Unless people realize and accept that power comes from God, they will continue to be under the illusion that they are ‘tin gods’ that must be feared and obeyed. How else would one view the recent ranting of Hon Mohammed Idris, son of the immediate past governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Ibrahim Idris in a sponsored write-up in The Guardian of 17th December, 2013, intended to discredit the administration of his father’s successor, Captain Idris Ichalla Wada? To say that Hon Idris is an attention seeker is stating the obvious.
Since he lost the bid to install Alhaji Jibrin Isa Echocho as governor of the state, he has thrown caution and decorum to the wind, constituting himself as opposition. One is not surprised at the venom he poured on the administration of Captain Wada because Hon Idris has lost touch with reality. How many times has he visited the state since his election into the House of Representatives?
Hon Idris does not seem to be conversant with the admonition that ‘those who live in glass houses should not throw stones’. Perhaps, he has forgotten how his father, even as a sitting governor fought so hard to impose him on the people of his constituency, who saw and still see him as a stranger because he does not know them and therefore, cannot claim to represent them.
The only time his voice was ever heard on the floor of the House was during the debate on the removal of petroleum subsidy when he pitched side against the people; the people he now claims to be speaking for. Indeed, man has short memory.
The governor, it is a well known fact still enjoys a healthy relationship with Mohammed’s father contrary to the impression of a frosty relationship being painted by him. This is understandable because Mohammed is still in a dream world. He is one of those who still day dream that their candidate, Echocho would be declared as governor of Kogi State.
The idea is to set his father and the governor on war path. The lawmaker, who represents Ankpa/Omala/Olamaboro federal constituency, was quoted in the said report to have said, “…supporters of the past governor, whose influence in Kogi PDP cannot be underestimated, are biting their fingers for installing Wada as Kogi governor”
Their reason for this is that the governor had “failed to live up to the expectation of the people of the state”. He had gone ahead to predict that “Wada would face Herculean task to reclaim his mandate in the 2015 polls”. As should be expected, he could not hide his motive as he said, Wada’s ‘abysmal’ performance would, all the same, not rob the party of victory at the polls.
This could mean two things; First, that his accusation of non-performance is, after all, a ruse meant only to discredit the governor, whom many see to be making good progress. It could also mean that Mohammed, as usual, is trying to raise the political stakes of his candidate, Echocho. This much he confirmed when he said, “Although the governor comes from my party, but we would sort that one out later. Time would tell what would happen…we would do our changes internally”.
He also said, “The government of Kogi State is not working in line with the aspirations of our people…if you go home, poverty is too high (sic) in my place. I am telling you the gospel truth and we say we have a government”. What would have most probably interested anyone is for Mohammed to tell the people what he has done this past two years and seven months to alleviate the poverty he claims is every where in his constituency. His claim to constituency project is window dressing. We dare him to come home and publicly visit the sites of these functioning projects if they ever exist.
It is a pity that he wants to pick the little pec in someone else’s eyes without first picking the log in his own eyes. Of all the National Assembly members from the nine constituencies in the state, Mohammed remains the least visible both in terms of representation and delivery of democracy dividends.
While other national lawmakers are busy gathering goodwill from their people given their level of performance, Mohammed is busy chasing shadows. When a
man points a finger at somebody, the remaining four are pointing at him. This is unfortunately the case of Mohammed.
Has he bothered to find out what his people think of him? Perhaps, he hasn’t bothered to do so. Let us oblige him with that. For those in his constituency, his, is a ‘wasted mandate’. His abysmal performance has only confirmed their initial fears-that he is a stranger, who cashed him on his father’s influence to be where he is.
Need we remind him that the same Captain Wada he accuses of non-performance is the one that is crossing ‘ts’ and dotting the ‘is’ left behind by his father so that his father’s legacies are not lost on the sands of time?
The first project inaugurated by the Wada-led administration was the Ankpa township road in the constituency represented by Mohammed. If he seeks relevance, we advise him to do so with utmost decorum and civility. What he is doing at the moment will only bring out his folly.
A word is enough for the wise.
By Edibo Adejoh Musa
President Kogi East Concerned Forum.
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