Nightingale with YJ Itopa
Charity as the saying goes begins at home. This saying held true once again last Saturday, July 27, 2024, when the illustrious sons and daughters of Ohionwa Clan of Ihima District, overwhelmingly endorsed their son and brother, Honourable Monday Eneji-Amoka, as he declared his intention to run for the next Local Government Chairmanship election.
The festival-like event which took place at the Oboroke-Ihima within and outside the Palace of the clan’s Royal Father, HRH Jimoh Eneji, Ph.D. was attended by clan members and party supporters from the Local Government Area. Suffice it to say that the immediate Caretaker Chairman’s endorsement cuts across the parallel lines of the two major parties in the area, All Progressives Congress (APC) and Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP).
Speaking at the occasion, Mallam Idris Ozi-Shaibu, an APC Chieftain in the Local Government who was the party’s flagbearer in the last House of Representatives, election thanked Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo for the support he gave to Hon. Eneji-Amoka while he effectively piloted the affairs of the Local Government as Caretaker Chairman.
Ozi-Shaibu who expressed joy over the overwhelming support the clan was giving the government of Governor Ododo, stated among other things that, “As a clan, we also thank the former Governor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello and all those who are serving in Governor Ododo’s Government for reposing confidence in Hon Monday Eneji-Amoka which by the grace of God, I pray, should result in a substantive Okehi Local Government Council Chairmanship for him.
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“I want to assure the government and the people of Okehi that Eneji-Amoka will live up to our expectations. He did not disappoint the people as Caretaker Chairman and he will also not disappoint the people if the people entrust their electoral mandate to him in the coming election.”
In his endorsement remarks, the quintessential grassroots politician and an Adviser to Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo on Grassroots Mobilisation for Adavi/Okehi Local Government Federal Constituency, Hon. Adinoyi Aroke, poured encomiums on the Governor for remembering Ohionwa Clan for the appointments he had made so far, seeking consolidation with the support being giving Monday Eneji-Amoka as he seeks to become the next Okehi Local Government Council Chairman.
His words: If politics were eggs, it is very clear that Ohionwa clan is one of the few clans who put her electoral eggs in one basket. We didn’t have one leg in APC and the other leg outside of it in the PDP or any other parties. Our hands and legs, in fact, our heart and soul are in this great Party, APC.
For instance, Hon. Idris Ozi Shaibu, a former Senatorial Aspirant under this Party and erstwhile ADC to former Governor Adams Oshiomhole, Mall. Haruna Yusuf and Hon. Wasiu Isah and many others from Ohionwa as Chieftains of APC in the State, have paid their due in terms of the growing of this party. Therefore, I trust that our amiable Governor will soon look in their directions. This Governor is fair and just. Your Excellency Sir, like Oliver Twist, we will ask for more. Do not get tired of us. Our loyalty to you will never shake a bit. It is not in the character of Ohionwa people to bite the finger that feed her. We will prove this to you when the time comes.”
The next to talk in the endorsement of the Chairmanship aspirant was the man one can describe as the proverbial masquerade who they say always comes last to the arena. He is Pa Chief MJ Ozovehe. The Senior citizen was a retired Principal, former Chairman of Okehi Local Government Council, former Special Adviser on Labour Matters in the State and one of the founders of the All Progressives in the State.
Expressing his profound gratitude to Governor Ododo and his team, Ozovehe said that he saw the support the Governor has given to Monday Eneji-Amoka in his bid to be the Chairman of the Local Government was his own. “I see this honour as my own honour. I thank God. I thank Governor Ododo. I have not laboured for this Party in vain. I have always known that APC is not the Party that Rob Peter to pay Paul. Governor Ododo and his predecessor, Alh. Yahaya Bello have proved me right. I am very grateful to them. And I don’t have any doubt that Odu will do well. Politics is a familiar terrain to him He will not fail the people,” the Party chieftain promised.
Taking his turn to speak, the immediate past Caretaker Chairman who is now a Chairmanship aspirant, Hon. Monday Eneji-Amoka, apart from the Almighty God, had many other people to mention for appreciation.
“First and foremost, my gratitude goes to God Almighty for letting this wonderful opportunity happen to me. To Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo and his predecessor, Alhaji Yahaya Bello, on behalf of my family, my Ohionwa clan, Ihima people and the entire good people of Okehi, I remain ever grateful to you. Never will my loyalty to you be questionable.
I am also grateful to the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Barrister Abdulsalam Ozigi-Deedat. I cherish your contribution to this coming success. Also on the list of gratitude is the Commissioner for Women Affairs, Hajia Fatima Momoh. Thank you for your support.
How can I forget the valuable assistance rendered to me by the House of Representatives Member, Okene/Ogori-Magongo Constituency, Hon. Tijani Ahmed Ozigi. Sir, I will continue to value our relationship.
I am also all thanks to my predecessor and former Okehi LGA Chairman, Hon. Abdulraheem Ohiare. Sir, I know your place in this project. Your confidence in me will not be misplaced.
The wonderful Kogi State Auditor-General of the Local Government, how can I thank you enough for your valuable support? Please, accept my profound gratitude. Our friend, Hon. Muktari Atima, the Executive Secretary of Kogi State Emergency Agency, we have come a long way. May this relationship continue to blossom into many good things for our people. Thanks for your support.
My sister, Hajia Aisha Oiza-omade of the Kogi State Social Investment Programme Agency, thank you for always being there for me in this our collective course.
All our party leaders, men and women, I thank you all. Chief Ozovehe, the popular Hon. A. K Saliu, Hon. Adinoyi Aroke-Takeover, Hon. Idris Ozi, you are all wonderful leaders. I will continue to count on your support. I thank all our party supporters and my clan brothers and sister who have taken the trouble to come and attend this endorsement from far and wide.
Please, all of you should support me to attain success in this Chairmanship journey. I cannot fight for it alone. Ura masquerade has powers that are beyond human imagination and comprehension. It heals and wounds. Wizards and witches dread Ozuda like the fire on a rampage.
In fact, people believe that this peerless masquerade has gone beyond the realm of a mere masquerade to that of a spirit. Yet Ozuda/Ura cannot dress itself. It does not sew its cloth or enter the bush to cut its flogging cane which in itself is said to have spiritual value. It is men that still do all that for the famous Ebira masquerade. I wish all of you safe journeys to your various destinations as you prepare to help me to secure the mandate of our people when the time comes.
The climax of the endorsement ceremony was the Breaking of Prayer Kolanut by the Obobanyi of Ohionwa clan, HRH Jimoh Ahmed Eneji, Ph.D. Looking bright and colourful in his Royal Attire, Dr Eneji thanked the Almighty God and the ancestors of the clan for choosing this time to reward the clan for her enormous contributions to the Polity and Politics of Kogi State.
The Royal Father prayed fervently for Governor Ododo and his immediate predecessor, Ex Governor Yahaya Adoza Bello for the honour they have continued to do the clan by remembering her with the Chairman of Okehi LGA even as he called for more Political gestures towards the remaining Chieftains of APC from the clan who have continue to fanatically make their financial resources available for the development of the Party.
The Ohionwa monarch did not forget to thank the Paramount ruler of Ihima and Chairman of Okehi Local Government Area Traditional Council, HRH Alhaji Ahmed Abdulraheem for making Ihima conducive for Political and other activities to flow peacefully. He prayed that Hon. Monday Eneji-Amoka as the next Democratically elected Chairman of Okehi LGA would put nothing other than smiles on the faces of the good people of the Local Government.
“On behalf of the entire Ohionwa clan, you are endorsed. Go well, go and make us proud.” The Obobanyi prayed.
