It is most heartening to witness the victory of Hon. Abubakar Sadiku Ohere at the polls during the 25th February, 2023 general elections that elevated him to the Nigerian senate. It is a dream come true for many of us that know him very closely and his professional worth; we in the Collation of United Political Parties (CUPP) Kogi State chapter are greatly elated with his landslide victory at the polls.
Engr. Abubakar Sadiku Ohere, is now the Senator-elect for Kogi Central senatorial district of Kogi State, a man who has always desired a better life for his people and the society in general. He has demonstrated this in the lives of people including indigent students, widows, the less privileged, and at various communities over the years. This has inspired him to seek a bigger platform in public service to impact more on the larger society.
WHO IS ABUBAKAR OHERE?
This is a million dollars question. Abubakar Ohere is a trained engineer, administrator, philanthropist and politician. He was born in 1966 and hails from Okene Local Government Area of Kogi State.
Hon. (Engr.) Abubakar Sadiku Ohere was first appointed a Special Adviser to His Excellency, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, the Executive Governor of Kogi State on Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs and later confirmed as the Commissioner in that ministry. He took up the appointment at the inception of this administration in the state. The Okene-born engineer is a committed politician and he strongly has passion and solid support for the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello. Through stint of hard work, Hon. Ohere was appointed by His Excellency to oversee the affairs of the Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs to steer it towards rapid socio-economic development. His appointment did not come as a surprise to many people because before this time he had distinguished himself as a great mobilizer, academician, professional, philanthropist, administrator and community leader. He is a man who cherishes education and he strives to support children at all levels of education with scholarship and other incentives. He is generous to a fault. He supports the weak individuals that come his way.
Engr. Ohere is well focused and intelligent, he is a dependable leader. He is a man of vision who means well for every Kogian. He is kind, amiable, honest, loyal, cool-headed, brilliant and frank gentleman to the core. His religious background has contributed a lot to the positive attributes. He is very close to his creator (Allah) and loyal to whoever is his boss, political party and to his followers.
Engr. Ohere joined politics in order to contribute his widow mite in the transformation of all facets of human ensdeavours. He was re-appointed a commissioner to oversee the State Ministry of Works and Housing in 2019. He always sees any assignment given to him as a wake-up call to serve the people of the state including the forthcoming senatorial election in which he is a candidate. He brought transparency, probity, equity, fairness and justice to bear on these ministries. He has based his schedules on these guiding principles which have helped him to pilot the ministries into the right direction.
Days after being sworn-in as the Special Adviser to Governor Yahaya Bello, Engr. Ohere unfolded his plan on how to rebuild the ministry so that, it could be responsive to the needs of the people.
One of the quick steps he took was to raise money as well as mobilized the ministry to construct an annex building in order to solve office accommodation for staff. The one storey-edifice was completed with despatch. The annex structure now accommodates top officials of the ministry which is well secured and equipped.
Again, Engr. Ohere worked very hard to see that all the twenty-one local government areas in the State were up and doing in their respective areas. Governance was made more meaningful to the ordinary man on the street, Also, the traditional council in the state enjoyed more government patronage. Vacant stools in the traditional council were filled with the appointments of high caliber individuals to occupy them with little or no litigation throughout the state. Many natural rulers were upgraded to higher grades under the watch of Engr. Ohere.
It is also worthy to note that, the administration of Engr. Ohere as the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs helped to promote inter local government relationship basically, because frequent meetings were also called by the ministry to dialogue on issues such as rural development, security and providing comfort for the rural farmers. Engr. Ohere’s office was widely opened to administrators, traditional rulers, politicians, government officials, market women, youth, artisans e.t.c. he regularly paid official visits to all the local government areas of the state, to see things for himself.
Engr. Ohere took bold steps on how best the five thematic areas of the New Direction Initiative of the administration of Alhaji Yahaya Bello could be implemented by the twenty-one local government administrators in the state. He advised them to try and open up the roads, sink boreholes, provide medical facilities, provide agricultural inputs e.t.c. to their people. He also put in place effective monitoring mechanism in order to achieve high performance on the above areas mentioned. His emphasis has been on resuscitation of agriculture at the rural level of the state.
As a commissioner of Works and Housing, Ohere played a leading role in the execution of several township road projects in Lokoja, Idah, Ankpa, Okene and Kabba. He supervised the construction and completion of the first ever fly- over bridge at Ganaja Junction in Lokoja, as well as rural electrification and several other projects before resigning to contest for the APC senatorial primary election in Kogi Central and he won massively.
Engr. Ohere has a long standing relationship with National Union of Local Government Employee NULGE, which has helped to cement peaceful relationship. Despite some hiccups as to the welfare of members of NULGE, Engr. Ohere has been very passionate and considerate with their welfare and he is working hard to support them in all ramifications.
HIS VISION AND MISSION IN THE SENATE
To make Kogi Central senatorial district a reference point to others in Nigeria, make life best for the people and create infrastructure for the future of the district anchored on these cardinal goals: adequate representation, welfare, infrastructure, reduction in poverty and rural transformation among others.
Ohere has made extensive consultations and received a substantial goodwill from a broad spectrum of the people throughout the district to go to the senate to represent them. Reading between his lips, Ohere, has promised to promote unity in the constituency, eliminate poverty, wants and ignorance from the area, encourage the development of agriculture and commerce, promote active participation of the people in all strategic sectors, support as well as provide gainful employment for the youths from the constituency, work towards rural integration, this is aimed at enhancing improved rural life for everyone from the area, collaborate with the state and federal government in areas of health care delivery, water supply, electricity supply and to enhance an improved educational environment for our people. All the above areas, he has promised to address after his swearing- in by June 2023 as a senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
He has earlier on appealed to the good people of Kogi Central senatorial district, of all shades of opinion and political lineage to join him in working towards a robust political consolidation that will serve as a fountain for the revitalization and re-awakening of the entire Ebira people and the larger human society.
He has put himself forward to serve his people and the nation at the national assembly as a member of the senate on the platform of the All Progressives Congress. He needs the support of all. To every person from Kogi Central, the way to develop the best that is in a man like Ohere would be to support and collaborate with him. It is a fact that when the right individuals are in power just as we look forward to have Ohere sworn-in by June, 2023, roads will fixed, industries will bounce back, jobs will be available for the youths, excellent health care delivery will be put in place, education will be effectively cared for and there will be enough for all to share.
His life has epitomized the highest ideal of excellence, diligence and integrity contributing immensely to the development of our dear country. He has a number of records to his name, which we are all proud of.
As he assumes this new role entrusted on him by the good people of Kogi Central, we celebrate this success story of his along with his family and friends, We pray that the good Lord who he serves will continually prosper him and his family, He will bless him with abounding health and many more years of personal fulfillment and outstanding service to humanity.
We also commend him untiring efforts as an administrator, academician and professional in the course of performing his official duty. We are proud of his commitment to excellence. He has impacted well on many lives, thank you indeed.
It should be noted here clearly that all our members in the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) in Kogi State had worked hard to support his candidacy just like what we did for other candidates that have shown strong determination to change the old narrative of their people when entrusted with political power. CUPP is determined to support and defend his victory because his election was free, fair and credible. We thank God for this victory
It is our prayer that God will grant his life with wisdom and sound health to carry on. On behalf of CUPP Kogi State chapter, I congratulate him.
By: Hon. Ibrahim Itodo,
News Update