Let Ododo be

When the 32nd president of the United States of America, Franklin Delano Roosevelt set a bench mark of first hundred days in office, as a measuring rod io gauge his policy trajectory, he had in mind a concept to guide his policy delivery. The first one hundred days was not only designed to spur FDR on to the performance direction he planned to follow to make impact, it also offered the people reasonable insight into where his administration was going. It was a concept made for a perilous time, the period of depression, when the president sought to bring relief to the American, first, on the short run, then in the long run.

The practice of elected state chief executives marking their first one hundred days in office, has since been copied across democracies, especially. The practice has become, more or less, a ritual, bereft of the appreciation, by those who now seek to mark the milestone, of its elementary essence.

In Nigeria, for instance, celebration of the first hundred days mark, by state chief executives, after assumption of office, has been adopted as a ritual, a hollow one. The practice has acquired a life of its own. In several instances, what was conceptualized as a policy and service delivery benchmark, has been turned into another opportunity for merry making and throwing parties, as if the chief executive being celebrated was not expected, in the first place, to have lasted for hundred days. If you search well, you may even find party faithful and supporters who sew special dresses to mark the first hundred days in office of a governor, or president, as the case may be.

Perhaps, the most recent anniversary of first hundred days in office, which attracted broad media attention, was that in Kogi State, by the governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo. The governor, living up to the spirit of the celebration of the first one hundred days in office, as it has come to be in Nigeria, ended up setting himself up for all manner of ridiculing and jokes.

What did Ahmed Ododo do to become the butt of media jokes for over a week? He published his accomplishments in his first one hundred days as the resident of Lugard House, Lokoja, the official abode of the governor of the state. Among the accomplishments and policy deliveries listed by the 42-year-old governor in his first one hundred days was that he attended the meeting of the forum of governors and that he met with the National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu. He also conducted a head count of farmers etc.

For all those who pillory Usman Dodo and make heavy joke of all that he ascribed to himself as accomplishment, it may be necessary for them to put issues in their proper perspective. First, Ahmed Usman Ododo is an honest man. He is not the type to claim what he did not do. That sets him apart from a number of his colleagues.

Much more importantly, Ododo’s circumstances as governor needs to be put in perspective, to understand why, even cutting of grass may count for him as accomplishment. The accountant-governor came to office on January 27 2024. He succeeded Yahaya Bello. Now Bello was, and possibly, still is, a lion. That’s what he promoted himself to be. Ododo, on the other hand, is a lamb, confirmed. This is a new governor, who, at his inauguration ceremony prostrated full length, alongside his wife, for Bello, who had just ceased to be governor.

If, after the formal transfer of power and inauguration of Usman Ododo, as governor of Kogi State, Yahaya Bello had gone home and left the new governor to be, it may be fair to hold Ododo accountable for substantial acts and policies in the state. But it did not turn out that way. Yahaya Bello promptly erected a new post for himself inside the same government house in Lokoja, where he held sway in the new office known and recognized as Office of the Immediate Past Governor of Kogi State. To all intents and purposes, Ahmed Usman Dodo was in office, but Yahaya bello remained in power.

Until recently, when providence, in form of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) intervened, forcing Bello to beat a retreat, Ododo was more or less, a governor in official reckoning, but something of a deputy governor or less, in real sense. And who does not know that deputy governors or even vice presidents, are confined to attending funerals and meeting of governors forum, etc. Spiro Agnew, the US vice president to President Richard Nixon confirmed the lot of vice presidents many years ago. That seemed to be the lot of Ododo, the governor.

Ahmed Usman Ododo must be a good man. For his first one hundred days in office and beyond, he was carrying his cross with equanimity. He never complained and there was no basis for anyone to cry for him. What he published as his accomplishments were what he did. He saw no need to doctor his report card. Nor did he find any shame in publicly owning up to the much he had done.

By his obvious nature, Ododo does not have the stomach, not gut, for giving anybody hell. A lamb is not known for pulling stunts with a lion, anyway. The man at the Lugard House in Lokoja may be looking across many rivers to some of colleagues, new governors, and wondering where the heck they got the anointing to be doing what some of them are doing presently. Taking on a lion – and there were many lions and sharks all over – is, without doubt, a risky venture. For any novice on the block to try such adventure, is to carry a mark of suicide on the head. It takes some doing. Ahmed Usman Ododo is not given to such dangerous adventures.

He is a humble man, who appreciates how far God has brought him. He too may have remained a grade level 14 office, had the gods not thought otherwise.

Coming behind an emperor, a lion, Ododo knows from the onset, that he has to be careful. He must have to navigate his way with sublime dexterity. That is what he has elected to do. When he has opportunity to attend meeting of governors’ forum, he gives thanks, records the accomplishment and returns home. Thank God the siren in his official vehicles were conceded him, so he enjoys that perquisite of the office of governor maximally.

It may yet be the fact that God loves Ahmed Usman Ododo. By removing the occupant of the Office of the Immediate Past Governor from the precincts of the Government House, to where ever he is hibernating for now, the present governor may have been cut some slack. Who says a governor, even if he is a lamb, does not deserve to breathe easy? So, for now and who knows for how long, Governor Ododo may have been saved, by providence ,and allowed to do more than involving himself in counting farmers and attending meeting of governors.

All things being equal, or at least the judiciary permitting, Governor Ododo will have the chance to do better when he marks his one year in office. Then, if he works as his own man, he will surely have much more to do and show. Once those who occupy Ahmed Ododo’s space and breath down his neck vacate his gubernatorial space for him, the man will no longer count attending governors meeting or meeting Nuhu Ribadu as accomplishment.

For now, it is fair to let Ododo be. As they say it in an awkward English translation of an Igbo phrase; “man and something are doing”. The Igbo phrase captures it better. Other lambs like Ahmed Ododo have been turned into tiger by circumstances, but Ododo remains the lamb. For now.