ADDRESS DELIVERED
BY DR. ABDULRAHMAN MUSA ADEIZA, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, EBIRA PEOPLE’S ASSOCIATION
(EPA) ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF THE ASSOCAITION TO THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNOR
OF KOGI STATE, HIS EXCELLENCY, ALH.
YAHAYA ADOZA BELLO ON THURSDAY 13TH OCTOBER, 2016.
Protocols…...
Let me commence this
address by thanking your Excellency for acceding to this visit inspite of your
numerous engagements.
Permit me Sir, to briefly
recall an outstanding spectre of our distant history. This is the story of a fortuitous
man of gallantry whose military and hunting expertise recovered to our race the
present land called Oganya, Ukpogo and its environs from settler warriors. The
name of that famous hunter and fearless warrior was Pa Ajagu. His strings of
successes at hunting expedition contributed to the baptism of his clan as
Ohi-Ube presently styled as Ehebe. History seems to be repeating itself today
as a fearless and determined man from the same lineage has emerged, re-enacting
the same courage of his Progenitors to rescue Kogi State from the vice-grips of
its serial abusers. Today, this foremost Warrior of our time whose political
emergence was divine has recently been awarded a legal seal of the Supreme
Court of Nigeria to preside over the affairs of Kogi State for the next four
years and God’s willing a graduation to Eight years. The flame of this
struggle, the bearer of this sword of victory, the redeemer of our nascent hope
and the icon of this New Direction, is no other person than His Excellency,
Alh. Yahaya Adoza Bello. Reincarnation indeed!
The entire People of Kogi
Central Senatorial District loudly celebrate and congratulate you on your political
and legal successes. By this success, God has manifestly demonstrated his
choice of truth over mischief, His choice of sincerity over treachery, excellence
over mediocrity, sincerity over demagoguery and civility over thuggery. We hope
and pray these vices become banished from our Land forever. EPA implore all
undiscerning minds of our Community to summon the courage to embrace this
reality from God, and bow to His will rather than suck in pains of selfishness
and greed. The world has enough for our need but not our greed. We must rally
round the Governor and pray for his success because his failure will be our
collective failure. We pray that God,
the King of the Kings, the Creator of man and the Jinn, the possessor of our
first and last words be your guide and that you shall succeed beyond
expectation. Amen.
Permit me Sir, to commend
you on your laudable strides so far. These include: The restoration of hope to
the already demoralized and dispirited Citizens of Kogi State, the asphalt lay
of Lokoja township road and the other Road projects already awarded across the
State, Removal of Ghost Workers from Kogi State Civil Service through a
painstaking screening exercise, the courageous setting up of Judicial
commission of enquiry on past administrations, the numerous Water projects across the State that have been
awarded and the rebuilding of our statehood above sentiments through fair and
equitable sharing of appointments. The historic appointment of your Chief of
Staff from the East Senatorial Zone above all pressures to the otherwise is a
loud testimony to your uncommon philosophy of equity and fairness. We have
since welcome and embraced the appointment as a triumph of New Direction over
tradition;
These and many more other achievements
within a space of eight months inspite of litigations and economic recession is
worthy of profuse commendations. May God afford you the strength to do more sir.
Your Excellency Sir, permit
me to hasten to ask for your kind intervention in the following areas;
(1)
We
reckon with you as the historic face of fairness and equity, a Purveyor of
unification and a propeller of genuine statehood, we humbly call on your
Excellency to enact a state policy towards restructuring of the civil service
numerical architecture of the state. A situation where a Senatorial District
has over seventy-five percent placement and the balance shared between the
remaining two senatorial districts is to us grossly unfair and morally reprehensible.
We humbly request your fair and equitable balancing of job placements at the
civil service of the state.
(2)
A
decisive and wholesome reappraisal of the Chieftaincy and traditional institution
issues that have posed a threat to the peace of the Central. These issues may
include succession order, harmonised body of King Makers, acceptable
nomenclature, a befitting palace with complimentary Library of traditional
artefacts and archive etc.
(3)
We
note with understanding, your strenuous effort at sanitising the Civil Service
payroll through a relentless screening exercise. We urge you to personally take
charge of this exercise to ensure its timely and objective conclusion. We strongly
believe that no single ghost Worker must be left lurking in the dark recess of
Kogi payroll while genuine workers as in your words, should be promptly and
adequately compensated for their sweat. We urge your Excellency not to be
disuaded by the distractive voices of the Patrons of the dark age. Behind the
bitterness of a Bitter Leaf comes its sweetness and so shall Kogi be.
(4)
We
deeply appreciate your efforts at addressing the age-long water problems of the
Central but would like to appeal that we wait with bated breath for the
completion of these projects. No doubt the completion of Ekuku and Osara dams
would cast your name in gold in the minds of our people.
(5)
We
believe it is quite timely to exploit the economic potential that our geographical
location offers to the country as a Transit town between the North and South.
To this end Sir, we would like to draw your attention to our age-long agitation
for the building of a contemporary international market in Osara compliment
with all its corollary infrastructures that may include the rebuilding of the defunct aerodrome at Zariagi to an
enviable airport and trailer park etc
(6)
We would like to
appeal to your Excellency to restore to the fullest the status of the Specialist
Hospital Obangede. It is on record that this Hospital originally concieved as a
Specialist was downgraded at a time and later reverted to its past status by
mere words of the immediate former administration without commensurate
facilities. We generally plead with Your Excellency, to take a complete
reappraisal of the entire health infrastructures of the Central Senatorial
District as the existing ones have either become grossly inadequate or out
rightly dilapidated. No doubt sir, the District deserves to host a modern
tertiary health institution in view of its rapid urbanization with its attendant
health challenges.
(7)
Your
Excellency Sir, permit us to humbly request you to activate a machinery towards the recovery of the school
lands which have been variously encroached upon by Land Grabbers. Today most Primary
and Secondary Schools in the Central
have been left with little or no room for conducive learning, growth and
development as their land space have been forcefully taken over and sold out by
interest groups in complete affront to their master plan.
(8)
Sir,
we are not oblivious of the laudable measures you have taken on the security of
the State in terms of generous resource
deployment across the State to ameliorate the security situation, We however
beg to make the following suggestions as complimentary measures as we have
observed that the level of criminality in the central is still alarming and
grossly under-reported:
a.
A
robust community/governmental partnership security architecture at least for
intelligence gathering.
b.
Provision
of security toll-free dedicated Telephone lines for timely reportage of
security infractions.
c.
A
complete and regular overhaul of the police and policing especially at the
lower cadre of the force in the Central
d.
Erection
of police posts at the various dark spots of the Central. A submission to this
effect was earlier made to the police commend.
e.
A
possible revisit of the reports of enquiry into the past crisis in the Central
senatorial District.
(9)
At
this juncture Sir, We would like to put a subtle reminder before Your
Excellency on your earlier directive for the deregulation of Abubakar Audu
University, Anyigba with its School of Technology coming to the Central. We are
anxiously looking forward to the implementation of this policy Sir. We would
also like to bring to your kind attention the dilapidated state of the
Government Technical College Oboroke. The school was conceived as a skill
acquisition centre for the youths of the Central.
(10)
The
lingering boundary disputes between communities in the Central e.g. border disputes
within Ajaokuta Local Government Area; Ogori-Magongo and Okene Local Government, Okehi and Adavi Local
Government and that between communities
in the Central and contiguous neighboring state such as between Ukpilla
community in Edo State and Okene Local Government Area are significant threats beckoning your kind attention Sir.
(11)
The
people of Kogi Central Senatorial District collectively directed me to convey
their indepth gratitude to Your Excellency on the historic flag-off of several
road projects across the District on the 8th October, 2016. This
date will remain indelible in our minds as a day of infrastructural rebirth.
Posterity will reward you kindly for this milestone gesture. Like Oliver Trust
however, we would appreciate if Your Excellency could kindly prevail on the
Local Government Administrators of the Central to borrow a leaf from the State
Government and focus on the rehabilitation and construction of feeder roads
across the district to further boost our economic activities.
(12)
This
Association note with joy, how your closeness to the Father and President of
the nation, President Muhammadu Buhari, a man to whom our love and appreciation goes beyond
mere use of words, facilitated the rebounce of the Siamese twin companies of
Ajaokuta Steel and National Iron Ore Itakpe into the nation’s development plan.
We are confident that your sleepless vigilance would see to its beneficial and
early completion.
(13)
Lastly
Your Excellency, Ebira People’s Association, the foremost and umbrella
organization of Ebira race formed in 1967, in celebration of the landmark
dignity, luck and happiness you have brought to our race has outlined a few
programmes in your honour. Towards this end sir, a concept of a Reception of
all our Appointees in your Government and indeed Nigeria, all Elected
office holders of Kogi Central, our topline Bureaucrats nationwide, Students
and Professionals that distinguished themselves in your time and made us proud
is being developed. This reception which is being conceived to take place in
Abuja as a precursor to a mega and final reception of your exalted self in
Okene with the kind permission and collaboration of Ebira Traditional Council
headed by our Royal Father, Alhaji Dr. Ado Abdulrahaman Ibrahim, CON,
the Ohinoyi of Ebiraland. This events will be a celebration of you as a trail
blaizer of luck to our land. To this end sir, we seek your kind permission and
indulgence to, as the Chief celebrant and Chief Host variously, give us your
kind permission to go ahead with the planning.
(14)
For
effect sir, permit me to observe that EPA as an umbrella body has never
mandated any individual, branch or group to represent it in the affairs of Government.
We are not part of Government but part of governance through humble suggestions
in line with our constitution or such functions as may be delegated to it by
your Government. The government is for Kogi state and not Ebira people. I
therefore call the Government and its agencies to kindly verify from EPA
National Headquarter on anybody or issues purportedly emanating from the
organisation.
In
conclusion Sir, let me quote His Excellency ALH YAHAYA ADOZA BELLO, speaking in
Okene on 8TH October, 2016, ‘I will not buy or give anyone gun but I
will create jobs and if anyone should give you gun, return the gun and start
coming to government House. The era of political violence is over’. May the
peace and opportunities you so much sought for your land follow you and your
family all your life. AMEN.
Thank you.
Comments
Post a Comment
Please include your name in your comments.
Thanks.