Come November 16, attention will be focused on Kogi State over the gubernatorial election that would hold in the state that day. The election promises to be hotly contested as many interest groups are already should keen interest in who emerges as the new governor of the Confluence state.
Out of eleven aspirants that are jostling for Lugard House in the mean time, nine come from Igala, Kogi west senatorial district, and the other two are from East and Central apiece.
But the incumbent Senator, Dino Melaye had on Wednesday, during a media parley organised by Nigerian Union of Journalists, Kogi State Council, disclosed that six aspirants had stepped down for him.
People’s Democratic Party (PDP) has stated categorically in all their outings that All Progressives Congress (APC) must leave Lugard House, alleging that the party has failed abysmally in the last four years and has no moral justification to seek a return.
The opposition party claimed that the APC government in the state under Governor Yahaya Bello has left the people, especially the state workers, in total penury since the inception of his administration.
Speaking further, Melaye said he has a programme of action that would project Kogi to the limelight and that once he is sworn in as the governor he would start work from day one.
“Government will start running and the difference will become clear. I want to assure you, in four years we will reverse the economy of Kogi State and Kogi will draw the envy of every other state in Nigeria. Kogi will soon know that we have a programme of action. Once I am sworn in as governor, from day one, government will start running and the difference will become clear,” he said.
He also said that he has come to solve the problem of the state, promising that in his regime, the people will determine what would happen in government and that government would do exactly what the people want.
The senator also expressed the optimism that in the next eight years, he would become the next President of Nigeria, saying that the issue of governor is a stepping stone and that by the time he has performed and transformed Kogi State, the whole country would be yearning and begging for same transformation at the Federal level.
He said the experience he had gathered as a House of Representatives member, coupled with that of Senate, had so equipped him for any political office. “And in the next eight years, Dino Melaye will become the next president of Nigeria. The issue of governor is a stepping stone. Having been a member of the House of Representatives for four years and a Senator for over four years, Dino knows the trade,” he said.
Reeling out some of the projects he has attracted to Kogi, he said: “Dino has commissioned over 189 projects spread across Kogi West. I am coming with core values of integrity, compassion, transparency, justice, accountability,
“God has looked down on Kogi State and said that this is not the state He created; this is not what He wants for His people. He saw hunger, starvation, killing, maltreatment and sicknesses. Our schools are now dilapidated, our roads are not good again; our hospitals are mere consulting clinics. And God summoned all the people in Kogi State and said who shall I send and I said send me. When I look around and I see all that is happening in Kogi State, I confided in my heart that all these women selling akara, recharge cards around Nataco, I said we are going to build a hub for them and take all of them there and clean that environment and create a boat club by the bank of the river from Jamata up to Nataco. This club will generate revenue for the state.”
Melaye also lamented that despite the fact that the people of Kogi are in the midst of plenty, yet they are suffering, emphasising that once given the opportunity, he will treat the people of Kogi the way investors treat their customers.
“In our own administration we are going to relate with the people, our administration will be governed by the people. Unfortunately, what we have in Kogi is mediocrity, government of the greedy by the greedy and for the greedy. So, I am assuring you that if we come into power, we will put all these natural and human resources together and transform Kogi from where we are. We will build powerful ITC as a major investment on our people. Today, ideas have over-taken oil. People use idea to revolutionise the economy of their country. So, ideas have now taken over from petroleum,’ he said.
VICTORIA NNAKAIKE, LOKOJA
