It is good and commendable that after many weeks of hesitation, the Federal Government decided to intervene in the dispute between the Kogi State Government and Dangote Industries Plc over the ownership of the Dangote Cement Factory in Obajana, Kogi State.
Since Dangote opened the cement industry in Obajana in 2002, that town has never slept until Governor Yahaya Bello intervened and tried to put the town to sleep. Anytime you get there, no matter the hour of the day or night, the industrial town is always awake. I am sure that even from space, that industry, occupying more than 2 square kilometers, would be visible.
Governor Bello is the youngest man to become the Governor of Kogi State. I am told he is even the youngest governor in Nigeria now. That was why he tried to become our President until he was muscled out by the big boys. In recent weeks, he has been busy, or appeared to be busy, coping with the flood tumbling down from the Adamawa Mountain and keeping the city of Lokoja, the state capital in unwanted pool.
I think Kogi is actually one of the richest states in Nigeria. Kogi State is a beggar sitting on a throne of gold. The state is rich in minerals including petroleum, tin, iron, coal and limestone. Its people are also excellent farmers, producing yams that can compete with Benue State and growing other crops like cocoa, yam, rice, melon, groundnut and coffee. It is the only state in Nigeria where both the Yoruba and the Igbo are native ethnic groups.
Now he has an issue to resolve before he bows out. He has raised issues that were hardly raised by his predecessors. He said Kogi State should be the rightful owner of the Obajana Cement Factory. Now with the intervention of the Federal Government, he needs to take his assertion to court and prove his case in an open court of law, not the court of public opinion, how he arrived at his conclusions.
What is curious about this dispute is that the state government, which is the aggrieved party in this instance, is not in court and it is not threatening to go to court. How else can a dispute of this nature be resolved in a democratic country if not through the court of law or judiciary arbitration? The judiciary is the arbiter in a democracy.
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