Senator Abubakar Sadiku Ohere is one grassroots politician that can be described as reliable, determined, proactive, indispensable and efficient.
To say that Sen. Ohere was industrious, meticulous, and considerate when he served briefly in the 10th National Assembly, was not an exaggeration.
His life aptly demonstrates politics of service, beginning from when he served as a Special Adviser, a two time Commissioner in Kogi State before he was elected to the Senate.
When Sen. Ohere emerged the All Progressives Congress Kogi Central Senatorial District Candidate in the 2023 election, it was not difficult for political analysts to come to the conclusion that he will emerge victorious at the polls.
This conclusion was predicated on his acceptability in the district and across party lines by reasons of positive impacts in his political sojourn.
This political summation later and actually turned out to be so when he was declared winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission INEC and inaugurated to the 10th Senate.
But like the saying, the people proposed, but their wishes and aspirations as affirmed by God, was truncated by the Nigerian Judiciary, who put spanners in the wheel of the progress of development of Kogi Central that would have been made possible by the purposeful representation and blueprint of Sen. Ohere.
Sen. Ohere, a Metallurgical Engineer and a politician with grassroots appeal, is a man with magic wands. Every position and tasks he has engaged in or handled in time past, ended up with excellent results, positive references and a signature of impact on the lives of his people.
Sen. Ohere’s strides, as brief as it was as former member of 10th Senate captured his personality of effective people oriented representation.
His eventful stint in Natural Assembly was profound and ramifying, could be viewed from his interventions in the lawmaking process as well as laying solid foundation for good governance in the country, Kogi State and Kogi Central Senatorial District in particular, a people he holds very dear in his mind.
His remarkable and inimitable strides at the 10th Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, saw the Seminal, Creative, Detail-oriented, Honest, Ethical, Calm,
Action-oriented, Positive minded Sen. Ohere ranked amongst the first eleven in the red chamber.
The Senator became the toast of Nigerian’s and people of Kogi Central, as daily he was in the news for good. If Sen. Ohere is not moving motions, he is contributing to all the discussions on the floor of the House.
With a major focus, that centred on the resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company, Sen. Ohere was in the Vice President’s entourage to Russia, where the issue of the resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel Company top the discussion. Sen. Ohere was also insistent on the control of Erosion ravaging his district amongst several other efforts and motions he moved towards making roads within the district motorable.
For the elated, pious, patriotic, peaceful, and law-abiding people of Kogi Central who happily joined other well-meaning citizens to give their mandate to distinguished Sen. Ohere, the unfortunate turnout of that history making event, 13th day of June, 2023 when he was inaugurated, will continue to remain, indelible, a watershed in their history, a day they choose development and progress before the unusual they never bargained for.
The day he was sworn into the 10th Senate, indeed remains remarkable. It was another day for praises to the Almighty Allah, with celebration, pomp and ceremony, to commemorate the epoch-making day, a euphoria that has refused to die when juxtaposed with the light that they saw in the diminutive politician, who’s life and times has remained majorly about Kogi Central.
Sen. Ohere’s mastering of the Senate upon his Inauguration, made him become a shining star, a first timer to occupy a high-ranking office and a very productive committee Chairman (Local Content) of the National Assembly.
The Engineer turned politician in the Senate became a repository of the workings of the legislature, demonstrated capacity as a promising leading player among his colleagues.
Widely described as a charismatic leader, a brilliant mind, an astute politician, Sen. Ohere is an accomplished political denizens with grassroots appeal, is a consummate team player, characters and attributes responsible for his unfettered rise in Kogi political firmament.
The several roles played by Sen. Ohere in the previous and current political dispensation, no doubt prepared him for the unprecedented achievements he recorded in his short stay at the 10th Senate.
Without wanting to over state the obvious, the legacies of Sen. Ohere while in Senate are feasible and verifiable till date. His strategic educational intervention through “Ohere Educational Outreach,” coordinated by Mrs. Ibrahim Halima, of ABU Zaria, saw thousands of undergraduate and postgraduate students as beneficiaries.
A man who prefers teaching people who crossed his paths how to fish rather than giving them fish, thousands of artisans were trained in different skills and were granted tools and startup cash in his short stint in the National Assembly.
A farmer friendly representative, Sen. Ohere ensured that farmers and others who are into farming received fertilisers, seedlings, inputs, habicides and other financial support running into hundreds and millions of Naira.
For Sen. Ohere water is life, hence he ensured the provision of countless motorized boreholes to several communities across Kogi Central.
As a reward for Market men and women who are his major support base , Sen. Ohere was on hand, as empowerment for market men and women. They received cash empowerment to boost their various business through the Ohere popular “Market Push“.
As Senate committee Chairman on Local Content, Sen. Ohere participated in multiple number of oversight functions to ensure accountability and probity in concert with international best practices. This effort is been commended months after his exit of the Senate, has yielded positive impact to the nation’s development.
His innovation and idea as Chairman Local Content have led to increase in the sector- through wide probes to ensure greater accountability and transparency, with more and more Agencies of Government, Ministries, and Parastatals still under the intense Senate scrutiny.
A good number of motions and bills moved by Sen. Ohere are expected to positively transform the lives of Nigerians economically, even though such key legislative interventions he pioneered came into fruition after his exit.
A Lawmaker who moved and supported countless motions on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Ohere was ranked amongst the most active lawmakers in the 10th Senate. This can be verified on the Senate score sheet for performance and several International and National award that recognized his outstanding contributions and achievements while he served.
In fact, the alleged past negative perceptions of non-performance and Kogi Central muted voices at the National Assembly was changed drastically due to the enviable representation provided by Sen. Ohere in his short stay at the Senate.
Indeed, by the new and exciting leadership direction Sen. Ohere has set. The enduring stability, impressive performance level he left as benchmark, has reshaped the present steam for representation.
Similarly, the high sense of responsibility as demonstrated during his representation, has remained a measuring yardstick, that people of the Central Senatorial District are now using to measure representation.
The eventful representation of Sen. Ohere has therefore shown that it is possible to have very high class performers as representative of the people of Kogi Central.
All through his stay in the National Assembly, Sen. Ohere didn’t keep quite on matters of his constituents. Every week, he was at home with his doors and phone numbers open and accessible to his constituents, an example they now missed greatly.
Sen. Ohere’s representation rekindled the hopes of constituents to once again believe in politics and democratic ideals that a better representation is possible in Nigeria.
But with the unfortunate removal as happened to Sen. Ohere and Kogi Central, many in Nigeria are of the view that as Nigeria celebrate twenty five years of unbroken democracy, the need to take a look at the integrity of the political system, as embodied in the Constitution has become important.
There expectations includes that the respect for the rule of law, believe in the supremacy of a higher court for the verdict of the Judiciary to always be in consonance with majority wishes, are now bases and estimable grounds for which the Judiciary has been called upon to have a rethink on their action.
The Judiciary has been asked to look at grounds on which many Nigerians may comfortably stand with judicial decision, particularly when the custodian of the electoral processes have declared the result of what many described as the best election ever conducted in the Central Senatorial District to meet with the wishes and aspirations of the people.
In the words of former President Goodluck Jonathan GCFR, “Politicians won’t go to court if the judiciary is fair, upright to be seen as striving to ensure the sanctity of the polls and wishes of the people”, as was the case of Sen. Ohere and Kogi Central.
Recent happenings after his exit from the Senate, asserts to the fact that Sen. Ohere’s little time at the Senate is not only pragmatic but also visionary.
It is also an irony that someone who is so level-headed, greatly worked to entrench or deepen representative democracy with such finesse and comportment would pay the bitter price, that has now left the people of his district asking if democracy is about popular votes as shown by their resilience to overwhelmingly vote for Sen. Ohere and the APC.
Sen Ohere’s long wandering or political voyage that is usually marked by many changes of positive fortune and strides that saw him at the 10th Senate, with lasting accomplishments, is a representation of a matured mind, desirous of bettering the lives of the people through quality and effective representation
Though short but eventful, Sen. Ohere have no doubt proven that he was a choice for the people who say they are now worst hit by reason of Judicial decision.
Micheal Abu, a journalist, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.
