As Kogi residents prepare to elect a new governor on November 11, the Okun (Yoruba) people in the Kogi West Senatorial District are in a dilemma over the candidate to adopt between their son and candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Senator Dino Melaye, and the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Ahmed Usman Ododo.
It ordinarily would have been a straightforward decision for them since their son is in the race, except that they are not impressed with the attitude and carriage of the former member of the National Assembly, – especially during his time as a member of the House of Representatives.
Okun leaders are said not to be too comfortable with the candidacy of Melaye on account of what one of them termed his embarrassing attitude during his time in both chambers of the National Assembly as he engaged his counterparts in the hallowed chambers in physical combat on many occasions, while his escapades as a senator, particularly his dramatic engagements with law enforcement agents, is still leaving a sour taste in their mouths.
“Considering the undignifying ways he conducted himself first as a member of the House of Representatives and then as a senator, we are worried about the kind of governor he would make if he becomes one. Yet many of them feel that his emergence as the candidate of PDP is the best opportunity we have as a people to produce the state’s governor for the first time,” a prominent Okun leader said.
He added: “There is no Igala candidate in the leading parties and that leaves us with Ododo as the only option to Melaye. But Ododo is an Ebira man from Kogi Central like the outgoing governor. Voting him in would mean that the Ebira would be occupying the governorship seat for 16 years while the Igala had ruled the state since 1999 before Yahaya Bello ascended the seat in circumstances occasioned by the sudden death of former Governor Abubakar Audu after winning the governorship election in 2016.”
The Okun leader also recalled that Melaye failed to fulfill some of the promises he made to them to secure their votes in the elections he won previously and there are fears that he may not be a governor that keeps his promises.
“But we are meeting and consulting as the election draws near, praying that God will guide us on the path to tread in the next dispensation,” he said.
