Otunba Funsho Ganiyu is the former Chairman Yagba East Local Government Area of Kogi State, a well experienced banker who reached the pinnacle of his career, haven served as the Executive Director of the defunct Trade Bank. In this exclusive interview, Time Nigeria, he speaks on the need to look inward and be futuristic in establishing equity in governance of Kogi State. Excerpts…
In the interests of the general public, h
I am Otunba F. G. Ibrahim, former Chairman Yagba East Local Government Area and former Executive Director of Trade Bank and I am from Ife Olukotun in Yagba East Local Government Area.
There has been an ongoing outcry about the possibility of Kogi West to produce the next Governor of Kogi State. What do you feel about the development Sir?
Ok, thank you very much. It is a welcome development. Kwarans have always been our brother whether it is for one year, ten years or sixteen. Just like our brother in the Kogi East. In Okun submission, our focus is to engage constructively our brothers in the Central and in the East for us to be considered to produce the next Governor come 2024.
We are organizing ourselves and there would be handshakes across the three Senatorial districts, I mean to the East, to the West and the Central. We did that in 1998 under ‘Okun Agenda’ and under the leadership of SB Awoniyi of blessed memory. It was that kind of handshakes that produces the candidature of late doctor Stephen Olorunfemi who was the PDP gubernatorial candidate for 1999 election.
What happened, be it history, we are able to do it then and I believe we can do it better now. To produce the governor, yes we all desire it in Okun submission but we need to do constructive engagement with the Kogi central and Kogi East. We are brothers and sisters and with the kind of understanding we have in the state, I am sure it is within the reach.
Are there underlying activities that is good for the public in respect if that?
Well, you in the press, you have responsibility to inform the public and the public have the right to know. Let me categorically tell you that there are groups across all the major political parties that are converging and deliberating about the issue. What I think, you know the issue of negotiating for power usually would have taken at the covered level contracting all the stakeholders and the rest of them.
However, it would be at the local submission that we are supposed to put our house in order irrespective of political parties and look for somebody who has the vision and capacity to advance Kogi further from where Yahaya Bello is going to leave it. It then becomes our responsibility to sell that candidate or candidates to brothers and sisters in the East and Central. There are entourage of people coming, people meeting and the rest of them.
However, the earlier those groups colate to face the Okun submission agenda with tenacity of purpose in unity, the better. Irrespective of which political parties, at the end of the day, Okun submission believe in producing the best candidate that could serve the overall best interest of Kogi State. The earlier the better.
From the observations, we are hearing that some politicians in Kogi West have been approached to accept the position of Deputy Governor. What is your reaction to that?
Well, Deputy Governor is of the same ticket with the Governor. However, we have been deputy Governor too many times. As a deputy Governor, you can be a governor in the absence of your principal for whatever reason. So if we are fit to be deputy Governor in the past, I think we are equally fit to be the governor. That is why I said that we have very good materials in Okun submission like in the central and in the East and it would not be most difficult for us to be able to put one or two or three candidates together and try and sell them.
So long as Okun submission believes they have the capacity to be able to serve as the Chief Executive of Kogi State. So I think that, haven learnt our ropes as deputy Governor many times, I think we should be able to graduate to that of the Governorship by now. That is on the basis on which I would say, we should engage in constructive engagement with stakeholders in the Central and in the East. Anything Less than the Governor, not good for us now.
