Murtala Ajaka. The crumbling and fumbling of a political court jester.
By Otori Ozigi.
It goes without saying that the defeated SDP gubernatorial candidate in the last Kogi state gubernatorial election,Alhaji Murtala Ajaka is a perfect character suitable for any role in Nigerian comedy movies or stand up comedy shows.
True,his entrance into partisan politics in Kogi state is predicated on attention seeking venture.
He just wanted to be seen and heard even though he knows that he cannot be taken serious by any stretch of his imagination.
It has been established that he craves relevance and showmanship in the game of active politics in Kogi state.
The tragedy of his inordinate political ambition to become the governor of Kogi state is that the man Murtala Ajaka knows his limitations in his quest to occupy lugard House, the seat of power in Kogi state.
He knew he could not be taken serious by any right thinking Kogite.
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But his unrestrained passion for the limelights and Media attention beclouded his sense of reason.
He was ready to do anything to actualize his tall dream of becoming the governor of Kogi state.
Knowing fully well that he doesn’t have what it takes to win election in Kogi State in a free, credible and fair contest ,he resorted to latching on a nebulous and outdated Igala ethnic agenda.
Yes.he believed so much on the strength and power of his ethnic agenda to make him governor, even though his party has no formidable structure to win any governorship election in Kogi state.
There is no gainsaying that the issue of ethnic agenda in Kogi politics had since been consigned to the dustbin of history by the political icon of our time, the immediate governor of Kogi State,Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello.
True,it was GYB who re-engineered politics of inclusiveness and good governance in Kogi State,during his 8 years tenure in office,that was adjudged to be the best era of politics in Kogi State.
Going into the last gubernatorial election in the state,it was common knowledge that the only party with massive and formidable structure to win the election is the All Progressives Congress ,APC..
It is also true that the candidate of the APC in that election, Alhaji Ododo Ahmed Usman was the best suited and worthy of been elected for the office of the governor,all variables considered.
Little wonder therefore, that Alhaji Ododo emerged victorious in a free, fair and credible election, adjudged to be peaceful and violent free.
He won the election in a landslide with 446,0000 votes ,while Alhaji Murtala Ajaka came a distant second with 259,052 votes.
But the candidate of SDP,Alhaji Murtala Ajaka began his melodramatic and unserious disposition as he was caught in doubt speak and afterthought.
Hours after the conclusion of the election and the announcement of Alhaji Ododo as the rightful winner,Alhaji Ajaka went on a Channel Television program to declare that he would not go to court to challenge the outcome of the election.
He declared emphatically that.
I won’t go to court.I have been around for the past 20 years.I know what it is.
What am I going to court to do when the INEC that announced Ododo as winner is going to come as witness to defend what they did.
So it is a waste time to go to court.
But in a twist of melodramatic fashion, the same Alhaji Ajaka is today in court making himself a laughing stock in the eyes of every right thinking person.
The proceedings from the tribunal so far shows that Alhaji Ajaka came to court with cocktails of hearsay and tissues of uncoordinated evidence that lack merit in it’s entirety.
First,he boasted that he has over 40 witnesses to prove his case,but when the chips were down he could only produced 7 rented witnesses.
Even at that, his star witness was caught in the web of contradiction as he openly admitted that he was not in Kogi State on the day of the election.
The foregoing is the dilemma of a desperate politician, that is the hallmark of Alhaji Murtala Ajaka in his inordinate quest to climb on the back of outdated and anachronistic ethnic agenda to Lugard House,Lokoja,Kogi State, under this democratic dispensation.
Otori Ozigi,a veteran Journalist and PR consultant, writes from Okene,Kogi State.
08073295000–SMS only.