By Friday Idachaba, Lokoja.
Outgoing Chairman of Kogi State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) Comrade Adeiza Momoh-Jimoh has called for rotation of the state’s governorship seat among the three major ethnic nationalities in Kogi.
Momoh-Jimoh made the call in his farewell speech at the 2023 NUJ Kogi State Council Triennial Delegates Conference to elect new members of the Executive Council of the union on Wednesday in Lokoja.
The out-going Chairman decried the usual ethnic rivalry that characterize governorship elections in the state and insisted that regardless of the diversity in languages, all ethnic nationalities in the state had same roots and age-long affiliations.
“The much talked about Kogi State Governorship election of November 11, has come and gone. Gone, but it leaves some dusts flying in its trail. There is a reason for this.
“We as a people have not been able to divest ourselves of primordial loyalty to our different ethnic identities. Instead of politics of unity, politics of peace, progress and prosperity.
“We play politics of disunity as we hurl unprintable and unhearable abuses forgetting the fact that as one people bounded by common political destiny which had its roots first in Kwararafa kingdom and later in Kabba province, the insult of one is the insult of the others.
“Therefore, I will like to call on our political players to come together and work out a power sharing modality in the state.
“For me, rotational governorship as agreed upon by our founding fathers is the way to go. Commonwealth should be Commonwealth please.
“It is not a strange formular and it is not peculiar to us. Rotational government has been thriving in Niger State among a few other states of the federation. And it is working for them. 
“Why do we not take the cue from states where rotational governorship has worked? It brings peace. It buries mutual hatred. It nurtures bonding and healthy competitiveness resulting into common splendour for all of us.
“Kogi politicians please, call the stakeholders to a round table discussion on rotational governorship. It is what is fair, just and equitable,” he appealed.
Comrade Adeiza expressed gratitude to members of the NUJ council for their support throughout his stewardship as chairman and urged them to extend same to the incoming leadership.
He expressed delight in the peaceful and harmonious conduct of the consensus election of the candidates saying that it simply showed the harmony and understanding that exist among us.
“This feat has not only raised us shoulder and head above our other industrial unions in the state, it also serves as a big lesson to our politicians”, he said. (Ends)
