63 Hearty Cheers To a Benefactor

By Usman Aliyu

Today is a special day in the life of Hon. Abdulwahab Oladimeji Issa as every January 20 remains his birthday. While I felicitate the astute politician on his 63rd anniversary, I consider this as an opportunity to appreciate the impact of the celebrant on my life and family in a similar way he had on others in the state.

Hon. Issa is a benefactor to many in Ilorin today and I have not at anytime hidden that my family is a beneficiary of his political benevolence for securing federal jobs for my elder brother and I within three months interval.

In my eleven years of journalism, I hardly praise sing a politician because I do not believe in ego worship. However, Hon. Issa deserves whatever accolades I accord him today because he has written his name in the sand of time and nothing can easily wash it off. Therefore, doing contrary at this point will amount to an ingrate on my part.

Unarguably, Sai Wahab, as honourable is fondly called by his political admirers and followers, remains one of the finest politicians that the state has produced, going by his antecedent and the way he prioritised human capital development and employment for the youth on those occasions that he had held sway as a political office holder.

With exception to a few, no politician from the state has secured appointments for the youths of Kwara the way the celebrant of today has done. The records is there for whoever wishes to challenge this fact.

I am a witness to how helpful he was when he held the position of the executive chairman of Ilorin South local government council of the state. He facilitated appointments for more than 300 persons into the service of the council between 2007 and 2010, many of whom are now principal officers in their own rights. In fact, it was the feat that earned him a ticket into the House of Representatives in 2011, where he continued in the same way.

At the National Assembly, he secured federal jobs for more than 400 people, majorly youths among whom my brother and I belong. While my brother has moved to a more greener pasture, I am today a Principal Correspondent in the News Agency of Nigeria, courtesy of the honourable. He rekindled my hope for a better life when the hope seemed lost. He secured us the appointments shortly after the death of my mother. This fact, he did not know till now because he attended to us on the basis of being his constituents and the respect he has for our aged father.

Like most mothers, our mom was the bedrock of our upbringing as well as the education pursuit. This, perhaps explained why the loss brought to a halt a meaningful thinking in the lives of my siblings and I. However, a one time meeting with Hon. Issa changed the narrative today. He put smile back on our faces for he brought the two of us appointment letters into different federal agencies in a succession of three months, just less than two months after we submitted our documents to him. We passed out of the mandatory NYSC in February 2010 and met him in March. While I got my appointment in August 2010, my engineer elder brother had in May secured appointment with the Standards Organisation of Nigeria (SON) in May through the today celebrant. This perhaps, will apparently, explain how other beneficiaries like ours rode on the back of the consumate politician to secure federal appointments.

Obviously, it was the way Hon. Issa harnessed the opportunity for the youths in the state at the centre that changed the orientation of many Kwarans today about choice of employment. He opened the eyes of Kwaran youths to federal jobs at the time that many graduates from this state would happily settled for jobs at local government council if thrown such chance. Therefore, let’s imagine how more happier one would be if such opportunity was to come from the state not to talk of the federal service.

Therefore, it is less than the honour he deserves if I throw a party for the man, who is the architect of my means to live today. But since I am not buoyant enough to do that personally, I will not hesitate to throw him 63 hearty cheers and wish him success in his future political outings.