Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo described birthday events very succinctly as, “a natural time for retrospection as it allows individuals to reflect on the past years of experiences, accomplishments and challenges, and as well as to look ahead and set future goals.” Ododo can’t be more correct.
Tuesday, 30th December, 2025, the Kogi State Governor made the above statement of fact when he heartily graced the rousing birthday ceremony of his energetic, loyal, able, trustworthy, patriotic, sincere, caring, generous, brutally frank, energetic, ubiquitous and stubbornly loving of due process Accountant General, Hajia Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko which people, admirers, beneficiaries, families and friends from far and near saw as as a matter of obligation and therefore thronged the city of Okene to attend.
The Governor sees her in the light of my description of her- loyal, able, trustworthy, brutally frank, ubiquitous, accountable, transparent and stubbornly loving of due process …-. I will come to this later.
Truly, through birthday parties, one can hold many aspects of one’s life in mind; see life in many flashbacks. And whatever it is, give gratitude to God. There were many foetuses that never set a living foot into this world before their carriers suffered pregnancy miscarriages. There are many who were born but never enjoyed the sweetness of being born for a moment before they travel back to their Maker. And life for some from the yolks in the wombs, it is silver spoon in the mouth stories to graceful graves. life is full of ambiguities. What can man do other than to accept his fate.
Therefore, if you are in this life, surviving its many hindrances even if not very beautifully or satisfactorily so, there is always one or two reasons to say Thank-You-You to God Almighty. It could have been worse; unlike Man, God does not take bribe before he gives tears or laughter.
So, with retrospection, Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko saw many favours from God. As Ebira people will put it, ” Me re vaa tu ahu mee re va tu uvo,” which is to say that in spite of everything, neither did my foot nor my hand stumble over a stone or a stump or any other hard object on the way that could have led to a fall for me. Like every being, Onumoko must have had her foot and hand trip over one or two way laying hindrances and staggered hazily or even fell, the woman has always gotten a hand hold to give her some magical rise.
To therefore appreciate God for showing her mercies, she decided to use the opportunity of her birthday to spread happiness into as many households as she could in the 21 Local Government Areas of the State, and even beyond. The Kogi State Accountant General has been doing this for nearly two decades, long before her being in limelight. She knows that an act of charity is one quality that pleases Allah the most.
Though, Hajia Onumoko tries to fill crying mouths with laughter and thirsty throats with nectar almost on daily basis, her birthday day has become a vast Empowerment scene. In fact, the appropriate phrase is A festival of gifting. On the day of her birth, she fills the venue of the ceremony with different kinds of gift items. sewing machines, grinding machines, all sorts of machines for the Kogi youths she has trained on different skill acquisitions, different food stuffs, clothing for the naked and many other economic empowerment tools, just to name a few.
Most beneficiaries of her uncommon generosity are women, children, youths, widows and the Special people – the blind, the deaf, the cripple, the sick and the indigent people generally. For some of them she gives scholarships, their WAEC and NECO examinations fees she pays. Even masquerades and their benefitting votaries are not left out. A Muslim and an Alhaja to boot, the woman is highly cultural. Her people’s cherished culture, their way of life- their root, pride and identity can never be repulsive to her.
This Kogi State Accountant General finds happiness being openly in the midst of poor people from ghettos and slums. And to give more wings to her spirit, she has founded a socio-Political Organization which is mainly populated by the vulnerable people and the oppressed which she aptly named ” Fair Win Women Advancement Association (FAWASS). The Group boasts of fifteen thousand members.
No wonder, her criticisms always crawl and with feeble voices from the balcony of Power and never from the ghetto which sees her as one of them or the ladder they could climb to have a fair handshake with the balcony dwellers. For this class of people, Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko’s name is as sweet as honey on their praising tongues.
Now, as I said earlier, Onumoko’s boss, His Excellency, Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo feels beholden to her like her many admirers. But unlike the people from shanties who look up to her as their road to travel to the premises of Power, Ododo is her benefactor. Yet, our Governor finds in her an able, capable, patriotic, meticulous, genuine and due process loving ally and believer in him who could help him (Ododo) realise his vision of delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of the State.
Though, the Accountant General’s impactful role in Ododo’s Government may taste bitter in the mouths of her critics, her lovers will argue that she is a victim of what the famous American based Nigerian writer, Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche once called the stereotype of a single story. ‘Stories shape our understanding, but a single narrative can rob people of dignity and make it hard to recognize our shared humanity.”The writer warned.
An admirer of her told The Graphic in Okene that:
“Her detractors are bitter and they are the only ones trying to shape the wrong narrative against her because of what she stands for. She is quiet for them to continue to hold their wrong views of her, their single story. But her focus on due diligence for superlative performance is welcome to us. She is busy making the difference and for us, that is her answer to them and their single story.
Today, we no longer hear the disheartening tales of what we used to call Percentage salary. Civil servants are now being paid as and when due. We should not forget in a hurry the #98.8 billion debt that was being owed by previous Kogi State Governments that Governor Ododo cleared in his first fifteen months of assuming Office to give the State its pride of place among the comity of states.
It was in this State that Civil Servants couldn’t remember when last they were paid Annual leave bonus. Ododo has now revived that happiness back to civil servants. What of the Senior citizens? That is, the pensioners. The other time, a dash of money was added to their salaries each. Let me ask you, Mr Journalist, who is helping the Governor to prudently manage government funds to be able to achieve all this?
If this woman of meticulous fervour has allowed wastes to go unabated, where will the money come from for Government to meet all its needs for the good people of Kogi in terms of social and infrastructural developments. My brother, Let us all appreciate this woman of many and amazing abilities. She may have her own flaws. I am not saying she is an angel. Only God is infallible.
The other time, she was touring every Local Government Area of the State to convey Governor Ododo’s Thank-You-Message to the people for the mandate they freely gave to him and also to ask from the voters which of the few Campaign promises the Government was yet to fulfil so as to give them accelerated attention. Running that errands for her boss, tongues began to wag:
“This AG self, what is she looking for? Ah, you didn’t hear, she is looking for Senate,” They blackmailed her. Today, we know better. The success of Ododo’s Government is what preoccupies the good heart of this woman. I tell you. And I am happy to also inform you that the Governor Ododo she is loyally, transparently and accountably serving appreciates her unalloyed support, commitment and dedication to his Government. Did you not listen to the glowing tributes the Governor paid to her at her birthday a while ago?” Her admirer asked.
The man is right. A holder of position like that of a Governor is like a man who has a harem of wives; many as they are, he has different scales in his heart for each of them according to the measure of love and respect they show to him each and the peculiar role each of them plays in his life. Ododo is actually pleased with his Accountant General of the State. He knows which pillar she is in his sprawling compound called Government. To attest to this, the Governor did not only attend Onumoko’s birthday celebration, he vivaciously attended it and paid glowing tribute to her.
“Hear the Governor : “Today is a special day, our sister has chosen to give back to the indigents by giving out this token. I say thank you. God will continue to guide you. God will not forsake you. And your children will be greater than you.
This birthday will not be the last and this Empowerment too will not be the last. You have been doing it. You challenge us. So, all of us, government officials, contractors must begin to give back to our people. They look up to us. They see us as their light. Please, we should value them, respect them, and let us give back to them.
Last year, writing on this same subject, the birthday events of Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani, l pleaded: ” If others can mix freely with the people, listen patiently and address their problem as Dr. Habibat does, always complementing the effort of Governor Ododo, delivering the dividends of democracy to the people, Kogi State will be a complete story of good governance . But, there is one thing. Generosity is a gift from God. It flows in the blood of they that God had blessed with it.
But now that Governor Ododo has strengthened the appeal that those who have should take a cue from the Accountant General by giving generously to the poor, the hewer of wood and drawers of water, God will for the sake of the Masses of our people imbue us with the spirit of giving through enviable empowerment programmes like that of Hajia Onumoko. After all, they say he who pays the piper dictates the tune.
From the foregoing, Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko’s birthday of pomp and pageantry is a stone for killing multiple birds. Not just one. She appreciated God for His showers of mercies upon her. Through it, she was able to empower the the vulnerable segment of the society, showing the empathetic, friendly and sensitive nature of Governor Ododo’s Administration in which she serves to the yearnings and aspiration of the people. This birthday of colour and blaze has once again confirmed her popularity, electoral value and political base with the people at the grassroots, the voters.
It also says one other thing: “The Kogi State Accountant General is making the difference and like Governor Ododo’s other similar allies, she is a sister in whom he is well pleased, single story or balanced story.
– YJ Itopa, Journalist and Poet writes from Lokoja.
