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The history of Okene/Ogori Magongo is not one that is far-fetched. All morally-conscious observer of the politics of Kogi State know the moral low Okene/Ogori Magongo has sunk over the years.
For a constituency made of two Local Governments but has had only one Local Government representing it in the House of Representatives since 1999, what comes to the fore of the discourse is how morality can be a big issue.
Going down memory lane, observers of Kogi politics cannot be quick to forget the famous “Ebira agenda” which was what we the people of Kogi Central used in clamouring for the Governorship seat when it was a topic of concern that the people of Kogi East which are largely Igalas by tribe will not let other Senatorial zones occupy Lugard House any time soon.
The rest of that clamour is today, history. An Ebiraman by name Yahaya Bello from Okene Local Government, is today, even a second-term Governor of Kogi State.
Now, back home in Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency, if a spade will be called a spade without calling it another name to sound any more decent if falling below the moral belt in politics is not within the confines of the subject matter, indecency in itself, what we the people of Okene Local Government are doing to the people of Ogori Magongo Local Government is the dictionary definition of marginalisation.
If, we, the people of Okene are not quick to forget when we once led the cry against the Igalas over issue of marginalization, then it is morally a burden upon us to surrender without a second thought, the Okene/Ogori Magongo seat to a person from Ogori Magongo, come 2023, much as we all within the corridors of politics tussle and struggle, agree that “power is taken not given”.
But howbeit, may I be quick to continually hinge on how it is a fact not to be contested in any moral and history court that it was we the people of Ebiraland that were even the first people to start the clamour over marginalization in the history of Kogi State, and as history had it in its record, the world heard our cry, even God eventually heard our cry and He let one of us from Okene become Governor and now the same one of us is currently in his second term as Governor of Kogi State even when we are not the majority senatorial zone or the people with the most voting population in Kogi State.
As we the good people of Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency already know, there is a young man from Ogori Magongo Local Government, in the race, vying to represent us as a Federal Constituency, next year at the House of Representatives. He is vying under the platform of PDP. As we will all agree, come 2023, a vote for an Okene candidate in as much as Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency election is concerned, is a vote for continuation of the moral bankruptcy of the reality of marginalization that has enveloped our dear Federal Constituency, Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency for a long time now.
Hence, as the May 12 House of Representatives primary election of the PDP draws near, the voting direction is clear. Any delegate vote for anybody from Okene for the Okene/Ogori Magongo House of Representatives election as to who flies the PDP flag in 2023 for the Okene/Ogori Magongo House of Representatives election is a vote for marginalization, an existing reality we the good people of Okene/Ogori Magongo will no longer be able to abide by under any guise. History beckons and we believe 2023 is the time to show the world that marginalization has no place anymore in Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Consituency.
We, Okene people are known to be kind and decent and understanding people. I trust we will vote rightly, but first I trust the PDP delegates will give us Captain Timi Iyela from Ogori Magongo Local Government, as flag bearer for the Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency election as slated for next year 2023. It is a case of now, not a case of later. We must end the marginalization now. Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Consittuency seat is not the birthright of we the people of Okene. We must let somebody from Ogori Magongo Local Government occupy that seat, come 2023, and the process starts with how the PDP delegates vote on May 12, 2022, when they go in for the primary election.
A delegate vote for Captain Timi Iyela, come May 12, is a delegate vote to end marginalization in Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency.
Let us end the marginalisation now!
God bless the PDP delegates as they vote for Captain Timi Iyela, hence doing their own bid to help end marginalization in Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency, come May 12;
God bless Okene/Ogori Magongo Federal Constituency;
God bless Kogi State;
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Issa Itopa Lucky is from Agassa, Okene Local Government of Kogi State. He is a socio-political writer.
