Pa Momoh Sani Ododo – a revered patriarch and a father to all, lived a live of exemplary discipline, moral integrity, sincerity, infectious humility, selflessness, godliness and love. His virtues were not only admirable but deeply impactful, and they live on in Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo’s remarkable leadership and commitment to the good of the people of Kogi State. Truly, you are a worthy chip off the old block. And we remain grateful to Papa for raising a son whose governance style has continued to uplift lives across our dear State.
“You Excellency, please be consoled by the legacy Papa has left behind – a legacy worth celebrating” –
Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko (paying her condolences to Gov Ododo’s late father in The Graphic Newspaper of August 27, 2025)
Monday, 18th of August 2025, Momoh Sani Ododo, Governor Ododo’s Father died, peacefully and happily. And if dead men are allowed to return to life for titles or awards before they return to their far flung world, Ododo’s father will be invited by me for a feasting and he will come top on the award list of my Dead Men of the year.
I did not forget. The late Nigerian President, General Muhammadu Buhari died early this year. Few of the many other great Nigerian men and women that died this year included Late Bayelsa State Governor, Lawrence Oborawharievwo, Billionaire Aminu Dantata, Journalist and Media Manager Donyisola Abiola and Elder statesmen like Edwin Kiabodo and Pa Ayo Adebanjo. And like deaths of princes, as William Shakespeare once said, comets were seen as heavens blaze forth their deaths
Yet, if I am to honour dead men who lived a live of fulfilment, Pa Momoh Sani Ododo would make the topmost position on my list of awardees. A glistering red cap with a forest of feathers adorning his crown, beautiful royal bid dangling from his graceful neck and other embellishments at his tattooed ankles and wrists validating his greatness.
Get me right, I am not rolling out the drums to celebrate the death of Governor Ododo’s father. The old man died in his twilight. Yet it is only the enemies of even a Methuselah that will sing and dance on his grave, saying, “Good. He has gone, why did he think he would live on this planet earth till eternity?” A man’s death must always give us a sober reflection, ” A time is coming when I too, like this dead man will be lifeless, bathed, shrouded and lowered into the belly of mother earth,” Tears tumbling down our cheerless chicks. To Governor Ododo and many others, Pa Ododo’s death left a vacuum, difficult to fill. And it called for concern and even crying.
But as we know, a tragedy can shape an oasis somewhere in its heart. When Pa Momoh Sani Ododo died, Kogi State, particularly, Kogi State Central Senatorial District from which he hailed suddenly became a Mecca of sorts.
At his burial, Okene became a sudden ocean. pools of panegyrics ballooned into brooks of encomiums that swelled into a stream of paeans which in turns snaked into a rousing river of ovation that wore the flowing robe of the sea, its waters splashing through its bulbous banks to eventually take the name of an ocean which gods and goddesses believers may go to worship.
As I flipped through scores of newspapers and other Media outfits to read again some of the best tributes that people paid to the deceased Father of the Kogi State, Ahmed Usman Ododo, a particular one caught my attention. And that was the tribute paid to him by the Accountant General of the State, Hajia Habibat Oyiza Tijjani Onumoko which I quoted above to herald this Piece: “My Dead Man of the Year.” Onumoko’s homage aptly captured the essence of the deceased Father of Governor Ododo.
The late Patriarch of Ododo family lived a humble life. Before his son’s rise to stardom, little was known of him in Ebiraland. As Ebira people will say, “Ine eha mi, unwe eku mi.” He was not bellyful, yet he was not hungry. That was his status. He was not educated. Edwin Kiabodo was. He was not a leader in the mould of Ayo Adebanjo of the Yoruba Afenifere fame. The late Pa Momoh Sani Ododo was not an affluent man like Billionaire Aminu Dantata. Donyisola Abiola and Oborawharievwo were people of letters and position respectively. Pa Ododo had none of the two.
Our Late President Muhammadu Buhari rose from the rank of the Military to become a General in the Army. Ododo’s late Father had no military rise from as Buhari had. Yet, when the six men died, like the five others, Ododo in death shun like a million stars. Dictionaries of different kinds were rummaged through for the sweetest, most memorable and edifying adjectives to describe the man whose loins gave the State a good Governor.
Words like humility, selflessness, godliness, humaneness, virtuousness, caring, peacefulness, love, gentlemanliness, discipline, integrity, candidness, exemplar, trustworthy, lovely and loveliness, remarkable, contentment, morality, fulfilment, hardwork and prayerfulness etcetera were generously used by Nigerians including President Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu, Vice President Kashim Shettima, Senate President Godwin Akpabio and their families to bid him farewell to Paradise.
Then, a question should agitate our minds. If Momoh Sani Ododo’s son, Ahmed Usman did not become a Governor, something close to Governor or above it, would he have gotten the generous homage that filled his condolence registers, newspaper pages and other platforms to the brim? Your guess is as good as mine.
Unlike many modern parents, in his struggle and quietude, the late Ododo was busy nursing a lifelong dream, a dream to send his children to school, knowing ful well that a properly trained child in terms of certificate acquisition and inculcation of native intelligence and wisdom would serve the parent like a good and strong Walking stick in his old age.
It worked for him. And the fruit of his labour did not ripe only while he was alive. It riped in his presence, and into a bumper harvest for him and humanity – Ododo is succulent and juicy. And the old man savoured it with pride and fulfilment.
The life of Governor Ododo’s father should serve as a good lesson to all parents. A child that is properly trained is the child that brings pride, wealth, fulfilment and loveliness to the family, not shame, hatred and curse.
I know some may argue, ” It is sheer luck jare.What of the teaming educated Nigeria youths who swarm the streets without job.” To such people, I say this is not a good reason to abandon our responsibility of giving our children sound education and moral upbringing. No luck can make a roadside motorcycle mechanic a professor.
A story. A man once chastised his child saying, “Onivo, what wrong did I do to you? Look at the son of Enesi my friend. If he is not bringing a trailer-load of rice and beans, bales of clothes to his father and building a new house for his parents today, tomorrow, he is changing his father’s car for him as if cars were a peer of shoes. Onivo, you can only bring a small sack of cassava flour and a few slender tubers of yam to me and your mother And you do this once in a blue moon. If Enesi is a morsel of pounded yam, you will swallow it without drinking water to wash it your throat. Onivo why?
“Father, I am sorry. it is not my fault. You gave me farming training while your friend, Enesi, struggled in the rain and in the sun to send his son, Ododo to school. A farmer gives yam or cassava while the educated gives houses, cars and clothes. I act according to my level,” the son replied.
If Ododo is certificateless, he would have been hollow when the opportunity came his way to throw his heart into the ring, vying for governorship position. Pa Ododo knew this and hungered so that Ododo Jnr. can be belly- filled.
Poor men who trained their children will not share the same death story with the beggars in Shakespeare’s lines Below: ” When beggars die, there are no comets seen, heavens blaze forth deaths of princes.” Heavens will definitely blaze forth when the beggar who trained his child dies.
Onumoko’s gratitude to Ododo’s dead Father is apt. She said “…And we remain grateful to Papa for raising a son whose governance style has continued to uplift lives across our dear State.”
From the foregoing therefore, the late Pa Momoh Sani Ododo eminently deserves to be crowned as my The Dead Man of the Year 2025. Dead men don’t return physically except spiritually in the forms of marked men to commune with the living or by reincarnation. But whatever it is we can honour them posthumously, telling their stories to inspire the living. So it is in this piece with Governor Ahmed Usman Ododo,s late father.
Sir, your admirable son, Ododo, has vowed to ride the horse of the State leadership to a destination called Good Governance Haven. Please, do not take your eyes off him. Protect him, guide him aright and pray for him in the holy mosque of the land of dead men like you did when you lived.
– Y.J. Itopa, a veteran journalist, writes form Lokoja.
