Ahead of the forthcoming 2019 general elections, it has become evidently clear that Rt. Hon. Momoh Jimoh Lawal, a sitting lawmaker in the Kogi State House of Assembly, is just few months away to keep a date with another history in his political career as he gets ready to vie for the seat of Okene/Ogori-Magongo Federal Constituency at the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
If he gets the mandate of his people, that will be another record in his highly successful political career that began seven years ago when he won a seat at the Kogi State House of Assembly to represent Okene II Constituency.
Under this democratic dispensation, Hon. Lawal, who is a man of the people to the core, is gradually carving a niche for himself as a jinx breaker in Ebira politics. The former speaker of the Kogi State of House of Assembly has become a political enigma and a record holder in his Okene II Constituency. As at today, he remains the only politician from that constituency that has won the mandate of the people for a consecutive two term in office back to back.
The unassuming and humble political leader, holds another enviable record of being the first lawmaker from Okene II Constituency to be elected as Speaker of the House, a position he enjoyed for a full first term, until he ran into leadership storm during his second tenure in office. However, it is noteworthy that he was able to weather the storm doggedly through a prolong court process that was decided twice in his favour at the High Court and Court of Appeal, before some concerned elders from Ebiraland intervened and sued for peace among the warring actors. It was at this stage, that Momoh Jimoh Lawal displayed his maturity, his respect for elders, and a good dose of patriotism, as he voluntarily resigned his position as Speaker in the general interest of Ebira people.
In the build-up to the 2019 general elections, Hon. Lawal has another date with history as he is stepping up to test his strength and acceptability against other aspirants, in his ambition to represent Okene/Ogori-Magongo Federal Constituency on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) at the lower chamber of the National Assembly.
Political pundits and analysts have observed that given his remarkable achievements in the last seven years as a lawmaker, Hon. Lawal remains the man to beat in the forthcoming race. True, his opponents may likely face a tall order in their attempts to beat him, given that Hon. Lawal has built his formidable war chest and a large loyal support base within the entire Okene and Magongo Federal Constituency over the years.
Hon. Lawal has been able to deliver dividends of democracy that has direct bearing on the lives of his constituents, which include the provision of twenty-four motorized boreholes, construction of six blocks of classrooms in his Alma Mater (Lennon Memorial Secondary School), renovation of government day secondary school, situated in Okene I, full scholarship awards to over hundred students up to higher institutions, and youth and women empowerment programmes in which all the eleven wards in Okene local government area got ten motorcycles each and other items.
Hon. Lawal, who is from a humble background, has also extended his philanthropic activities to individuals and religious leaders in the entire Ebiraland in the past seven years, to prove that his acts of benevolence is not restricted to the confines of his immediate constituency alone .
It is also on record that the lawmaker has proved beyond reasonable doubt that he is not a political prostitute, as he has consistently remained a loyal and faithful member of the opposition party in the State.
In a chat with this Journalist, Hon. Lawal, who went down the memory lane, declared that it was high-time the people of Okene I consider to relinquish their stronghold to the plum seat of House of Representatives in the last sixteen years to the people of Okene II Constituency in the spirit of fairness, justice, and equity in the polity, stressing that there was an existing rotation arrangement which should be honoured by the two contending constituencies.
If you ask me, Hon. Lawal looks good enough to make history again in the forthcoming general elections given his antecedents and pedigree in the polity.
– Otori Ozigi is a retired Public Servant/PR Consultant.
