The Campaign for Good Governance in Kogi State, (CGGK),* has received the news of the recent establishment of a committee to canvas the endorsement for reelection of President Bola Tinubu and Kogi State Governor, Ahmed Ododo. The said committee is headed by Senator Smart Adeyemi who represented Kogi West Senatorial Zone for three terms in the upper legislature. The power structure in Kogi State since 2016 has conveniently alienated Kogi West from the top two political leadership positions in the last decade. Instructively, however, it finds Kogi West sufficiently pliable to lead the joint charge for the reelection of President Tinubu and Governor Ododo.
CGGK notes that without a doubt, President Tinubu has earned his stripes for reelection come the 2027 general elections. His imprimatur is to be found across major developmental indices. From committing a whopping 95% of national earnings to debt servicing, the burden has reduced to 69% in less than two and half years of the Tinubu administration. Gross Domestic Product, (GDP) for the second quarter of 2025, grew by an impressive 4.23%, the best performance in about five years, inspired by increased oil production, agricultural and industrial activities.
Much more resources have been conscientiously availed the subnationals under the Tinubu government, to inspire development at the various strata of governance. In September, the Federation Account Allocation Committee, (FAAC), disbursed a landmark N2.2Trillion to the three tiers of government. About 600,000 young Nigerians have benefitted from the students’ loan scheme of the Tinubu dispensation, a restatement of the President’s resolve on human capital development. Gradually, the country is witnessing an infrastructural revamp after decades of minimal attention to basic enablers of socioeconomic growth.
While President Tinubu has been able to chalk up these milestones against all odds, *CGGK* notes with painful concern that the same cannot be said of the Ododo government in Kogi State. The system remains inalienably tied to the apron strings of the puppeteer, Yahaya Bello, the immediate past Governor and proxy administrator, who directs state affairs from his multiple addresses in Abuja the federal capital. Thirty-four years after the creation of the entity, Kogi State does not in anyway compare with its peers, some of which have earned much less resources over the same period. Rather, the state is a graphic epitome of mass plunder and blatant rape, wilful neglect and unconcerned abandonment.
*State resources are reportedly butchered and shared by a quartet of buccaneers, the top two retaining as much as N2.5Billion each, on a monthly basis. It has been suggested, that the Commissioner for Local Government, and the Accountant-General of the State, receive monthly stipends of N300million and N1Billion respectively. A substantial quantum of this kill, comes from funds allocated to the 21 local government areas in the state, which often averages N600million per local government council, per month. Figurehead council Chairmen are allegedly credited with a monthly imprest of N4million to help them posture as pseudo-bigmen in their localities.*
*CGGK* observes that this partly explains the reality of zero governance at the local government level, where Chairmen cannot as much as motivate security personnel to stand up to rampaging bandits, let alone effect salutary remediation on infrastructure under their watch. With errant, thieving governance in Lugard House, Lokoja, archaic hospitals, schools, boreholes, earth roads, culverts and drains, cannot be expected to be functional. This is the tragedy of local government administration in Kogi State under the subsisting state leadership template.
As it stands today, *CGGK* notes that except for the *Audit House* on the Crusher Road, which is already falling apart before completion in Lokoja the state capital, the Ododo government in nearly two years has nothing to show. Which explains its desperation to latch onto the tailcoat of President Tinubu’s profile. *CGGK* challenges the Ododo government to point to landmark road projects it is executing outside of Ebiraland in any of the other non-Ebira-speaking local councils and communities in the state. Ododo should identify a major, modern water scheme it is erecting anywhere, or rural electrification infrastructure, or notable school or hospital rehabilitation works.
*CGGK* admonishes *Ododo to note that he will be assessed by his tangible, visible performance, in the provision of patriotic leadership; honest and accountable governance; enthroning functional and sustainable security across the state, and paying local government administrations their statutory dues as appropriated in the books by the federal government.* One million committees prospecting endorsement for Ododo on the horseback of the President will not secure endorsement and continuity for unimaginable cluelessness and grand failure. Ododo has two more years of his first term to serve. He should peep over his shoulders to see what his colleagues in Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Delta, even Osun have done in their first terms thus far and how a multiplicity of political parties are freely offering them platforms for their second terms.
*SIGNED*
*Comrade Sadiq Maiwuka*
Chairman
*Elder David Kupolati*
Vice-Chairman
*Captain Patrick Baiye, (rtd)*
Publicity Secretary
*Dr Stephen Ogu*
General Secretary
*Hon Abu Zekeri*
Youth Leader
