The Price of Performance: Why the “Politics of Bitterness” Won’t Work in Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu
As the 2027 election cycle begins its early, restless stirring, the Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu Federal Constituency has become a theater of a very specific kind of political desperation. While the constitution guarantees every eligible citizen the right to contest, it does not grant them a license to substitute substance with spite.
What we are witnessing is a collision between tangible legacy and manufactured noise. For the aspirants currently sharpening their tongues against the incumbent, Hon. Arc. Salman Idris, the strategy is clear: if you cannot match his record, try to murder his reputation.
But here is the question they cannot answer: Since when has anyone been lifted by trying to belittle superlative performance?
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The opposition’s favorite anthem—the “stolen mandate” wail—has finally hit a flat note and died out. It has been silenced by the very thing politicians fear most: results. Real representation isn’t found in the air-conditioned boardrooms of Abuja; it is seen in the asphalt of Korede Street, the restored power via 500kVA transformers in GRA Kabba, and the tractors opening up the Aiyegunle-Gbede-Olle Bunu road for our farmers. When a representative moves from the ADC to the APC not for personal gain, but to strategically align his constituency with federal resources, that isn’t “politics as usual”—it is a masterclass in responsive leadership.
There is a profound irony in the critics’ position. They claim to have their eyes open for the “good of the people,” yet they are functionally blind to the CNG conversion centers providing jobs for our youth and the classrooms rising in Okedayo. > “A blind man who closes his eyes and claims to be asleep—what exactly did he see when they were open?”
This “voluntary blindness” is a political choice. These detractors are not blind because they cannot see; they are blind because they refuse to acknowledge that the bar for representation has been raised. They cannot come out and tell the people why their aspirant is a better choice, because their only manifesto is “Anyone But Salman.”
The era of trickery is over. The people of Kabba-Bunu/Ijumu are no longer interested in the “politics of the belly” or the “rhetoric of the bitter.” They are interested in:
Infrastructure that outlasts an election cycle.
Advocacy that forces the Federal Government to remember abandoned roads like the Iluke-Aiyetoro-Abugi axis.
Empowerment that puts tools in the hands of 6,000 constituents at once.
Very soon, the official records will be laid bare. No amount of mudslinging can cover up a 1km road or a functioning borehole. The verdict is already written in the hearts of the constituents: Hon. Arc. Salman Idris has not just filled the seat; he has expanded the possibilities of what it means to lead.
The noise of the few will never drown out the progress of the many. If a term is good, it deserves the grace of continuity. Any attempt to change that fact with tricks is not just an attack on Idris—it is an insult to the intelligence of the electorate.
– Apostle Olalekan Aiyenigba
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, FEBRUARY 18TH 2026)
