The best, or should I say the worst, of politics of ethnic identity played out in the just concluded gubernatorial election in my home state of Kogi, north-central Nigeria. Depending on the side of the divide you belonged to in what was essentially a tribal supremacy contest for the occupation of Lugard House between the Igala and Ebira tribes of Kogi State, it was the worst or best of identity politics. On the eve of the November 11, 2023, election, it was a common sight at most motor parks across the country to see many Kogi indigenes emigrating home to participate in the electoral war between their respective tribes. The logistics support for this mass movement back was mostly provided by the political elite of the warring tribes in order to ensure maximum turnout of registered voters, as democracy, they say, is a game of numbers.
The Ebira people, whose “son of the soil,” Usman Ahmed Ododo, of the ruling APC emerged triumphant, could consider this the best of identity politics. In a moment of triumphalism, it was wild jubilation in my hometown of Okene, the traditional headquarters of the Ebira people of Kogi State, as they celebrated their unity of purpose to retain power at home after the eight-year tenure of Governor Yahaya Bello, another son of the soil. This effort was considered an ‘Ebira Agenda’ for political survival and consolidation of their newfound privilege after exclusion from the leadership of the state between 1991 when Kogi was created and 2016 when Bello emerged governor after the death of Prince Abubakar Audu. And for ensuring he deployed everything that came with his power of incumbency to secure the installation of Ododo, his Ebira tribesman, as his successor, Bello’s sins have not only been forgiven but he has also been canonized, if not even deified, and etched in the pantheon of saints, in the consideration of his Ebira tribesmen.
But for the Igala people of Kogi State, this was the worst of identity politics, following the defeat of their son, Murtala Yakubu Ajaka, of the SDP. For the largest ethnic group in Kogi in terms population and voting strength, this defeat in the electoral war against their Ebira brethren for the control of Lugard House was as stunning as it was astonishing, given their mass mobilization and sensitization by appealing to base tribal sentiments ahead of the election. It was called ‘Igala Agenda.’ This tribal agenda was buoyed by the need to prevent an Ebira political hegemony in Kogi State with the prospect of a 16-year rule, if Ododo was not stopped at the polls. Unable to stop him, it was mourning after the election in Igala Kingdom. For an ethnic group that leveraged on its population and power of incumbency of its successive governor-sons to monopolize power, in a state of dozens of other ethnic groups, for nearly two decades since the creation of the state in 1991, it could be asked of them, how are the mighty fallen?
Since 1999 when Kogi was created by the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida, the Igala dominated power to the exclusion of other ethnic groups due to their large voting demography to the extent that their political elite had become entitled to governorship of the state as a matter of tribal right. The Igala hegemony in the state gave rise to a unique form of ‘Igala privilege’ as seen in the appointments, policies and programmes of successive administrations that conferred advantages on them, while at the same time marginalizing people of other ethnic stock in the state. This situation resulted in the loud cry of marginalization and quest for political justice by other sections of the state by way of rotational governorship. Unfortunately, this clamour for inclusion by other ethnic groups in the state was rebuffed by those that were privileged to be in power as it seemed the majority Igala tribe in Kogi had been socialized to never vote outside their demography in any electoral contest between “them and us.”
With the absence of equity, fairness, justice and inclusion at the top leadership of the state, it took the death of Prince Abubakar Audu of Igala extraction, after his inconclusive gubernatorial election victory for Bello, a non-Igala, who was the first runner-up in the APC primaries, to inherit the party’s mandate. Expectedly, for a people that have longed for power for nearly a generation through a fair, just and inclusive political process of leadership recruitment into Lugard House, the Ebira appear unwilling to return to Egypt after arriving the Promised Land. And such were the ravages of identity politics that everything was thrown into this contest as the end justifies the means.
However, the tragedy of tribal politics appears lost on the people of Kogi State to the extent that there is no ‘Kogi Agenda’ for the collective socio-economic development of the state and its peoples but only a sectional agenda to monopolize power for tribal interests, with the ruling elite as the greatest beneficiaries. Therefore, going into the 2023 gubernatorial election, it didn’t matter to the Ebiraman and his Igala brethren that they were not immune from the general underdevelopment, poverty and poor social services that are the lot of Kogi people since the state was created in 1991, as long as one of their own is in charge of Lugard House. Most curiously, in opposing the emergence of Ebira hegemony in Kogi State, one would have thought the Igala would have learnt a lesson from their experience in and out of power enough to realize the need for accomodation, inclusion and justice in the political leadership affairs of the state.
And to this end, the Igala political establishment should have mobilized massive support for the emergence of a Kogi governor of Okun extraction from the western part of the state as the only section that has not been privileged to be elected governor since the creation of Kogi State, by way of willing rotation of power. But to oppose the Ebira hegemony with the prospect of a return of Igala hegemony in Kogi State pressed the Okun, Bassa, Oworo, Nupe, Kakanda and other non-Igala groups behind their (Igala) ‘Ebira nemesis’ as they preffered to stay with the devil they were just getting to know than return to the one they already know. In Kogi politics, there are no rules and it is survival of the fittest. Hence, the use of state power and resources by the strongest to emerge triumphant.
Identity politics of ethnicity and religion is anathema to democracy, incapable of yielding democratic dividends in the form of improved welfare and security for citizens. Fuelled by petrodollars through monthly allocation of billions of naira to the states and local governments, identity politics is forged in corruption, thrives in corruption and corrupts every institution of the state and destroys its moral fabric. Identity politics legitimizes corruption and impunity, as corrupt practices such as nepotism, cronyism, sectionalism and favoritism are acceptable cultural tools of reward for political participation. And this reward goes to a privileged few in government, their friends and family, while the overwhelming majority are left deprived, impoverished and without security. Yet like Boxer in George Orwell’s Animal Farm, tribalism has reduced the people into deriving satisfaction from seeing one of their own at the dining table where the national cake is being shared and even ‘their own’ looks indistinguishable from ‘our own.’ And, for the people of Kogi, it’s a long walk to freedom from their self-acquiesced bondage of identity politics.