Kogiflame
As we approach the 2023 general election that constitutionally avail us as a people the opportunity to vote either for the continuation of our present decadent state of affairs or change the augean stable that has destroyed our move to be ranked among the most developed state in the country.
We must engage on a robust debate on the type of leadership the state today needs for it’s developments going forward.It is a thing of joy that our people now recognise that in getting it right this time around, we must insist that in our quest for good governance which is a prerequisite for engendering development, we must look for a leader that have the leadership resource to get us where we want to be as a people.
A leader that would insist on the building of strong institutions and not strong men because that is what the state presently needs to serve as the necessary pills to solve the state’s many identified maladies.
The truth must be told, the missing link in our quest for development has been the absence of the needed strong institutions for us to get it right.This is because the absence of the needed strong institutions in Benue state,the weak institutions we have today have severally been subverted by our leaders who cannot tolerate institutions that cannot support their weak character.
The state urgently needs a leader that would insist on due process always as lack of it is what is responsible for the high rate of corruption that presently retards our growth and development in the state.
A leader that sees his political party as not only a platform to get political power to serve his rent seeking self and some selected vested interest but serving the interest of the whole interest in the state.
A leader that would not pocket the legislature and the judiciary so that it does not perform it’s constitutional duties of ensuring checks and balances.This is why it is now very important that as a people we must reflect on what has happened to us in the past and scrutinize those angling to govern us.
Benue state needs a leader going forward that would not use religion and particularly ethnicity to divide us.A leader that has the ability to create a body of mediators competent in conflict management to promote peace and looking for the common ground in the different conflicts identified to end the array of conflicts across the state especially the herders and farmers crisis and nip it in the bud permanently.
This would help to reconcile the people through the promotion of Frank discussions.Make no mistake about it this, Benue state is at a critical point in it’s history,so it needs critical action because the state’s problem are enmeshed in the politicisation of it’s diversity by our leaders.
It is therefore important that our people must with their vote begins to ask critical questions and invest their vote in making our state better.In every develop state the voters have shown over and over again that they are sophisticated enough by using their votes to clear the augean stable why is ours different?.
Today, we have no choice but to turn to PROFESSOR BEM Angwe, the governorship candidate of the New Nigerian People’s Party,(NNPP) for good governance and the ENGENDERING of our total development.
We have no choice but to unleach him to confront the many problems facing us as a people because the real change beckons on us and we must herald and proclaim it to all the change advocates in the state.
Today,there are no legitimate discordant or strident voices against his choice except among business as usual advocates that wish the state no good.We are confident because our people today see a good leader when they see one and they see one in Professor Been Angwe.
Though we agree that perfection is not attainable but Professor Bem Angwe has in his leadership style believe that if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.He is a man with a policy vision for the state and will bring the leadership of the state his impressive triple heritage leadership mantra of scholarship,diplomacy and experience garnered over the years.
He has the requisite critical knowledge on the critical point agenda of what the state really needs now of security, anti-corruption and the repositioning of it’s economy and this is well documented in his agenda for the state development.
This is true because you do not teach the path of the forest to an old gorilla. Professor Bem Angwe’s leadership disposition is one that believes acrimony and suspicion among stakeholders must give way to constructive engagements and co-operation to protect the lives of the people and ensure sustainable livelihoods.
In his administration when voted into office by God’s grace,policy monologue will give way to policy dialogue.Transparency and consultation will hold sway as it is important in removing doubts and inspire creative suggestions by our people that would go a long way in making the citizens take ownership of the state to ensure peace, security and development of the state.
He as the leader would together with the people set up guidelines for consensus building mechanism that notwithstanding our legitimate differences,this constructive consensus building mechanism would build the unprecedented state security solidarity for it’s development on such critical issues as industry, trade and investments,labour issues, politics, and the economy among others without rancour.
Benue state today needs a leader that knows that there would be no development without sustainable peace.A leader that knows we can only have peace by building a society that is all inclusive.
A state that would build a strong institution where the youth would be trained in order to curb crime,youth restiveness and other social vices.A leader that would invest in all the people with a view on developing it’s economy.We must all rise in unison and vote Professor Bem Angwe to safeguard our future and the future is now.
Simon Obochi
Secretary NNPP
Oturkpo LGA
