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The Kogi State Commissioner for Water Resources, Hon. Dr. Abdulmumini Danga has described Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo, the candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) ahead of the November 11 governorship election in the state, as the “Kogi Agenda for continuity and consolidation.”

He spoke at the weekend while playing host to delegates from major opposition parties in the state who visited him under the aegis of Team MBM.

Led by the leader of the delegation, Mallam Bello Muhammed, popularly known as MBM in the state political circles, the delegates consisted of representives of MBM’s political blocs in different opposition parties in Kogi State.

The Team MBM delegates were drawn from the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), African Democratic Congress (ADC), among other opposition parties in the state.

The delegates were from all the local government areas of the state who met the commissioner to discuss possibilities of joining forces to deliver the APC governorship candidate in the forthcoming election in the state.

According to the Commissioner, he had to cut short his journey outside the state to keep the appointment on Friday.

Hon. Danga explained to the delegates that he called the governorship candidate before he returned to the state “to intimate him that a group like this would love to be part of our great party because he was very busy.”

He explained further that “This morning, I just called him that this is what is happening and the people are here.”

The Commissioner, who welcomed the members of Team MBM had earlier rushed down to hand over his phone to Mallam Bello to speak with the governorship candidate, added that “I had to run down to give him (Team MBM leader) the phone and he attended to you as a human being who has the capacity and capability, the attributes of a good leader, he showed it and I believe most of you heard his voice just now”, he told the Team.

Appealing for support for the governorship candidate of the ruling party, Hon. Danga said, “I am appealing, my brothers from the East (Kogi East Senatorial District), there is no different between an Igala man and an Igbira man.

“Go back to history, we have one father from Jukun”, he recalled.

Hon. Danga who cited the Bible where God confused the language of the builders of the Tower of Babel, noted that “God could have decided that everyone in this world will be speaking Igala” as a single language. He called for unity of purpose in support of the Ododo’s candidature.

“Today, for me, an Igala man is an Igbira man. I am a Commissioner today, my best friend is an Igala man; I eat in his house.

“It has never happened before, where you see an Igbira man and Igala man will go to an Okun’s house. Alhaji Yahaya Adoza Bello planted that unity in us.

“At the level of EXCO, how we seat there today is Igbira man, Igala man and Okun man.

“Today, His Excellency has killed ethnicity, it’s no more like what we do have in the past.

“Alhaji Usman Ododo is to consolidate on the legacy of His Excellency.

“Where are we today? Look at Kogi nine years back and look at Kogi presently”, he urged the delegates.

According to the Commissioner, every resident of Kogi State is enjoying security of lives and property, which had enabled the people to continue to go about their daily activities, including religious worship despite the fact that the state is at the North Central and surrounded by some states that are troubled by insecurity.

He noted that the secure environment was part of the achievements and legacy work of Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello, the state Governor.

“Without security, our markets will not open, Churches won’t open, today is Friday, I have prepared to go to the Mosque, I will not go. We have benefited from that”, he observed.

On the emergence of Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo as the candidate of the APC in the state, he said, “Alhaji Usman Ododo is just somebody who is coming to consolidate on the achievement of His Excellency.

“Alhaji Yahaya Bello is the only Governor in Nigeria that said I want women to be part of my government. He made all the local government Vice Chairmen, women, the council leader, woman, the SSG we have today is a woman, the head of service is a woman.

“If you look at it statistically, it is women that come out to vote, it is women that will stand and campaign all over the state. That was why Alhaji Adoza Bello decided to empower women politically.

“We have to appreciate them. We shouldn’t vote for somebody who will come and kill the spirit of Kogi State.

“Please, the people from the East (Kogi East), leave agenda.

“There is nothing like Okun Agenda, there is nothing like Igala agenda, and there is nothing like Kogi Central agenda; the agenda we have, as a family, is the Kogi agenda.

“The Kogi agenda is Alhaji Usman Ododo. That is the only person we believe that will take us to the promise land. It’s to consolidate on what His Excellency has done”, he asserted.

Turning to one of the delegates, Evangelist (Mrs) Rose Odoma, who had earlier spoken about how her group organised a football match at Adankolo area of the state, the Commissioner asked, “you mentioned that there was a football match at Adankolo. Five years ago, can you hold a football match there?” And, in her response, she confirmed that there was an upgrade there.

“The pitch there is a standard one. Please, we shouldn’t go back to Egypt”, Hon Danga advised.

He urged members of the delegation from the SDP, PDP, LP, ADC, and those from other parties not to hold tenaciously unto political affiliations as “there is no party that can help any person.

“Please, whatever the anger, whatever you feel that is paining you, let’s look at now and our future.

“Alhaji Usman Ododo belongs to the system; he has been here for seven years. He knows the pains of Kogites, he knows the pains of the women and the youths.

“Let’s be very realistic. Somebody who doesn’t know what is cooking will just come and say let me contest.

“Where will he start from, compared with somebody who has been inside the system and understands the system?”, he queried.

“Alhaji Usman Ododo has been part of the system, he belongs to the system and he has been part of the management of security in this state and he has been part of the management of the infrastructure development of Kogi State. This is the time for continuity.”

He urged the delegates to bury whatever anger they may have been harbouring and come together, saying “from the meeting today, let us have it in our minds that we are forming a team for consolidation; we’re forming a team for continuity; we’re forming a team for better Kogi State”, Hon. Danga charged Team MBM delegates.

The delegation is expected to reconvene for a meeting with the governorship candidate of the APC next week.

StreetReporters.ng