Civil societies dead in Kogi
Steve Aya I Friday, November 15, 2019
LOKOJA, Kogi, Nigeria – From the day that the independent electoral commission (INEC) gave the dates for the governorship election in Bayelsa and Kogi state, political activities scaled up . It is important to state here that if anything, this level of violence was not expected especially when such violence is carried out in the full presence of security men.
In standing up to run for the seat of Kogi State Governor, Barrister Natasha Akpoti was fighting the fight of the ordinary Nigerian, the you and me who seek to have a better Nigeria. She was fighting to change the narrative that nothing good can come out of Kogi State because the state is poor and therefore no meaningful development can take place there
On the hand, while other nations who are faced with various form of challenges in this 21th century be it human or technological have taken positive steps aimed at finding solutions to their problems, we as Nigerians are still faced with or rather bogged down by the avarice of the elite. Every time we believe we have seen the worst from them, these shameless opportunistic power grabbers proudly take us up to a new level.
The elections in Bayelsa and Kogi State are off the season elections. Because these elections do not take place when the general elections takes place, it is expected that it will not present this type of security challenge that we now see. Worst still is when such security challenges or breach is taking place in the very presence of security agents.
While we all denounce in strong terms the current level of violence in these two states, it is pitiful and pathetic that the level of violence meted out to Barrister Natasha Akpoti, the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Kogi State, it must be pointed out that Natasha Akpoti does have the profile of one distinguished Nigerian who is genuinely concerned about the preventable situation this nation and Kogi State found itself in.
Some people will ask who is this woman Barrister Natasha Akpoti, that is seen as a political nightmare to Governor Yahaya Bello and other elite politicians in Kogi State
Over the past two decade, Barrister Natasha Akpoti has been in the fore front of the fight for the resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company Ltd, Itakpe Steel Company and the development of Ebiraland. She had used all her resources, both material and time to the upgrade and progress of her people. One can call her a grassroots person
So the mere declaration to contest the position of governor could not have turned this Amazon and paragon of beauty who had worked and lobbied for their betterment of her people into public enemy number one.
This violence against her didn’t start when she became the candidate of the SDP, in fact way back when she was an aspirant in APC according to her close associate. Her family was attacked and her father’s house was burned down as she forges on. Her life was threatened and she then decided to stay in Abuja until she took the SDP flag and to contest the governors position in the party’s name.
The burning of the state secretariat of SDP and the harassment and pushing to the ground of Barrister Natasha Akpoti by political thugs in the presence of IGP Ibrahim Adamu recently was a pointer to the fact that some people, somewhere, somehow do not want to see her, because of reasons best known to them, because such attacks seems to be hard on her only.
This article is not to whip up any form of political support for Natasha Akpoti in any way , rather it is made to establish the fact that she is been given this hash treatment because she has become a threat to some people who will not be too comfortable if she ever becomes a governor. These are the people that have kept Kogi State poor, unprogressive, under developed and further more under lock and the keys in their pocket.
One of our greatest challenges to deepening democracy in Nigeria is the high cost of accessing political power. A situation where one has to spend millions of naira to get his party’s nominations and millions more in a grand deceit call political campaigns is indeed the highest level of corruption because at this level, life is no longer of any value to such persons as their attention is all fixed at getting to the office and recovering what they have spent or invested since getting into public office is now big business.
Because of this expensive nature of getting into public office, it seems that such a duty is reserved only for the few rich fellows and their inner circle. It is within this circle that we have few individuals who have positioned themselves as god fathers thereby controlling and determining who gets what at a given time. Such has led the various states and indeed the nation into a state of high under development and technological backwardness.
The fact that somebody with ideas to serve his people willingly can be harassed, have his or her life threatened, call names and no arrest has been made, nobody has been called to question leaves a lot of room to believe that unless you belong or you are somehow connected to the so called ruling class then you have no right to seek public office in any way.
In standing up to run for the seat of Kogi State Governor, Barrister Natasha Akpoti was fighting the fight of the ordinary Nigerian, the you and me who seek to have a better Nigeria. She was fighting to change the narrative that nothing good can come out of Kogi State because the state is poor and therefore no meaningful development can take place there.
For women to have kept quiet, young people to sell their rights for less than $10 dollars, and the civil society in Kogi not really saying anything is a pointer to the fact that Kogi State and indeed Nigeria is in trouble waters.
I remember there was a time in this country when Civil Liberties Organization (CLO) was firing from all cylinders, when Newswatch magazine would publish and be damned, when Tell magazine was the terror of every dictator, when TheNews magazine would expose every secret conspiracy of those in government against the people, when all the inner intrigues in the security agencies, particularly the military would be exposed by the Insider magazine, when they harangued journalists, arrested some, detained some, and killed some and Yet The Razor newspaper was publishing underground, and when the fearless and indefatigable Chief Gani Fawehinmi would issue a press release and all institutions of the state comport themselves immediately.
Those were the era when the battle for the soul of Nigeria was being fought at all level. It seems we are losing the battle now and Nigeria is in a crossroad.
Whether Barrister Natasha Akpoti gets to win the election tomorrow or not is another ball game altogether. However, she has drawn the battle line and she has equally forced the nation into a new moral war with itself and with some certain big question to answer. Only time will tell if we can get to answer them.
