FRANKILY SPEAKING: The Insincerity in Us and the Kogi 2027 Question, By Ademola Bayode Oyekanmi

For months now, I have read article after article insisting that Kogi West, and specifically the Okun extraction, must produce the next governor of Kogi State in 2027. The name that dominates every conversation is Rt. Hon. Abiodun James Faleke.

 

Let me be direct. A Faleke governorship will be a great liberation. Not just for Okun people, but for Kogi State as a whole. He has the influence, the financial capacity, and the political numbers. If he declares his intention for Lugard House today, the political arithmetic of Kogi will change immediately.

 

The irony is this: the people of Kogi East may end up carrying his mandate on their heads more than some of us in Okun land. They will wear it like a cloth. It will be in their spirit and in their soul.

 

We Have Been Here Before

In 2015, we agitated for power shift. I was part of it in spirit, soul and body. At that time we were not specifically asking for an Okun governor. We were saying enough is enough for Igala governorship.

 

To cut the long story short, Late Prince Abubakar Audu and Hon. Faleke became the APC flag bearers. What happened behind the scenes, I do not know. What we heard was that only Audu had the capacity to deliver the power shift, and that he had promised it.

 

In God’s own way, power shifted. But before it shifted, it was hanging between an Okun man and an Ebira man, and permutations started. Powers that be intervened.

 

The election was declared inconclusive. Audu passed on. The running mate could not automatically step in. Another argument was that if Hon. Faleke became governor, it would open an inroad for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu into the North Central. Another was that since PDP came second, Governor Idris Wada should be sworn in. We all knew APC would not give up a state on that basis.

 

Eventually, the position went to the candidate who came second in the APC primary: a young, vibrant Alh. Yahaya Adoza Bello. Everyone was happy, even though it did not fall on an Okun man, because power had shifted. The rest is history.

 

*2027: The New Agitation*

Now we are in 2027 and the agitation has started again. But this time it is different. It is no longer “power shift.” It is “Okun for Governor” and “Kogi West for Governor.”

 

Let us be sincere with ourselves.

Kogi West comprises Kabba-Bunu, Ijumu, Yagba West, Yagba East, Mopa-Muro, Lokoja, and Kogi-Koto-Karfe.

If we are truly agitating for a Kogi West governorship, then it can come from any of those LGAs.

If we are narrowing it to an Okun governor, then it must come only from Okun-speaking LGAs. Sothe non-Okun-speaking LGAs would be spectators fold their hands and watch when we have not allow them to smell the Senate seat since the time of Rtd Gen. Tunde Ogbeha.

 

We wrestle for power with strategy, negotiation, boldness and numbers. Power will not come to the weak. Power will not come to those who are waiting. Power comes to those who are able and willing to wrestle for it.

 

*The Uncomfortable Question*

This is the strength of my article, because I know many of you may be thinking “What is he arriving at?”

 

*What if Hon. James Abiodun Faleke is not interested in the governorship of Kogi State in 2027?*

What if his leader, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, tells him, “I still need you at the national level”?

What if Hon. Faleke himself says, “Okun people, Kogi West people, go and look for someone else.

Are we going to say no, it must be him?

 

Hon. James Faleke is a loyal man. Loyal to his principal, the man who discovered him. I am learning loyalty from him in a different dimension. I have been to his office only once. He may not even recognize me. But I have been his admirer and follower since his first tenure in the lower chamber.

 

He is a good man. A listener. If you are 100 people, he will listen to everyone and do his best. He has brought development to Okun land and to Kogi State in general. In my country home, Ekirin-Adde, the transformation is unbelievable. My hometown now looks like a small London. Kudos to him, and to those around him who welcome development. Because having good and right people around you matters more than just being good yourself.

 

From what I have observed, Hon. Faleke does not seem like someone who can be pushed. He listens to himself and to the right people, not to those making noise about just for their stomach. And no matter what, before he considers the seat of governor, in 2027 or beyond, he will consult his principal, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Whatever his Principal tells him will be final.

 

*My Conclusion*

Power is wrestled for. Our minds must be open.

 

So I ask us directly:

Do we really want an Okun Governor?

Will an Okun man support a Governor coming from lokoja or Korto Karfe of Kogi West?

Or If not Hon. Abiodun James Faleke as Governor, Nobody Else?

 

And Peradventure Hon. James Faleke says no to Luguard House today, are we going to start singing a different song?

 

Let us search our minds. What do we really want?

 

● Ademola Bayode Oyekanmi is a Playwright, Filmmaker and Entrepreneur.