Atharva Veda postulated further that "unity can only come when there is better co-ordination and mutual understanding in the society; when there is no friction of thoughts and clash of ideologies. We should therefore, follow the ideals established by the scholars and engage ourselves in virtuous deeds."
Kogi State was created on August 27th, 1991, along with some other eight states to bring the total number of states in the federation to 30 from 21 by the Ibrahim Babangida’s military junta.
The creation of these states was in partial response to the unrelenting demand from ethnic groups and people that felt state creation was about the surest way to bring development to the grassroots and to satisfy some military cleavages and interests as at that time.
Kogi State was created. Its creation brought together, the people of old Kabba/Ebira and Igala Province that were as at that time in Kwara and Benue states respectively.
Kogi State, before the birth of the New Direction Administration, did not live up to the expectations of the founding fathers and the exponents of the creation of the State ever since its creation.
Unity of the three senatorial districts was absent as there were pockets of violence and in some cases, outright breakdown of law and order. What was ubiquitous among the districts was structural violence manifesting as negative peace as the districts had mutual mistrust and animosity towards one another.
Put succinctly, they were not able to work together as partners in building the state but rather, embarked upon actions that would rather divide the state with underdevelopment. "You don't get unity by ignoring the questions that have to be faced." (Jay Weatherill).
The aggravation experienced by different groups and people in the state was flagrant and this led to blubbers of marginalisation. The situation became thus, a matter of when, and not whether the bottled up antagonism and frustration will explode into divergence of inconceivable weighing machine.
On the whole, the ethnic groups were not been able to establish enduring peace and unity among themselves following the creation of The Confluence State until the coming of our strong-minded, erudite, unity-oriented, no-nonsense, detribalised and peace loving White Lion, Alh. Yahaya Bello.
Perfectly embedded in his New Direction Administration, the GYB-led government takes into cognisance, the sharp cultural, religious and socio-economic differences that existed among the disparate groups before they were amalgamated into Kogi State. This affirmed to Wilson's quote which says "we cannot be separated in interest or divided in purpose. We stand together until the end."
Recall that the amalgamation of Kogi State generated lot of tension and for years, before our administration, it assumed monstrous dimension with the politics of hatred and exclusiveness being played by virtually, all the ethnic groups.
Even where open conflicts did not ensued, the prevalent negative peace with its psychosomatic and social disequilibrium in the state was not ignored by the New Direction Blueprint.
The challenges of sustaining unity in Kogi State as inherited by our administration include among other factors, poor education, lack of health facilities, lack of proper governance, lack of accountability and conflicts: both intra and inter ethnic.
Worst to mention are the roles and influence of traditional rulers played in ensuring the conflicts among the three districts.
Within three years, our administration was able to forge workable alliance and the gulf that separated the people was closely bracketed by His Excellency, Alh. Yahaya Bello.
The disunity that was helped by lack of statesmen to administer the state in her right direction to bring meaningful development saw Alh. Yahaya Bello building temple of unity in all his recorded achievements which has thus, earned the state the second peaceful state in our country, Nigeria.
Recognising Kogi State as an amalgam of nationalities, traditional rulers who are part of the elites were rose to challenge disunity in conforming to the classical elite theorists’ suggestion for holding disparate groups together.
According to Parry, “the key to elite control lies in the capacity of the elite to weld itself into a cohesive force presenting a common front to the other forces in the society."
Agreeing with Parry, Sheri Dew said "neither man nor woman is perfect or complete without the other. Thus, no marriage or family, no ward or stake is likely to reach its full potential until husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, men and women work together in unity of purpose, respecting and relying upon each other's strengths."
Governor Yahaya Bello derive essentially, strength from our different diversities upon which temple of unity is built. He always preach to us, Kogi is a joint project hence; avenue must/will continue to be created for every eastern, western and central people of the state towards developing sense of belonging as theoretically and practically observed in the present day Kogi State.
Before now, the organisational structure of traditional institutions in the state ensured some sections of the state enjoy political ascendancy compared to others.
In the unity-oriented administration of Alh. Yahaya Bello, nothing of such is prevalent. In fact, the traditional rulers as demanded lawfully were meant to act as official and unofficial advisers to the Governor.
As the Special Adviser on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, I will boldly declare that today, recorded vested interests of traditional rulers which had some not discharging their roles admirably cannot be found exhibited by our present day traditional rulers. Unity will continue to be our watchword and our royal fathers recognise this essentially.
If there was no unity, our traditional monarchs wouldn't have visited the presidency recently to discuss critical issues bothering the progress of our state and most fundamentally, suggesting the place of the state in the Next Level Mantra of His Excellency, President Muhammadu Buhari.
Politics of unity shall continue to be the plight of Alh. Yahaya Bello by fighting monsters of religious chauvinism, tradition of "it's my people and numbers."
Zealous recruitment is better enhanced under him and his coming back is a reality. The urge for his continuity is untouchable, nonnegotiable and heavenly.
History teaches us that unity is strength, and cautions us to submerge and overcome our differences in the quest for goals, to strive, with all our combined strength, for the path to true Kogi brotherhood and unity. No wonder Donald Trump said "when you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice."
Our New Direction Blueprint is not just one of many political points of view. Rather, the blueprint is a symbol of Yahaya Bello's politics of unity. I am a member of the team, and I rely on the team, I defer to it and sacrifice to it, because the team, and not the individual, is the ultimate champion.
For Kogi State under Alh. Yahaya Bello, unity does not mean sameness. It means oneness for purpose. We rise above sectional interests and private ambitions; pass from matter to spirit. Matter is diversity; spirit is light, life and unity.
The consciousness of a general idea has a certain unity of the ego in it, which is identical when it passes from one mind to another. It is therefore; quite analogous to a person, and indeed, a person is only a particular kind of general idea.
Kogi Central, East and West were meant to understand they need each other reasons being our species can no longer be self-divided.
Our future depends on whether we as individuals and as societies can learn quickly from the experiences of the different branches of our single human family, and discover how to live in harmony with one another.
Love feels right in every language and when the hands put together, they will resist everything.
Unity breeds progress and harmony, whereas divisiveness creates regress and disharmony.
Alh. Yahaya Bello's second coming shall finally bring out the fundamental politics of unity which this government has/will continue building upon paving way for future governance of the state in everlasting peace, unity and sustainable development.
Even though we may look different or come from different places, we are all part of one race. In this confluence state of ours, we are all one.
Men are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own minds.
Hon. Abubakar Ohere
Special Adviser to Kogi State Governor
Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs