For Edo Ministerial Nominee Momoh, It's The Return of The Native

 

      Edo Ministerial Nominee Momoh

Hendrix Oliomogbe

The long wait for the list echoed Samuel Beckett's "Waiting For Godot". Godot continually sent word that he will appear but never did. The long wait, this time by President Bola Tinubu finally ended on Thursday July 27. It was just a few days shy of the mandatory 60 days to unveil members of the Federal Executive Council, when former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mr. Femi Gbajiabiamila and current Chief of Staff to the president casually strolled to the National Assembly with his portfolio. He promptly opened it and delivered the all important signed and sealed envelope to Senate President Godswill Akpabio. 

Without much ado, Akpabio unsealed it. One could have heard a pin drop when the Senate President reeled out name after name of the ministerial nominees on Thursday July 27 right on the floor of the red chambers. Many Edo people were certainly caught off guard. Abubakar Momoh for Edo? He was first on the list. 

Several names on different lists were being bandied about as ministerial nominees. Some lists even attached portfolios to the ministerial "nominees". While some lists had former Governor Oserhemien Osunbor, others had his deputy, Mr. Lucky Imasuen and conspicuously omitted "the lightening rod" former Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike. Both Osunbor and Imasuen were originally in the People's Democratic Party (PDP) before making a move to the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).

Up from being a councillor in Etsako Local Government Area of Edo State in the 80s during former military President Ibrahim Babangida's experimental zero party system during the build up to the long transition programme, there is no shadow of doubt that minister designate, Engineer Abubakar Momoh has come a long way, going by his political trajectory.

A native of the small town of Imiegba, Etsako East Local Government Area of the state, some 25 minutes drive from Auchi, the Edo North political and commercial headquarters, Momoh, a trained teacher, later became the chairman of his home council when it was split in the 90s. Ever since, there has been no stopping him.

Momoh who taught at Ekperi Grammar School, Ugbekpe-Ekperi, the hometown of celebrated journalist, Dele Giwa in Etsako Central Local Government Area, later proceeded to the great University of Benin (UNIBEN) where he took a degree in Chemical Engineering. 

It was at UNIBEN, where he ran for the position of Students' Union president, that the budding politician first cut his political teeth. Politics has always been his passion and straight out of school, the lifelong democrat delved head long into the art of the "government of the people, by the people and for the people."

As they say, all politics are local. In 1999, following the return to democratic rule, he joined the PDP where he won election to represent Etsako East in the Edo State House of Assembly. Four years after, it was time to finally move on to national politics.

2003 saw the teacher cum engineer headed to Abuja as a member of the House of Representatives (Etsako Federal Constituency) on the ticket of the PDP but later crossed over to the Action Congress (AC) in 2007 under which platform he ran unsuccessfully for a second term. It was widely believed that he won the popular vote but fell to the superior power of the PDP rigging machine.

While in the House of Representatives, he got acquainted with former Edo State deputy governor, Mr. Pius Odubu, who became a bosom friend.  Among the set of 1999 in the Edo State House of Assembly are the likes of three former House of Representatives member, Mr. Patrick "Igodomigodo" Obahiagbon, Samson Osagie and ex-Secretary to Edo State Government, Mr. Pally Iriase.

A seasoned grassroots politician, he won re-election to the House of Representatives by overwhelming majority of votes for a second term in 2007. Affectionately dubbed Mr. Projects during his days at the National Assembly, he however ran twice unsuccessfully for the Senate.

In and out of AC and APC, and in PDP, it's on record that the ex-lawmaker has never for once raised his voice against the immediate past governor of Edo State, Senator Adams Oshiomhole who he regards as his leader and father figure.  For him, Oshiomhole is the quintessential leader who has done so much to uplift, Etsako, Edo North and indeed the whole of Edo State to higher ground.

He once said: "Oshiomhole is my Leader. I can never abandon or betray him. It's simply impossible. He's my brother in who I am very proud. He is our father and has done so much for us and the whole of Edo people. He's our shinning star."

From being tucked into a political corner, eight years after his days at the National Assembly in 2015, there is no iota of doubt that Momoh is back. For the engineer, it's the return of the native.