In this interview, the president of the Amalgamated Kogi Elite for Ododo in Kogi state, Sikirat Abdulazeez Okatahi, bares her mind on the next governor to occupy the Lord Lugard House Lokoja. The former senior legislative aide to the immediate past speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila, also spoke on raging issues in the state and why the candidate of the All Progressive Congress (APC), Alhaji Usman Ododo, is the one to beat in the November governorship election.
You have a very rich political profile. How did you achieve this?
I belong to several All Progressives Congress Support Groups and actively participated in the 2015 general elections. I am a member of the Coalition of APC Support Groups, Buharian Culture, etc. I also participated actively in the APC campaign in the Kogi state for the 2015 governorship election.
I actively participated in the 2019 general elections. I served in the 9th Assembly as a senior legislative aide to the speaker of the House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
In 2023, I was a member, Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) North- central zone; member, Confederation of APC Support Groups; coordinator and chairperson, Amalgamated Kogi Elitesfor Ododo (AKEO), a support group in support of the APC candidate in the November 2023 Kogi governorship election. Our cardinal objective is to see to the progress and advancements of the women folks in the state through the pooling of our resources in order to achieve our common goals and objectives.
Why are you supporting the governorship candidate of the APC as your name rings a bell among the bigwigs in his campaign train?
Not practically, as human beings I believe you know that we are all political animals and we care about the future of our state and the next generation of our citizens. As women we decided no longer to sit on the fence, but to contribute our quota in the leadership recruitment processes and efforts of the state. Though we are apolitical, we decided as citizens also to peer review the candidates on display in the next guber election so that we can tell our members the best among them so that the future of our state will be bright through our involvement and I think we have the right to our choice.
Who do you feel is the best among the candidates and what are the reasons for your choice?
Without being biased, we set up a number of committees made up of women of high integrity to come up with a template for our choice for the next guber election. After a painstaking assessment of all the candidates based on this template, Usman Ahmed Ododo of the APC became very easily our preferred choice to occupy the Lord Luggard House as governor in the next election. Our reasons are not far-fetched because his victory will be seen by the people as the return of excellence and the triumph of light over darkness.
Gone are the days when we chose our candidate based on primordial sentiments. For so long our political gladiators have used religion and tribal differences to divide us and what we are saying this time around with this choice is that it no longer matters where the governor comes from as long as he has the qualities to reclaim our state for the people and restore our values as a people. With Usman Ododo, we believe, hope is coming back to Kogi state and developments in all its ramifications.
What do you think Usman Ododo stands for that makes him the preferred candidate?
His candidature and his expected victory will rekindle the hope of the people and mark a new face in the political environment in the state. This is because he is a round peg in a round hole and the beginning of a new journey to salvage the state from the hands of those who wish it no good. It will mark another political tsunami that will hit the state such that the Buhari political tsunami will just be a tip of the iceberg to come.
But many believe that he is a political greenhorn for a position like the governor. What is your stake on this?
Even though many see him as a political green horn and a first-timer as a politician because of his civil service background, I don’t agree that it is a minus for him; it’s a plus because a pessimist, according to the former Russian President, Mikhail Gorbachev, is a well-informed optimist. Ododo, by the grace of God, has the experience and the record of service to humanity to lead the state. He is a man of destiny with a magic wand of springing surprises when he is given the opportunity to serve and this time around it will not be different.
We are expecting that at the end of his tenure he will leave all the doubting Thomases marveling at his sheer brilliance and his developmental impact will lay a yardstick to determine those we will recruit to lead the state in the future. Ododo is hitting the political landscape of the state like a colossus. And, make no mistake about this, there is no stopping him now because he has a defined mission to accomplish and the whole darkness in the world cannot stop him now; he is our stick of matches.
What of the Murtala Ajaka factor? Many are worried that for the first time, ethnicity and tribe are a factor and considering the fact that he is from the Kogi-east senatorial district which is the largest in population, are you not worried that there is a problem?
No, I am not. One thing you don’t know is that our people are becoming politically sophisticated and I can tell you one thing that even though on ground its seems that our state is more divided than any time in our history as a state due to the fact that a minority is now sitting as a governor and another minority became the candidate of the ruling party in the state, we should be careful not to paint the situation as negative whereas most of us in the state see it as a return to political maturity by our people; and with time we shall get there.
As for your question about Murtala Ajaka; his chances in the election cannot be compared with that of Usman Ododo who is loved across ethnic, religious, tribal and political divides. The fact that Murtala Ajaka is from the Kogi-east senatorial district, which is the largest in population, doesn’t give him an advantage over Usman Ododo, who is more experienced and popular in the state. And I can tell you authoritatively that APC will again emerge victorious.
People are worried that Ododo was forced on the electorate by his Godfather and mentor, Governor Yahaya Bello, and that his loyalty is going to be to the governor instead of the people. How true is that?
I am not denying the fact that every politician has a mentor and to live in denial of its existence is a lie taken too far. Loyalty, I learnt, is a political capital that cannot be wished away. Yes, it is true that the governor may have an influence on the outcome of who becomes the candidate of the party, but in reality the governor will not be interested in who his successor will be. Usman Ododo’s loyalty is an instinctive sympathy for a good man who has been politically harassed by the people who don’t mean well for the state because of their ulterior motives. Usman Ododo is not the type of man who thinks that his greatest obligation and loyalty is to himself or his political mentor, rather to the people of the state. But my greatest prayer is that his loyalty never be tested when he becomes the governor.
Some surveys have added to the story that Murtala Ajaka is more popular and on the ground politically than Usman Ododo; how true is this assertion?
Elections are not won by surveys and forecasts carried out by people who are not on ground in the state. As far as I am concerned and being on the ground in the state, I can tell you authoritatively that Ododo is more popular and more acceptable and if the election were held today he would win by a landslide.
