The Problem of the Igala Nation…
By Abdullahi O Haruna Haruspice
The people of Kogi East senatorial district are gifted with individual dexterity but lack collective aspiration. Very accomplished people, but tragically disconnected on a common front. That they were politically great is now a non-debate, for history favours only the present.
I have seen the rise and fall of their political fortune; regrettably, the effort to mend fences and rebound to greatness seems very distant.
A cursory look at the major political parties in the state reveals no Igala person in the lead. They have been displaced, pushed away, and now stand stranded and bare. The reason is not far-fetched: all the actors want to lead, never to build from the rear. Very strong individual giants with tiny legs that serve as weak platforms.
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The fate of all the political actors in the APC, we gather, is sealed from Okene—with a woman deciding this fate. Whoever must strive and run a political race in Igalaland must embark on a voyage to Okene.
The same reality plays out within the PDP; political aspirants must have a date with Sen. Natasha—and the ADC is not distant from this reality. We gather that Dino Melaye is the alpha and omega of the ADC, and he too decides which Igala aspirants under the party should have a run come 2027.
This is the sorry reality that greets the Igala nation—a bursting majority reduced to an emaciated bunch.
And who do we blame? Of course, it is a collective burden; we are all guilty of the quagmire we find ourselves in. When pride takes over logic, a people suffer indignity. We flex muscles instead of binding our strength together.
Those who are APC members can come together and take a stand as a people, and it becomes the position of the Igala race. This stance then becomes a bargaining chip at the state level—but no, we prefer to be fragmented, porous, and vulnerable. Why should another region choose for Kogi East who represents us?
Imagine if the same fire that greeted the SDP had been sustained; the state, and even the federal, would have taken the Igala nation seriously. You had a movement that shook the electoral foundation of 2023, yet now lies stranded. Like a joke, everyone who made the race formidable suddenly jumped ship, leaving the party for others where they now linger as second-class members.
Political parties are merely vehicles for power; anyone can belong to any party and still win elections—after all, it is the Igala people who will vote. So why sell your birthright on the altar of timidity and bruised ego?
From the state, through the political parties, to the national stage, the Igalas are absent in leadership and influence—this is the cost of collective disharmony.
The way out is simple: beyond party loyalty, Igala politicians must cultivate a stoic allegiance to a shared Igala ideology. Without a unifying ethos, defeat will remain cyclical.
Until unity becomes strategy, not sentiment, the Igala question will remain unanswered.
Frankly musing
(DEMOCRACY NEWSLINE NEWSPAPER, MAY 7TH 2026)
