Comrade Monday Adejoh, coordinator, Kogi Concerned Youth for Positive Change and Development in this interview with CHAMBA SIMEH believes that with a good leader, Kogi state’s developmental potentials can be actualized
What do you think is the problem with Kogi state? I can tell you with every sense of responsibility that the major problem militating against the development of this once categorized buoyant state is that of leadership.
This state does not have an excuse for its failures developmentally. Kogi state has all it takes to be a frontline state developmentally and economically but what do we see? A state ruled and not governed. A state that has always been ruled by an opportunistic type of leadership. A state ruled by a type of leadership foistered on it by some greedy godfathers whose only major interest is the decimation of the resources of this state. The bane of our political, economic and cultural development is our leadership. What then can be done to arrest this manmade problem?
The leadership recruitment processes in Kogi state needs to change. We have spent so many and much time debating on the type of leaders we need in Kogi state. I thank God that our peoples maturity and sophistication is now showing in their demand for good leadership.
The people have now recognized that their poverty and underdevelopment is caused by their docility and the imposition of leaders that now steers them in the face . the ethic and parochial interests which all the people have been preached to in the process of choosing its leaders has failed us and in the process all our peers in the country are now ahead of us developmentally.
A state governed by this type of mentality can never grow and develop and our new source of optimism is the sophistry of our people. What do you think should be the main focus of Kogi state right now?
In the developed world, they would tell you “it is the economy-stupid” but in Kogi state I believe it is leadership recruitment and development.
Today as all can see, it is the bane of our development. If we do not get our leadership process and politics right now, then we should forget development What about the Economy? No economy the world over can ever develop without the leadership and followership question of that clime being concretized.
Today in our state, all the indices of developments are red. Is it our politics, our institutions, the judiciary, our roads and infrastructures? Kogi state, I can admit is in its worse period in the anals of the state.
We need a leader that would develop a development compass for the people to follow but when a leader is imposed on the people for the wrong reasons.
Forget development. Can you enumerate some of the areas of economic advantage of Kogi state? Oh so many. Potentially the state of Kogi is one of the richest state in Nigeria.
The state has so many areas of comparative advantages. Let’s mention a few of them. Agriculture, minerals deposits, like steel and Aluminum and even oil.
Our tourism potentials is second to none. I can tell you candidly and it is there for all to see, Kogi state is viable enough to be the tourism hub of this nation.
The greatest resources yet that this state has is the people. The potentials of our people are infinite and what we need is a leader that can turn this potentials into reality. The simplest state I can tell you to govern is Kogi state. We just need a leader that is a dealer in hope and this is missing for a long time. What is the criteria for the new type of leadership recruitment you talk about in Kogi state? That is a good question. Our people need a leader that deals in hope. A leader that is not to be buoyed by the toga of godfatherism. A leader that emerges simply from the wishes of the people of Kogi state. Our people have been battered for so long and in the process depressed by the kind of leaders foisted on it by the elitist contraptions.
We need a leader that can like DR NGIGE destroy this contraptions which has always produced a Demi God leadership for the elites, about the elite and in the interest of the elites. Today in Kogi state the peripherals for leadership emergence is with the elites and the people need to take it back.
That should be the main focus of the people right now. Do you believe that Kogi state needs restructuring? It depends on the type of restructuring you mean.
To many people, the word restructuring means different things to them. Kogi state needs leadership and political restructuring. We need to restructure our leadership recruitment process to reflect the power of the people absolutely. We also need after the emergence of the type of leader, the people want to restructure our development institutions. You can agree with me that our democratic institutions in Kogi state is so weak that it is controlled by vested interests for the benefits of only the godfathers. We also need to clean the angean stable. It is filty and smelly right now. Who do you think is capable of leading this revolution in Kogi state?
We have been very forthright in our search for a moses to lead us in this revolution. I can assure you, we have been very altruistic in this search. Our love for this state made us to painstakingly make this search and I can tell you that nobody and nobody sponsored this search. We have discovered that Kogi state has abundant people who are leaders in their own right scattered across the world. But today, Alhaji Zakari Alfa is our moses.
You can painstakingly make your independent research on this young man without us blowing our trumpet and you will discover the immense search we have done. We are therefore calling on all Kogites to join us in our call for this young man and leader to accept our call to be the moses of our time to take Kogi state to the promised land of development. But many people may accuse you people of being political hype maker? Yes, it is expected.
This is a political dispensation and anybody is entitled to his views but in due time we shall unveil our moses and majority of our people shall agree with us that our choice is selfl essly made. Posterity shall never forgive us if we fail our people. Who is your candidate or moses as you call him and what is that attributes that so endeared him to you choosing him? Our moses of Kogi state is the new political star. Alfa is the known hidden leader to salvage Kogi state.
The talk of a new star and a development agent to some seems only to spill out of a leaking chalice of dreamers. It is not an intoxicant used by cynical political operators and we do not need to delude the public. You can agree with me that not enough of our professionals seeks to improve the Kogi society because of the type of politics we play. Most of our elites believe only the foolish looks out for his neigbours and respects his people.
We found out that self profi ts is not a commandment to this professionals. He is a man who believes that the very dynamics of the current societal or individuals development goals should not be to separate people from one another. Such mean isolation was never part of hi and he did not allow it crept into his personality. We believe in this type of newness kogi state should be part of. To him change is possible and change practical one we must in Kogi state. He believes to accept the false promise that there is no alternative to how things are is to acquiesce in the unfair ideology that has brought our state society and people to our current predicament. Alhaji Alfa has chosen to help galvanize his professional experience to develop the society.
This is the difference. He has dedicated his life to the dream of making his business work and this can be replicated in our state for the good of all.
He has a large heart and as a born silent philanthropists he has touched the life of his ordinary folks in his state of Kogi. He is a man who believes in the hard sciences such as physics, chemistry and mathematics, one can speak of immutable principles and objective formula. In the affairs of man, most things are subjective, virtue and vice, good and bad, what is optimal and what is not have fixed meanings. He believes in his principles and goals and this goals is the emancipation of his people. Our Moses is at hand and development in its physicality is here We need a leader that would develop a development compass for the people to follow
