By joshua All Eyes On Engr. Bashiru Gegu: The Rare Gem, The People’s Commissioner, Patron Of The South-South Residents In Kogi
How do you describe a rare man who has placed his entire life for service to humanity? How do you define a public servant whose greatest joy at night is not the power of office but the count of lives he has touched during the day? In Kogi State today, that description finds perfect expression in one man – Engr. Bashiru Gegu, the Kogi State Commissioner for Solid Minerals and Natural Resources.
To meet him is to have every perception changed. Behind the title of Commissioner is a man who is remarkably down-to-earth, accessible, compassionate and driven by an uncommon passion to bring smiles to the faces of women and youths. He is not a politician of many words but a servant of many deeds. For him, leadership is not about position but about impact, and people have remained his mainstay.
Engr. Bashiru Gegu is a man whose philanthropy has no boundaries. Long before public office and beyond the confines of his ministry, he has built a reputation as a silent force for good, turning the pain of the vulnerable into hope and the aspirations of the youth into reality.
His accomplishments in making people his mainstay speak louder than any political slogan. He has become a household name for his unending empowerment programmes, which have lifted hundreds of women through support for petty trading, provision of grinding machines, sewing machines and start-up capital that has restored dignity to many homes. For the youths, he has been a beacon of hope, offering scholarship support, job facilitation, skills acquisition, and direct financial assistance that has taken many off the streets and made them self-reliant. In Koton-Karfe and across Kogi Local Government Area where his influence is most felt, he has rehabilitated boreholes, supported community development projects, assisted indigent families with medical bills, and stood as a first responder whenever disaster or need arises.
In the solid minerals sector, he has brought uncommon professionalism and transparency, driving reforms that are unlocking Kogi’s huge mineral potentials for the prosperity of the state.
It is for these rare qualities that the South-South residents in Kogi State have adopted him as their Patron, a man of the moment whom they hold in the highest esteem. To the Edo, Deltans, Bayelsa s, Akwa-Ibom and Cross River communities and indeed all Southerners like the Rivers people, who have made Kogi their home, Engr. Bashiru Gegu represents the true face of Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo’s administration – inclusive, humane and people-centred.
The South-South community today looks forward to him with so much expectation, believing that as a man whose impact has no boundaries, whose magnanimity knows no tribe or tongue, he will once again extend his hand of fellowship to them. They see in him a bridge builder who values their coexistence, respects their industry, and appreciates their total support for the APC-led administration under the leadership of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo.
They recall how he has never discriminated in his empowerment, how his doors remain open to the Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Ebira, Igala, Okun and indeed the South-South, and how he celebrates the diversity of Kogi as strength. In a time when politics has divided many, Engr. Gegu has united many more through kindness.
As the 2027 general election approaches and the South-South residents have declared that come rain, come sunshine, the re-election of President Tinubu and Governor Ododo remains sacrosanct, they are also looking up to their Patron, Engr. Bashiru Gegu, to put smiles on their faces once again, to reinforce their belief that they belong, and to show that the prosperity agenda of the present administration truly includes them.
Engr. Bashiru Gegu is not just a Commissioner. He is a rare man, a compassionate leader, a silent philanthropist, and above all, a Patron of the people whose heart beats for others.
For the South-South residents in Kogi, he is the man of the moment, and their expectation is high that his usual magnanimity will once again rekindle hope and strengthen their resolve to continue to stand solidly with the APC-led government at all levels.