Senator A.T Ahmed; The selfless leader we will never have
A young man in need of job once went to see him in his office while serving as a senator back then in the 90’s. After listening to the young man plight, he took this young man along with him and drove straight to head office of one of the Federal government agencies. On getting there, he asked the young man to wait for him at the reception while he go in to talk to the head of the agency. Few minutes later, something came up that requires the secretary to go inside the directors office, guess what she saw?
A demonstration of selfless leadership by a man that can best be described as an epitome of leadership. She met senator A.T Ahmed of blessed memory kneeling down before her boss.when she came out of the director’s office she asked the young man if he is related to the late senator, he responded no! The lady told him what she saw and the young man burst into tears. My senator came out of that office with the young man appointment letter in his hands.
Above is a tribute I wrote some years back for Late Senator A.T Ahmed of blessed memory.
Indeed, many have talked about how selfless and generous he was and I have lived all my life with the hope of finding a worthy leader with a matching attributes to fill the vacuum created by his demise. Today, I make bold to say that I have seen traces of his selfless leadership attributes in Engr Abubakar Ohere.
I will tell you about my first experience with this man.
It was a blessed Monday evening. I got a call from a friend; where are you? he asked. I replied that I am at home. He queried further, home where? I replied GRA Lokoja. He said good, get dressed right away and meet me at Adai Ohere’s office. When I got there, I inquired from my friend what we were there for and why the sense of urgency. My friend responded, he said Engr Ohere has asked him to summon youths of like minds to come and deliberate with him on positive way forward. This is a rare attribute of our present day leaders, a leader summoning youths for deliberation and inputs? It is unheard of. My friend went further to douse my suspense, he reassured me that today, I will have the opportunity of meeting the famous Adai Ohere. I was consumed with joy of optimism because of several testimonies I have heard from people who were lucky to have met him in the past, I was optimistic that mine won’t be different.
The meeting time was up and He came in right on time and we started the meeting, people were filled with anger of disconnection from the government as many were throwing raw hard punches of words at him as if he was the cause of their anger. Each and everyone made their grievances known and he started by addressing it one by one. From non payment of salary to high rate of unemployment among our youths, the continuous suffering of our market women due to lack of capital. It was more like when your servant is giving an account of how far he has gone with the job you gave him to do, he took his time to addressed each and every problems raised.
When it got to my turn to air my view, I let him know how best the government can leverage on her connection with the federal to secure jobs for our teeming unemployed youths. After the meeting he asked one of his aides to call me back so he can talk to me. When I saw him, he asked “what’s your qualification?” I said B.sc. He went further to ask if I applied for any federal job recently and luckily for me, I did applied for federal jobs. He then said I should submit my credentials to one of his aide, he will take it up from there.
Days goes by and I am yet to submit my credentials as agreed then I got a call one morning, he must have gotten my contact from one of his aides. Guess who was on the phone? Adai Ohere, he said Aliyu! “Where are your documents I asked you to bring to my office? I am right in front of the Governor as I am speaking to you now, hurry and get it across to me. I rushed quickly to his office and gave my credentials to one of his aides to convey it to him in government house immediately. Weeks later, I got an invitation for final recruitment training into a federal agency, this was how a man I don’t know from Adam touched my life in a twinkle of an eye.
Many acts of kindness have I seen this man shown to many, and also to me, yet some people want to call him strange names. And I should believe it? I hear! In a world filled with power besotted leaders who lack empathy, when I see a man with an unequal generosity, the “ODAYIOZARI”, should I not follow him? Should I not trek from here to China for his sake? I would even trek further from Beijing to Yokohama.
I congratulate you on the completion of your first tenure as commissioner for local government and chieftaincy affairs and your re-appointment as special adviser on local government and chieftaincy affairs. You have being a shoulder to so many while discharging your duties, indeed your aptitude and generosity is second to none, you speak hope to the aspiration of your people as many hope have come alive by your single intervention.
May your strength be renewed. History will remember you now and forever.
– Amb. Aliyu Mahmud Amoto
