03/10/2025
Between Hon. Mutu, the Patani Agenda Group and Pararan News
BOMADI—It is appalling to hear the seasonal cries and wailings of a certain group of people in Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency, especially prior to or during the time of political campaigns in the constituency, and which has already started ahead of the 2027 general elections.
Well, it is part of the game and many are cashing out of it by being at the forefront of crying wolf, so to say, and I believe the electorate will once again determine their preferred candidates in the 2027 general elections, which are often at variance with the campaign of calumny and the insults ongoing on both the mainstream and social media.
It is on record that the lawmaker representing Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency, Hon. Nicholas Ebomo Mutu, was ELECTED by the people of the constituency in 1999, which office he has been holding till date through RE-ELECTIONS by the same constituents over the years, apparently as a result of his performance, charisma and dealings/political relationship with his people back home.
TO SET THE RECORD STRAIGHT, FROM 1999 TILL DATE, THE SEAT OF THE PATANI/BOMADI FEDERAL CONSTITUENCY HAS ALWAYS BEEN CONTESTED BY ASPIRANTS/CANDIDATES FROM BOTH PATANI AND BOMADI LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREAS, WHICH IS AN UNDISPUTABLE FACT: Hon. Basil Ganagana (Patani LGA), Chief Chris Ekiyor (Patani LGA), Hon. Peres Omoun (Patani LGA), Dr. Felix Tuodolo (Bomadi LGA), Hon. William Angadi (Bomadi LGA), and Hon. Tam Obriki (Bomadi LGA) contested against Hon. Mutu over the years, both at party primaries and on opposition party platforms during general elections, but the man emerged as the people's choice in the various contests.
Now, a group calling themselves Patani Agenda Group in collaboration with other groups is out for a CAMPAIGN OF BITTERNESS over the 2027 general elections with the claim that Hon. Mutu has been in the seat for too long, as if he elected himself there; venting anger, threatening and insulting the lawmaker on various media platforms, in contravention of the standard political campaign processes and engagements.
It is no longer news that the Patani Agenda Group has officially kick-started the 2027 political campaigns in the country with castigations and threats rather than the normal processes of wooing the electorate with campaign manifestos.
Today, I watched a farce on Pararan Mock News about Hon. Mutu, probably sponsored by the same groups that have started the 2027 campaigns, castigating Hon. Mutu for being in the seat for too long. Well, Pararan Mock News is known for coming online with information fed to him without him asking salient questions for balanced reporting, and after which news reports he often runs into issues regarding libel and defamation.
Pararan Mock News does not care to know why the lawmaker was ELECTED after every four years, he did not ask to know if the lawmaker had ever been challenged at the poll by aspirants from Patani and what happened, and he did not ask to know whether there is an existing sharing formula between Patani and Bomadi concerning the seat. He only collects money and spews out whatever nonsense he wishes to on his platform, which is unfortunate.
There is no gainsaying that, as far as the seat of Patani/Bomadi Federal Constituency is concerned, there have always been contests between Bomadi and Patani aspirants/candidates in every election year, and Hon. Mutu has been having the upper hand. In fact, the people of Patani local government area voted for him more than even the people of Bomadi in the last election, and I challenge Pararan Mock News to find out this fact from whoever he got his news, if they would open up to him. The Patani Agenda Group re-echoed this fact when their campaign group visited Kpakiama community in Bomadi local government area, last week.
On performance back home, Hon. Mutu has done very well in influencing developmental projects in both Bomadi and Patani local government areas. In fact, over 85% of the roads crisscrossing Patani, headquarters of Patani local government area, and link roads in surrounding communities were influenced in the area by Hon. Mutu. They are NDDC roads influenced in the area by the lawmaker. Bomadi local government has equal representation of such roads, coupled with his youth training and empowerment programmes, The Hon. Mutu Free Medicare Outreach (yearly), scholarship for students, philanthropy and special intervention projects.
So, the Patani Agenda Group's crying wolf is not tenable, and those of us from the constituency understand the politics here better than outsiders who are merely fed with defamatory news materials and epistles to gain sympathy from the undiscerning public.
In a nutshell, Hon. Mutu has neither committed any evil against Patani nor any group. He is there on the people's mandate.
Chancel Bomadi Sunday (The Pen/The People's Voice) writes from Bomadi LGA.