JUST IN: Ukodhiko Is Not Speaking For Isoko

There’s a certain Nigerian Sen­ator who got into hot waters recently. His offence was that he had allegedly argued that cows were citizens of the Federal Re­public of Nigeria, and therefore were to be accorded the same privileges as regular Nigerian citizens. Nigerians who dragged the Senator said that instead of making a case for the gen­erality of Nigerians concerning the extreme conditions of living, he made the case for animals which only val­ue is in being one of the items on our menu. These outraged Nigerians said that he took his advocacy for cows as Nigerians into the realms of absurdity....READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE ▶▶

Cows are not Nigerian citizens. Most of the herders are. Even though the herders may have the rights to forage their animals in Nigeria, that right stops at the point where these animals are herded into farms of the local people, who are slaughtered like cows if they complain. As a Nigerian citizen, I have the right to live and work anywhere I want. However, my rights come to an end if those rights begin to impinge on the religious and cultural sentiments of the people in whose en­vironment I live and work.

But we have come to understand that the distinguished senator was not really campaigning for the rights of cows as Nigerian citizens but for the rights of herdsmen to move around freely. Most of us who initially thought that the senator was arguing a case for cows as Nigerian citizens have since adjusted that thinking and replaced it with a certain admiration for him. Known as a strong campaigner and advocate for the welfare of his people, there is gist in town that he often com­piles lists of eligible or even ineligible people in his community and would work extremely hard at fixing them in the army, police, immigration, the navy and the air force, whether they were qualified or not. We heard recent­ly that when he was in the opposition, this Northern Senator played politics of the kind that put the interests and welfare of his people first.

This senator is an archetype of most Northern politicians. There is some thought therefore somewhere that having exhausted his quota for humans, he has turned his attention to the rights of cows in his community.

However, at this side of our coun­try, mostly in Delta State, our Senators and House of Reps members appear to be our worst enemies. They are unapproachable. They create a wall between the people they represent and themselves. I approached one of them many years ago concerning op­portunities for the publication of one of my books. Not only did this rep of mine make a long list of the condi­tionalities I would meet, he unfortu­nately stopped taking my calls. Whilst many Northern reps do everything to provide employment opportunities for their people and their cows, ours would demand to see your academic qualifications first.

In 2023, there was a massive oil spill in Uzere in Delta State. The com­pany in charge of the oil well in this community with 44 oil wells, refused to attend to the pleas for help by the people of that community. For one full year, the oil flowed into the farms and fish ponds of Uzere people and totally messed up that environment. Inspite of contributing the proceeds of these oil wells to the national coffers, the peo­ple of Uzere town were not employed to choice positions in Nigeria, and an Isoko has never been governor of Delta.

We have asked the individual rep­resenting Isoko nation at the Nation­al Assembly, AjiriOghene Ukodhiko, what action he has taken concerning that unfortunate spill. He did not respond. But in a report in Sunday Times, the rep used that platform to do the most uncharitable thing ever: he moaned and whined that Isoko people were disunited and planning to bring him down. But this was very far from the truth. Isoko people are united and strong in their belief that they deserve a fair share of what they give to Nige­ria. From 1957 till today, the Isoko peo­ple have contributed more than a fair share to the national coffers than those who occupy these choice positions in governance. They are a tolerant peo­ple who respect constituted authority, even though they have demonstrated in the past that taking them for grant­ed will be a huge mistake.

So Isoko people just want this rep to stand up and articulate those issues at the centre of Nigeria’s legislative gathering, maybe just the same way the Northern senator is doing about cows. What is happening in the Niger Delta and, indeed, at Uzere is bigger than offering scholarships to 10 stu­dents. Part of the reason why the Isoko appears insignificant inspite of their massive contribution to Nigeria, and lurks at the backwaters of Nige­ria’s political reckoning is not because they are disunited and pulling one another down, but that those saddled with the responsibility to champion the Isoko agenda appear unwilling to do so. Presently, the chap who sits there at the National Assembly is not it at all….READ FULL ARTICLE