid of both Mr Wada and Prince Audu, whoever wins between the two. But in four years, they will either be better for their choice or worse for it.
A few rejoinders to this column also argue that Kogi West senatorial district peopled mainly by the Okun Yoruba will at best split their vote for the APC candidate. The reasons, they say, are that Prince Audu, in his customary brashness, once insulted the people and chiefs of the area, and that the politics of running mate and zoning of senatorial positions have pitted the Yagba side against their Okun brothers in Kabba/Bunu/Ijumu side. The rejoinders, however, admitted that of all the three men who have governed the state since 1999, Prince Audu’s government was the most impactful in Okunland. Indeed, they admit that while former governor Ibrahim Idris managed to establish a little presence in Okunland, Mr Wada has done nothing anyone taking the trouble of remembering. If in about four years Mr Wada did nothing for the Okun people, when he knew he would be needing their votes for another four years, what are the guarantees he would do something major and significant in the next four years when he would not be needing them thereafter?
Notwithstanding the lack of sophistication of Okunland politics, it is still unlikely they will be confused as to whom to vote for. They will be reluctant to compound the historic error they made in campaigning for the new state of Kogi (created 1991), in which they found themselves unexpectedly outmanoeuvered and outgunned by the Igala from the Kogi East senatorial district. They will recognise that notwithstanding the uninspiring choices they face between Mr Wada and Prince Audu, their best bet is to throw in their lot with the man who spread development to their area, who had a great developmental track record, and who in 2011, had he been governor, would probably have supported the federal government in siting the only federal university in the state (Federal University Lokoja) in Kabba, the unofficial headquarters of Okunland. Prince Audu is still the Okun people’s best bet for power rotation and fairness. Mr wada is of no value to Kogi West.
The Okun people will likely settle their differences over the zoning of the senatorial position, and will overcome their misgivings over the running mate issue, especially the false and misleading dichotomy over native and foreign Okun sons and daughters. They will know which side their bread is buttered, and they will reach deep into their souls and their illustrious past and do what is right. If they fail, as their contemporary fractiousness suggests, they will be compounding the error of Kogi State creation, and foreclosing a bright future for coming generations. Already, present day Okun people blame their fathers for the lopsidedness of state creation, dismayed by their forebears’ lack of foresight; it is important that a historic redress should take place now to correct a previous historic error.
A few rejoinders also suggest that President Muhammadu Buhari would be contradicting his anti-corruption agenda by visiting Kogi to campaign for the APC candidate, Prince Audu. This is sheer piffle. President Buhari is not the law courts. Not only has Prince Audu not been found guilty of wrongdoing, the case, which has been on since 2013,, is a testament to the government’s prosecutorial mystery than Prince Audu’s adeptness at undermining or frustrating the law. President Buhari will put in context the more than N10bn alleged to have been stolen by Prince Audu at a time when the state’s annual budget under his tenure was considerably less than N30bn. In addition, Prince Audu was validly selected by the party to be its standard-bearer. The president will not fight that outcome, nor turn his back on his party’s ambitions.
This column argues that based on Mr Wada’s poor performance and Prince Audu’s substantial developmental projects, the contest is unlikely to be indecisive. If the contest is based on whether Mr Wada is polite or Prince Audu is uncouth, then, of course, Kogi may be too far gone in errant politics than outsiders imagine. The state should keep its eye on the ball and vote sensibly for the sake of future generations. Kogi West, it seems, may finally do what is right. Kogi Central also has the capacity to disentangle the twisted skein with which Wada’s supporters seek to hamstring the state. And Kogi East, where Mr Wada hails from, is reportedly miffed by the governors inattentiveness to their pains. Mr Wada may get plenty of votes from people impressed by the comely and inviting visage of politicians, and from voters who can’t seem to appreciate the fundamentals of politics and balloting, but the votes will likely only be sufficient to spare him humiliation, not give him victory.
Both the APC and Prince Audu should go out and reassure the electorate of his bona fides, of his newfound delicate manners, of his readiness to work and to respect the people’s rights, for the country and the state have changed so radically that former methods will get him into trouble, and of the long list of substantial work he did both in 1992 and 1999. He must resist provocations, and he must understand that if anyone is supporting him today despite his bad press, that support is based on nothing else than his developmental and financial management records. Mr Wada is not an option, and neutrality is a sterile and foolish exercise. Kogi should vote right in November and save themselves the humiliating embarrassment of being counted as one of Nigeria’s leading laggards.
