Barely three weeks after the burial of the Minister of State for Labour and Employment, James Ocholi, a group, Ogbabede Development Association, has insisted that the only consolation for their late son, his wife and son is for the position to be retained by one of their kinsmen.
The three nominees from Dekina Local Government are Isaac Tijani Agbanwu, a surveyor, the man many said was the late minister’s best confidant from the Dekina LGA ward; Dan Ogun, senior special adviser to the late minister from Bassa Local Government, and Positive Ihiabe, a former member, House of Representatives from Dekina Federal Constituency.
The group made their intention known through Jones Idu, their national president, in a telephone conversation from Lokoja.
Idu explained that the way and manner Ocholi died in the ill-fated car crash which occurred along Kaduna-Abuja road on March 6, 2016 has left on its trail inexplicable moments of gloom on all the sons and daughters of Ogbabede ward in Dekina Local Government area of Kogi State.
According to him, “No mortal man can decipher the mind of the Almighty, let alone arm-twist Him to do one’s personal biding. We know that our ward has lost an illustrious son who left a vacuum that may be almost impossible to fill. But, since it pleased God to allow this kind of tragedy to befall us, we believe that, as a master strategist, He (God), already had an alternative arrangement in another son of ours who can be a consolation to the people of Ogbabede Ward.”
An All Progressives Congress (APC) stalwart from Kogi State who pleaded anonymity because of his closeness to the late minister lamented the rate at which the replacement bid was beginning to cause so much disaffection within the Ocholi’s political camp. According to him, “We understand that so many political ‘mathematicians’ have started jostling to replace the late minister; even people who never contributed to the success of the APC as a party, or Ocholi as a person.
“I think posterity will never judge President Muhammadu Buhari kindly if he refuses to consider someone very close to the family of the Ocholis, from the same geo-political zone like ward, who the family can relate to as closely as they could with their late father, and finally, someone whose closeness and support for the late minister can be attested to by members of the late minister’s immediate biological and political family.”
KEHINDE ABDULSALAM
