Kogi State: A Political Debauchery at Work

Kogi State: A Political Debauchery at Work
By Sam Onimisi

It is always a nuisance every time I had to write about Kogi State since its creation some twenty years ago. This is because I have had to wade through a labyrinth of detours to arrive at a painful truth, which no one wants to hear – even if they will acknowledge it to themselves in private. That truth is that the state ought not to have been created in the first place! I said so in 1983 when the idea was muted and was being used to weep up sentiments against a so-called Yoruba domination in Kwara State. Writing under the pseudonym of Ohi Ohida, in the now rested Kwara Weekly, I warned the Ebira ethnic nation to concentrate on the on-going development process in Kwara State and desist from the agitation for the creation of what they then pronoun as Kwogi State.
Without sounding immodest, I examined various aspects of the need or otherwise for the state, the agitation, the people, their cultural and sociological differences and came to the conclusion that Kwogi State was a disaster begging to happen. Rather than looking into the issues raised to aid their decision-making process, the political leaders of the day decided to treat me as one who was not interested in the ‘progress’ of the people. As an enemy of the people, I was to be crushed so I could never see their paradise of Kwogi. One of my saddest days was the day the state was created in 1991 and nothing has changed or happened to mitigate my pain at its subsequent anniversaries. I am writing on Kogi State today to mark the fulfillment of my prophecy of 20years ago when at the news of its creation; I told whoever cared to listen that the Ebira should not waste their energy in seeking the governorship of the State for the first 20 years. Now, this is the twentieth year of that prophecy and the state has again nominated some Igalas in the various political parties to replace Gov. Ibrahim Idris, another Igala man. Aside from the Military Administrators, all civilian governors has been Igala, beginning with Abubakar Audu’s six years and now Ibrahim Idris’ eight years. It is obvious that another Igala man will get into the saddle and would remain there for another eight years or so. I do not want to go into the debate over the quality of their governance of the state thus far, for as my people say, it is the disease of the eyes and not of the heart. In other words, any sound mind can see and evaluate developments in the state and judge for himself/ herself if what is obtained is bad, good or very good. I promise to join the debate after reactions to this piece are known.
Meanwhile, there are three issues I like to comment on today and will do so not in any order of sequence or importance. Now, the present geographical space and size called Kogi State is the same area, which used to be known and called Kabba Province, which became defunct in 1967. The question is; why is it that reference is often made to Kabba province with a sense of nostalgia but to its Kogi State version with regret and pain? I am convinced that a realistic answer to this question will unravel the reason and causes of such pains and regrets – and I will attempt to answer the question as best as I could.
When it was Kabba Province, it was administered strictly within the principles of federalism, with the three Divisions (as they were called), i.e. Kabba, Ebira and Igala having autonomous administration, separate treasuries, police and prison services and therefore, were equal in every political sense. Thus, when they meet at Lokoja the Provincial Headquarters, they do so as friends, brothers and people of the same province who are bound together by common aspirations. They compare notes and anywhere there was spectacular progress, the other divisions take cue and a system of healthy competition was engendered. And wherever a serious adverse development took place, other Divisions took preventive actions, to stem the tide. Whenever the three Divisions met at the Regional Capital in Kaduna, they did so in the spirit of people from the same province who had interest in the progress of the area – knowing and conscious of the fact that resource allocation at the regional level were based on the correlating revenues from the various Divisions and so, allocations also would be paid into the Divisional Treasuries for appropriation.
And so, educational institutions were established in the three Divisions into which students from Divisions and infact, from many Provinces in the Region were admitted. Also in School Sports, and at regional sporting events or competition, Kabba Province was always the one to watch as they set the pace both in common entrance examinations and in sports competitions. If any Division was said to be superior, it was based on the standard assessment of the Colonial Officers and grounded on performance in service delivery, increasing revenue income and maintenance of law and order, and on no other puerile criteria.
Now as Kogi State, it is being administered as a unitary system in which resources from all sections are combined in one Treasury. The Police System is also now one and controlled not so much from the state headquarters but from the national capital. In a unitary system, it is winners-take-all, especially in the African setting, and whatever is doled out to those outside is based on how subservient they are. Any wonder that various amorphous groups are formed in the unfortunate Ebira and Kabba areas that often go to Lokoja to pay homage, obeisance and sing the praise of the Igala Lord of the Manor. These groups became handy as ready tools or thugs often used to cause trouble and deal with their own people – especially individuals who are critical of the monopolistic and imperial system of governance. In today’s Kogi State, the Igala is in majority as a single ethnic group, but they have now elevated this fact and clothed it with a lie as if they are more in numerical strength than the combination of the Okun and Ebira, and because the Igala had a headstart as the pioneer governor of the state, every known criteria of resource sharing, whether material, physical and financial allocation are skewed in favour of the Igala. In fact, it is now two-third for the Igala and one third for the rest people of the state – mark you not in productivity but in allocation, making it a compulsion for others to serve and worship them. Over the years, this oppressive and suffocating system has given birth to a sense of persecution among the Ebira and Okun people and much more, among smaller minority ethnic groups in the state; resulting in local wars with their devastating effects on the peace and economy of the rural people who were already impoverished by unfair resource allocation.
However, there is no guarantee that if the Ebira or the Okun were in the same advantage, they would do anything substantially different. This is not because they have the same sense or lack of sense of equity but because of the unitary and winners-take-all system of government. Now if the principle of majority rule is examined, it ought not to be strictly on ethnic ground, which is just one factor out of many. Majority rule means the aggregate number of voters who cast their vote based on their subscription to a doctrine, an ideology and on particular charismatic leadership of a political party. However, the way majority rule is understood and practiced in Kogi State; it translates to Igala rule and nothing more. Ideological beliefs cut across tribes, religion or denominations, and peoples of various ethnic groups buys into it and are bound together by it.
To equate majority rule to the numerical strength of one ethnic group is to give the principle the meaning it does not have, otherwise every ethnic nation becomes the slave of the ethnic group with the slimmest numerical advantage such as the Igala. And this brings us to the most important principle of self determination which is the inalienable human rights of all ethnic nationalities guaranteed by the United Nations Declarations’ on Human and Peoples Rights. If Kogi State and indeed Nigeria is to continue as a state or as a nation state, there must be a system of power devolution or self-rule by ethnic nations. In a true federal system of government and the country must do away with this Unitary System of administration. No one ethnic nation is superior to the other just because of its numerical strength, as other ethnic nations have no need of your number. Your numbers, if they are real or genuine, is valuable only to yourself as others can live their lives without your excess baggage. China’s 1 ½ billion population does not in any way diminish the freedom, power and progress of the United States of America or Russia in the United Nations. The contrasts is the Kabba Province experience – a system of federated Divisions of peoples who had mutual respect and so could share the same visions; not a Kogi State governed as a Unitary estate or kingdom of one hereditary ethnic dynasty.