Political Watch: How Akoko-Edo Will Align in 2027

By Elempe Dele

Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, LGA, was created in 1963 and is one of the oldest local government areas in Nigeria. Its headquarters is in Igarra.  The population was 262,110 according to the 2006 census.

Akoko-Edo is one Federal Constituency and it is made up of ten wards with two state constituencies: constituency one and two. As of the September 2024 Edo State governorship election, Akoko-Edo Local Government Area, LGA, had 144,379 registered voters. This number has risen with the recent ongoing Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, continues voter registration.

The people of Akoko-Edo have been clamouring for inclusive politics where the issue of marginalization of the LGA can be addressed. While it is one of the oldest existing LGA, it is one of the most marginalized in terms of infrastructural developments and political appointments until recently where visible improvement have been noticed. However, the people want more.

It is against this unfortunate backdrop that Akoko-Edo Leaders of Thought, as well as grassroot politicians will have to sit back and have retrospective broader look at the advancing 2027 politics. There must be deliberate synergy in galvernizing all the ten wards towards a political goal for the overall interest of the LGA. It is obvious that one of the reasons why the LGA has been backward is the adulteration of the unified political interest of the LGA. Politicians have not been able to askew personal interest for the collective interest of the people. So the LGA has been faced with shreds of political interests that have not been able to transform into anything meaningful.

Well, the past is where history comes from, and we must learn from it if we need to go forward in the quest for a better Akoko-Edo.

How do we start to actualize this unification of purpose? We must start by identifying like minds and eggheads within our political body. And when that is done, we must bring them together under one platform so that a clear-cut political agenda can be constructed and projected.

One very important lesson we must factor in our quest for relevance is the centralised idea of being ‘with’ rather being ‘against.’ In Akoko-Edo, we can no longer be part of the driven politics of against. From experience, it has never paid off, rather, it takes way the people from possibility of being with the central government.

We shall deliberately look at the four parties; the All Progressive Congress, APC, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, the Labour Party, LP, and the African Democratic Congress, ADC, to see their chances in 2027. I make this submission to be fair to all the parties and their followers, we must however be able to instinctively recognize the best among the lot.

We must be able to mobilize resources for elections for LGA, House of Assembly and House of Representative, Senatorial elections that will be able to largely represent the interest of Akoko-Edo, rather than the interest of a few politician.

We will not allow anyone, as they have often done, based on slogans like ‘youth o’clock’, the new party, some sort of ideological movement…to continue to deceive us, the electorates, this time. We will do our own findings concerning every possibility, every single narrative they throw about in the name of ‘opposition’ must be scrutinized keenly. The era of bandwagon is gone, we are in the illumination era.

The Akoko-Edo people are mostly agrarians, we need access roads to our farms, we need jobs for our teaming population, we need tertiary institutions not far from home, we need federal appointments, as well as state appointments, we need the federal road from Auchi to Okene to be fixed to forestall kidnappings and other criminalities along the road, and we need more security for our people. All these can only be achieved if we synergize with the centralised government, not when we are against.

The convocation of a veritable political leadership in Akoko-Edo is in the offing, as soon as you are contacted, please take up the responsibility to join so that we can start to deliberate broadly.

Akoko-Edo will rise from the ashes of marginalization to the pinnacle of recognition…be part of this history.

Elempe Dele is a journalist from Okpe, he wrote from Abuja.