19th July 2023
Ademola Bayode Oyekanmi a one time aspirant for the House of Representatives Kabba bunu/ijumu fed constituency,A Publisher and the lead partner EniAmi International Ltd. He is with the reporter of a National Newspaper NIGERIAN POST.
Nig.Post—Kogi state Governorship election coming up in November 2023, who do you think it will favour?.
Bayode Oyekanmi.– Kogi State Governorship election will favour some people and it will not favour some people or I don’t understand what you mean by who do I think it will favour. If the APC candidate wins,it will favour APC members. If PDP candidate wins it will favour PDP members. Same will happen to SDP, ADC, Accord Party and Others. Have I answered your question.
Nig.Post– I mean who is going to be the next governor of Kogi State?
Bayode Oyekanmi–The next governor of Kogi State for now is only known by God and it will be known by kogites after the election when INEC announced the winner.
Looking at the Kogi election to be true with you,the major contenders stand a better chance of winning.
Let me start from the APC candidate Alh Usman Ododo, he is a good man full of great ideas, he is a kogite in spirit,soul and body. He is not playing divisional politics. No ebira agenda, no okun agenda and no igala agenda. He preaches Kogi agenda. He is the only candidate coming from Kogi central,he is loved by his people and he has power of incumbent working for him.
Distinguished Senator Dino Melaye my leader from Kogi West. The PDP candidate may spring surprise, PDP has a formidable structure across the 21 local government areas. He is a national figure nursing the idea of becoming Kogi State Governor for a very long time. I first met him in 2005 before he came into the House of Representatives in 2007. We discussed it. So I believe he has a blueprint on how he will govern the state. Also we know how he followed late Abubakar Audu for a very long time before his demise. He would have learned a lot from him. Senator Dino Melaye has what it takes if he will suround himself with more strategic planners and deliberately make more inroads to Kogi East. One of his challenges is we have more candidates from the West.
Elder leke Abejide is a strong contender from Kogi West. He is vying under the platform of ADC. He is more popular than his party. He is a second timer in the House of Representatives. He is representing Yagba East, West and Mopa Amuro, federal constituency. He is an example of good leadership. His major strength is paying of WEAC fees and promise to do that in the whole state. Elder Abejide within a short while in the lower chamber has proved that you can deliver if you are willing.
He is a candidate to beat. If he can come to agreement with senator Dino Melaye and allow one of them, power will shift to Kogi West.
Muritala Ajaka, he is the starboy of Kogi politics and the govership race right now. The SDP candidate stand a good chance of winning looking at the zone he is coming from Kogi East. Kogi East has the numbers,but the numbers can not do it alone. His popularity is spreading fast,but the igala agenda propagation may make some people lost interest in supporting him. He should do more on what he has for the state not for the igalas. If he preaches Kogi agenda to other senatorial districts he stand a chance.
He also have the Accord Party candidate from Kogi East in the race. Admiral Usman Jubril (rtd). He is strong and silent. He may spring surprise. He is matured and experienced and will be willing to change the dynamics. With this my analysis of the candidates you see that Kogi State Governorship election come November 2023 anything can happen.
Nig.Post– How can you rate the government of Governor Yahaya Bello.
Bayode Oyekanmi– No Government in power that will not perform. You can satisfy everyone. Mind you,there are some stakeholders in a state that will not pray you perform so that they can use it against you in the next election and the Govership and his team will pray and work to perform so that him and his team can win again.
So you can’t satisfy everyone one.
I believe Governor Yahaya Bello is trying his best especially in the area of Agriculture, Security and Education.i doff my cap for him in those areas.
Kogi State University Kabba his latest achievement is a very good development to the people of okun land. We have been agitating for a university in okun land for a long time. Governor Yahaya Bello made it possible.
He has created two state universities in his time. Now we have state universities in the 3 senatorial districts. Now getting admission into universities in the state will not be much challenge again. Before we were all going to Kogi State University Ayangba,now we have choices, osara is there, Kabba is there. To me he has preformed.
Nig.Post. Do you see a peaceful election come November 2023?.
Bayode Oyekanmi– I pray for a peaceful Governorship election coming up in November. Let the candidates imbibe the spirit of sportsmanship and see beyond tribes and other sentiments.They should see Kogi State as their own, A blueprint on how to move Kogi State forward,how to make Kogi State another Lagos in revenue generation. We have what it takes to achieve that. Together we can succeed, maybe you are ebira,bassa, igala,okun,nupe,hausa,ibo as long as you are from Kogi State or you reside in Kogi State, do your business in Kogi State. We are neither to move the state forward.