By Muritala Y. Ajaka
Our dear Kogi State is 32 years today.Thanks be to God. The creation of this state on August 27 1991 was a fulfilment of the yearnings and aspiration of our founding fathers,whose desire was to reunite people balkanised into Benue, Kwara and Niger states as a result of states creation
Before the separation, our people lived as one in the Northern Region as citizens of the Kabba Province ,united largely by our culture, traditions, history and our common desires and aspirations as minorities of the region.
Thus, there was a strong and sustained clamor in the old Benue and Kwara States by our founding fathers to be reunited with their brothers and sisters of the defunct Kabba Province hence the creation of Kogi State on August 27, 1991.
In these 32 two years , we have survived through several odds and challenges , and still wax strong as one people, integrated and united in very many ways.
What has eluded the state over the years is infrastructural development and advancement in the key sectors of our economy commensurate with the age of our state and the abundant human and natural resources available in our land due to poor leadership.
We have been unable to reach our optimum capacity due to lots of factors but the most obvious is leadership. A focused leadership, that can appropriate the several advantages available to our dear state and bring about rapid development that will end our status as one of the poorest states in Nigeria.
As we celebrate the 32nd anniversary of the our state today, we must individually resolve that as a people, we shall resist the entrenched retrogressive tactics to keep us divided by self serving politicians along primordial cleavages and focus on the goal of elevating our state to the pinnacle of development and economic prosperity.
On our part in the Social Democratic Party (SDP) we undertake to provide the leadership that will leverage on our humongous resources to liberate the masses of our people from the perpetual abject poverty we have witnessed, especially in recent times, through sound economic and social policies.
We promise that the dream of self determination and visible development which our founding fathers believed will end and our basic challanges will be realized.
We call on all Kogites use the opportunity of the November 11 Election to rise and take their destinies in their hands by ensuring that a leadership that dehumanises us through intimidation, violence and repression rather than pursue the mandate of welfare for the citizens is never again allowed to reign in our state.
Never again should our civil servants be forced to engage in slave labour without payment or have tokens (otherwise called percentage salary) thrown at them.
Once more I congratulate all Kogites on this 32nd anniversary of existence as a state. There are better years ahead.
Alhaji Muritala Yakubu Ajaka is the Kogi SDP Governorship Candidate,he writes from Lokoja,Kogi state.
