Snakeholders in Igbo-Etiti Politics: When Saboteurs Masquerade as Stakeholders.

 Snakeholders in Igbo-Etiti Politics: When Saboteurs Masquerade as Stakeholders.

In every thriving political environment, stakeholders play a critical role in shaping vision, fostering unity, and advancing development. 

Unfortunately, in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, a disturbing trend has emerged—the rise of “snakeholders”: political actors who disguise themselves as stakeholders but whose actions betray selfish motives, bitterness, and calculated sabotage.

These snakeholders do not represent the people, but rather represent personal ambition dressed in borrowed legitimacy. They sit at meetings not to offer solutions but to plant seeds of discord. 

They speak of progress while quietly working against it. Like snakes in the grass, they smile publicly and strike privately.

True stakeholders engage constructively and place the collective interest of Igbo-Etiti above personal grudges or failed ambitions. 

Snakeholders, however, thrive on misinformation and sponsored narratives designed to confuse the public and weaken trust in leadership.

What makes snakeholders dangerous is not their noise, but their strategy. They often position themselves as elders, insiders, or “concerned voices,” yet their loyalty shifts with convenience. 

Their politics is not ideological; it is transactional. When they are not in control, they seek to burn the house down.

Igbo-Etiti has recorded visible progress in governance, grassroots development, and political stability. This forward movement unsettles those who profit from chaos. 

Unable to win the confidence of the people through ideas or service, snakeholders resort to whisper campaigns, online propaganda, and backdoor alliances aimed at destabilizing the system.

The people of Igbo-Etiti must therefore be discerning. Not everyone who speaks loudly loves the land. 

Not everyone who claims stakeholder status has the community’s interest at heart. True stakeholders build bridges; snakeholders dig pits.

As the political space evolves, the community must reject politics of bitterness and embrace politics of purpose. 

Igbo-Etiti deserves progress, not poison. The era of snakeholders must give way to genuine stakeholders committed to unity, development, and the collective future of the people

Yesterday's event has clearly exposed those who want Igbo-Etiti to remain backward and be regarded as rural area, including their collaborators.

Obviously, the so-called stakeholders are not interested in the development of Igbo-Etiti rather are interested on enriching themselves, their families and cronies themselves with the public fund. 

The Ex-this and that who accused Hon. Dr. Eric Ogbonna Odo of incompetence should hide their faces in shame for disappointing the same that gave them the platform to become who they are today. 

The most painful part of this is that many of them grew political because of the generosity of the same Odo family they are fighting (ingrates).