The Kogi central senatorial election appears to be one that will be fiercely contested in Kogi State based on the antecedents of the area and that of the major contestants in the election. The district, mostly populated by the Ebira people, has the least number of votes among the three districts of the state, but it is the most volatile with the record of the highest political violence in the state, particularly in the build up to the 2019 general election.
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The five local government areas of Okene, Okehi, Adavi, Ajaokuta and Ogori/Magongo that make up the senatorial district have been witnessing series of political activities, both positive and negative as the candidates and their political parties try to outsmart each other in the campaigns. There are three major contestants that have been making their impacts felt as far as the election is concerned and they are the incumbent Senator Ahmed Ogembe of the PDP, Natasha Akpoti of the SDP and Alhaji Yakubu Oseni, who is the candidate of the APC.
The three political parties have left no stone unturned to ensure that their candidates win the election scheduled for February 16 as they have been moving across the district to canvass for people’s supports and votes. However, what should have been a battle between the APC and the PDP was turned to a three-way contest with the entrance of Akpoti, who has left no one in doubt about her seriousness to occupy the senatorial seat in the red chamber of the National Assembly.
Akpoti, a social crusader from Okehi Local Government Area is a lawyer and has been in the fore front of the fight for the emancipation of the Ebira extraction. She however came to limelight with her interventions and agitation over the ownership and the management of the moribund multi billion naira Ajaokuta Steel Company.
She ventured into politics and joined the APC with the intention of contesting the senatorial election. But when it became glaring that she would not have the support of the state governor, Yahaya Bello, who is also from the same senatorial zone, she left the party and joined the SDP, which eventually gave her the ticket to contest the election.
Speaking on why she ventured into the murky water of politics in Nigeria, she said, “The passion to work with communities and societies is inbuilt. I learnt that from my dad who was a social democrat. Selfless service was what I learnt from my father and that was what shaped me to become a social entrepreneur and a social reformer.
“So it is not like I am coming into the political space because I am a wife to some big man or I am the daughter of a living big guy. It is just about the common man, identifying strength in me and this is someone we can actually entrust our mandate to represent us.”
However good her intentions are, she will have to contend with some issues that may shape her chances. She is a new entrant into the politics of the land and this may go a long way in her approach to issues of election. Apart from this, she will have to face the governor of the state in the election since they are from the same senatorial zone.
The candidate of the PDP is a household name in the politics of the area having been a former local government chairman of Okene before his election as the senator to represent the area in the 2016 bye election. Ogembe emerged the candidate of the PDP at the primary of the party held in Okene last September. His emergence was however not with the hullabaloo that greeted the conduct of primary elections of the two major parties in the country late last year as some of his opponents, including a former speaker of the state house of assembly, Momoh Jimoh Lawal, raised objections to the conduct of the exercise.
But the lawmaker believes he has impacted on the lives of the people of the area to have warranted them trusting him again with their votes. According to the media office of Ogembe, his strength lies in his ability to connect with the people and provide succor appropriately.
According to a political observer in the state who preferred anonymity, “Basically, his area of strength which endeared him to the people has to do with his constituency projects and empowerment programmes. Arguably, he is said to be the best in their history in terms of constituency projects completed. So far, he has been able to construct over 50 motorised boreholes across Kogi Central which has largely reduced the problem of perennial water shortage in the senatorial district. He also distributed 40 motorcycles, 40 tricycles, 60 grinding machines, 45 generators, 150 sewing machines and trained 200 women in SME with 30, 000 seed capitals in his first batch of empowerment in April 2016.
“In the second batch of the programme, he distributed 25 cars, 300 motorcycle, 150 generators 300 grinding machines, 150 sewing machines and 150 hair dryers. He also trained 1600 women in SME with 20, 000 seed capital. He distributed nine transformers in central too. He also installed 66 solar powered street lights in areas where criminals harass people at night. He has used the office to influence job opportunity for his constituents so numerous to mention. He has four bills and 10 motions to his credit”, said the media office.”
On his part, the candidate of the APC is the immediate past chairman of the Kogi State Internal Revenue Services (KGIRS). The Okene born politician is also a new entrant into the politics of Kogi State. Like the other candidates of the party for the other two senatorial districts, the state government did not hide its preference for him when he entered the race and it was obvious to the other aspirants and party members that Oseni was governor Bello’s choice for the election.
Oseni, who was a banker before joining the present administration in the state, said the level of poverty among the women and the youths of Ebiraland prompted him to join the senatorial race, saying if elected he would initiate programmes that were capable of alleviating the ravaging poverty among the people, who he said had been under the bondage of microfinance banks.
The KGRIS boss said it was unfortunate that successive representatives of the people that they elected had not used the resources that belonged to the masses for their development.
“I am assuring my people that the women in the central senatorial district of Kogi State will be given uttermost respect they deserve by putting them in the right place of self-development through the creation of gender-sensitive jobs to engage them. I will further create opportunities and promote policies that will empower women, increase women participation in politics and into political offices by way of affirmative action.
“I am vying for the position of Kogi Central senatorial seat to represent the good people of Ebiraland. I am also ready to face anybody. There is no newcomer in politics. I have been tested and trusted, while the incumbent has been tested and not trusted and that is why the youths and women are calling on me to serve them as senator in Kogi central senator district come 2019”, he stressed.
The senatorial election in Kogi central no doubt will be full of drama with many issues to be the deciding factors of victory for whoever emerges. One of such issues is that of clan as the people are identified with, emotionally and culturally. So the tendency that the voting pattern may go along clans cannot be overruled. But since the contest is no more a two-horse battle as the battle is among the incumbent senator, the candidate of the incumbent governor and Akpoti that has vigorously pursued her ambition, it is left to the electorate to decide who they want in the red chamber of the national assembly.
and then