By Zacchaeus Ozovehe.
Right from day one that an individual had handshake with this world, the unmovable mover and supreme commander of the universe had designed his earthly journey. This divine design, no matter how forceful human elements could be, can never be altered. The biblical account of how Joseph went through perilous times to greatness (from prison to the palace) even in the hands of his siblings should be enough lesson for mortals that power, wealth, affluence and influence are all heritage from God and He gives to whomever He desires.
Like Joseph whose lustrous star was indicative of a bright future and this, in the wisdom of his adversaries has to be truncated, Dr Yakubu Oseni, the 6th Kogi Central Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria has had his ups and downs in the journey of life.
Born on the 15th of May, 1975 to the family of Mallam Yakubu in the present day Adavi Local Government Area of Kogi State, his family like many others knew the value of education even when there was relative apathy for Western education then. The young Oseni, in his quest for western education was also able to combine Islamic learning with western education which was fast becoming a vogue.
His father, a lover of education enrolled him at the Roman Catholic Missionary (RCM)/Local School Management Board (LSMB) Primary School, Okene in 1982, where he successfully obtained his Primary School Certificate in 1987.
Dr Oseni immediately after Primary education left Okene to the neighbouring Upogoro where he started his Junior Secondary School (JSS) at the Local Government Secondary School (LGSS). It was after his successful completion of junior secondary, that he proceeded to the first secondary school in northern Nigeria known for academic excellence, popularly known then as the “Lion of the North”, Abdul Aziz Attah Memorial College, Okene (AAAMCO) for his Senior Secondary School (SSS) and was able to scale through the hurdles of secondary education by obtaining West African Examination Council (WAEC) Certificate in the year 1993.
Unaware that Providence was preparing him ahead for humanitarian tasks, the young Oseni could not contain his burning desire to add more feathers to his humble academic pedigree by seeking university education. This unquenchable thirst for education made Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria his next port of call.
In his first year in Zaria he bagged the Edith Wetan Award for the Best 100 Level Student in the Faculty of Social Sciences, ABU, Zaria (1997). And in 2001 when he bagged his Economics Degree, he showed academic class as the best graduating student in the Faculty of Social Science and received an award for it. Reputed to have churned out intellectual leaders in the contemporary Nigerian society, the combined academic impartation of AAAMCO and ABU Zaria no doubt have drilled and equipped Dr Yakubu Oseni to actively take part in the task of nation building.
Imbued with foresight, his insatiable quest for education, dedication and tenacity, Dr Oseni is a man who knows his onions and knows what to do per time, knew he was not done with education after the acquisition of his first degree and in the year 2013, he became a proud holder of a Masters in Economics from University of Abuja. One striking quality that stands Alh. Yakubu out in his academic pursuit is his patience, longsuffering and dedication to do all that is necessary at every point of his career.
Upon graduation from ABU, Zaria, he heeded the call to serve his fatherland under the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) in Abuja between 2002-2003. Like a beautiful flower who receives the attention of bee at all times, he was employed immediately by First Bank of Nigeria Plc where he served at its Mararaba branch at the outskirt of FCT and worked so hard that he rose to the position of Business Manager in 2016. He left with a track record of hard work and honesty in all his dealings with the bank and customers.
Just like the proverbial golden fish that has no hidden place, Alhaji Yakubu Oseni came to limelight in Kogi State in 2016 when the divinely installed Governor of Kogi State, Alhaji Yahaya Bello appointed him as the Executive Chairman of Kogi Internal Revenue Service (KIRS), where in less than two years, he made impossibilities possible, he unprecedentedly overhauled the Kogi State Board of Internal Revenue Service, created job opportunities for the youths and increased funds from taxation for the government from a meagre N300M benchmark to N1.3b. In March 2018, Senator Yakubu Oseni capped up his academic pursuit with a Doctoral Degree from International University of Panama, United Kingdom.
Oseni’s feat in Kogi State was widely acknowledged across board. It was in this regard that the people of Kogi Central Senatorial District beckoned on him to earnestly represent them at the National Assembly in the last quarter of 2018 when he resigned, contested and won the senatorial primary election on the platform of All Progressives Congress (APC) and was eventually elected as Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 16th February, 2019 to represent his people at the Red Chamber.
The Kogi born Chartered Accountant is a member of many professional bodies that bordered on finance, management, taxation and marketing. These include; Association of National Accountants of Nigeria (CNA) 2017, Associate Member Chartered Institute of Taxation (CITN) 2016, Fellow Nigeria Institute of Management (Chartered) 2016, Fellow Institute of Chartered Economists of Nigeria 2015, Fellow National Institute of Marketing of Nigeria 2014, and the Associate Member, Chartered Institute of Finance and Control of Nigeria 2014.
For his outstanding performances, he won many awards; these include the Distinguished African Personality of the Year Award by Africa Youth Parliament (2016), and the Transformation Leader by Movement for Peaceful and Equitable Governance in Nigeria (2016). Similarly, he received an Award of Excellence and Outstanding Performance by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria in 2017, an Award of Excellent Leadership in Tax Administration by Chartered Institute of Taxation (2017).
With the recent inauguration of the 9th Senate, Dr Oseni had etched his name as the 6th Senator to represent his constituency in the Red Chamber since the return of democracy in 1999.
His predecessors are:
Sen. A.T Ahmed (1999-2003)
Sen. Mohammed Ohiare (2003-2007)
Sen. Salihu Otaru Ohize (2007-2011)
Sen. Nurudeen Abatemi Usman (2011-2015)
Sen. Ahmed Salawu Ogembe (2015-2019).
