By joshua 
How Time Flies, Sen. Ohere: The Truth, Our Conviction, The Light We Saw Yesterday, No Need For Regret.
I have always been a staunch supporter of Sen. Abubakar Ohere. Not for any reason, but that he has exemplified a good product, good thinking, in all the positions he has held.
Unfortunately, it is no time to laugh last, going by the recent happenings in the 10th Assembly. It is not one of excitement that a whole district is in a cold. But this has further justified the stance some of us took against the odds that we were castigated for.
How time flies. Those who thought our summation for Sen. Ohere as the best bet had undertones. We only looked beyond pyherric victory. Albeit, today, they are licking their wounds in silence for supporting the suspended Sen. Natasha Akpoti Udaughan then. This calls to mind how parochial sentiments could sway opinion.
All that is history today but it is solace for some of us. I make bold that for some of us also, you don’t out of malice and for no justification throw away the baby with the bath water all for political reasons.
For the people of Kogi Central, it is without mincing words that Sen. Abubakar Sadiku Ohere, one with grassroots politician, reliable, determined, proactive, indispensable and efficient couldn’t in the lowest moment ever come this low. His contributions when he served in the Senate is today light over darkness.
That he was vocal and yet in the first eleven, doing well and attracting human and infrastructure development was not in doubt.
To say that Sen. Ohere was industrious, meticulous, and considerate when he served briefly in the 10th National Assembly, was also not an exaggeration.
For a man who’s 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, he no doubt paid his dues.
Today, we have seen that experience and service was what Sen. Ohere embodid. He couldn’t have been caught in the web, not in the processes he passed through from his days in the Civil Service, politics and elective position.
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. It is normal to have dissenting voices if constructive. I’m sure wounds are being licked now.
For a man who by reasons of his positive impacts in his political sojourn, enjoyed wide acceptability. But to those who didn’t mean well. How has it been in the district. It is no doubt a regret that was avoidable.
But like the saying, the people proposed, their wishes and aspirations as affirmed by God was truncated by the Nigerian Judiciary.
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 quenched.
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 the National 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 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.
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 was 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 called for questioning through the intense Senate scrutiny.
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.
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.
The unfortunate removal of Sen. Ohere calls to question the integrity of the political system, as embodied in the Constitution, when juxtaposed with 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.
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.
With lasting accomplishment in the 10th Senate, a representation of a matured mind, desirous of bettering the lives of the people through quality and effective representation but cut short, has now come to the fore.
Micheal Abu, a journalist, writes from Lokoja, Kogi State.