By joshua 
By Aboh Amos Achemu, Olamaboro
It behooves on us Africans, Nigerians and Kogites to know what our culture truly entails especially when it comes to kneeling down for ones benefactor to show genuine appreciation for an act of good done towards making one fulfill his or her dreams in life.
I have read on different social media platforms how some people especially my brothers and sisters of the Igala extraction have been busy casting aspersions on the person of Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho for kneeling down to thank His Excellency, Alh (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON) the Executive Governor of Kogi State who out of his unique and rare leadership qualities picked Shu’aib Abubakar Audu as the Ministerial Nominee from the Eastern part of Kogi State. I have been brooding over this magnanimous nature of the Governor and I have given him all the 100% mark to be shared among those in the comity of having greater hearts for unity, equity and even development in our dear Kogi State. God Almighty will surely bless all the remaining days of his life.
Some of those who are against the kneeling down of Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho to show appreciation to the Governor are of the opinion that the Governor is younger in age than him which is true. To them, the Governor should not have allowed him to kneel before him in appreciation. Some other school of thoughts who are wearing the same trousers with the first argued that the Igala kingdom is older and bigger than the Ebira kingdom therefore, no son or daughter of Igala kingdom should kneel down for any reason for an Ebira man, a place Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello hails from. Can you imagine the percentage of backwardness in the hearts of many even in this 21st Century?
Right from the beginning of this world and till the time this world will come to an end, we will continue to have bad eggs, black sheep of the family and also those with less wisdom whose brains are rather filled with much acts of foolery, the same that can cause a big problem for a set of people originally designed by God to be living in unity and love. It is so annoying to see in our present days the proverbial fool who we were told burnt down a vast farmland. When he was asked by the community why he perpetrated such an act that has totally razed down a whole farmland, he ended up saying that he only set a little fire to a small part of the land and he did not know that the fire will turn into a wild one that will even destroy the commercial farmland. Jokes apart, we have some set of people in the class of this fool explained in this folklore and they have proven to be bereft of wisdom in our midst.
For those who are always quick to open their wide mouths to insult people without minding the age of the person they are speaking against, it is high time we took them to the cleaners for their brains to go through factory resetting. Aside this, they also need to be taught history they have refused to learn for them to quickly start retracing their steps before they totally finish themselves with their untamed tongues.
Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho has always wanted to join politics to serve my people from the East. Each time he tried to come on board, our own people who were in power derived the pleasure of milking him dry of his hard earned resources. For example, the name Echocho was on the lips of everyone in 2011 when it was believed that he will win the gubernatorial ticket of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). This man lost gallantly despite spending a chunky part of his money to make sure that he clinched the ticket. Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada got the ticket and eventually became the Executive Governor of Kogi State. Echocho was not done yet. He came back again in 2015 and still, he could not get the gubernatorial ticket from Capt. Idris Ichalla Wada. As God would have it, it was the 2015 Governorship election that brought Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello on board as Governor. We all know the story that played out that made him emerge.
The man we are now referring to as Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho was already going into political oblivion before he was introduced to Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON). He was no longer financially stable and politically he was already demoralized. Now, Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON) saw him as a good political material that the political lords of the East were not ready to use for reasons best known to them. The Governor brought him out from the doldrums, removed away from him the boredom that he was already enveloped in and jerked him back to political relevance. Under Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON), Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho in the 2019 general election contested and won as the Senator representing Kogi East after a supplementary election. A man that was already drowning politically was saved and brought to the bank of the river by a political tutor we have in Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON). Today, Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho is in the Red Chambers of the Senate for a second term and all thanks remains to God Almighty and also to Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello (CON), a rare vessel God used to help him reach the zenith of his dreams.
A particular masquerade once sang that a father can out of happiness or sadness decide to kneel down to appreciate his child or to beg him to desist from a particular character he does not like in him. Will you now say that the masquerade did not make sense for coming up with a song of this nature? I know how parents especially mothers humble themselves so low to the point of kneeling down for their children when they are going away from home for boarding school education or when their wards gain admission into tertiary institutions. They do this to drive home the many words of wisdom they have deposited into the hearts of the child of theirs that is about travelling away from home for further education. Does it in any way remove the fact that they are still the ones who brought the child they are kneeling down for to the world? The answer is no. This has made me to understand better why they say, “Common sense is not common.”
Now, Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho knelt down for Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello even though he is far older than the Governor. He knelt down to appreciate the Governor for remembering the Igala nation. This Senator is well aware that when our brothers were in power, they were the ones holding all the positions without seeing the need of sharing the position to other Senatorial Districts. In case you are not aware, a time came that we were occupying the Governorship position, holding unto the Ministerial position and also a son of ours named Ahmadu Ali was the National Party Chairman of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho is also happy to see Alh. (Dr.) Yahaya Bello behaving like a man who takes pleasure in everyone eating from the kings table. Nominating the son of late Prince Abubakar Audu as Minister is a thing that sweetened the belly of Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho. He knew it was possible for him to have been long forgotten if his own brothers were to be the ones still in power. What I saw in his kneeling down was genuine and an appreciation from a heart that is not an ingrate like those who are opening their stinking soak-away like mouths to kick against his action. He knew it that what he could not get during the time of his greedy and voracious brothers, he is getting it now from a set of people his brothers hates so much with passion.
May we not follow the destructive paths of the descendants of ingrates who believes they are too big to bend down to show appreciation when a favour is rendered unto them. The bottom line is for us all to know that we are to be full of gratitude to our benefactors at all times. Alh. Yahaya Bello (CON) is now a helper of destiny to both Sen. Jibrin Isah Echocho and Shu’aib Abubakar Audu. They have not done anything wrong before God by kneeling down to appreciate their benefactor. Even the not too stable political lilliput like Sen. Smart Adeyemi from the West who is also far older than Alh. Yahaya Bello (CON) also knelt down to show his appreciation and to curry more favour from the Governor if possible.
Never you allow fools who believes they can weave everything around tribe, ethnicity and religion blind fold you from appreciating your benefactors whenever and wherever you see them. Do it at all times for it is a godly act that oils the friction on your path of getting to the next stage of your life.