By Richard Elesho
The weekend Friday, 18th to Sunday, 20th September 2025, was politically temperate for a good number of communities in Kogi Central.
For two days, the otherwise sleepy communities witnessed a sizable convoy of vehicles, including some state of the art SUVs snaking round and stopping intermittently to assimilate the details of some ongoing state government projects.
The group was led by an international development consultant, Momoh Y. Obaro and guided by officials from the Kogi State Ministry of Works and other government functionaries.
It was a minuscule throwback to August 2020 circa when Femi FaniKayode, a lawyer and former Minister of Aviation, embarked on a media tour of projects in some South-South states.
The tour was peculiar because the erstwhile minister was not a citizen of the region, neither holding any public office.
When a curious journalist interrogated the source of funds for the elaborate enterprise, an enraged FaniKayode sparked off, setting tongues to wag.
Obaro’s initiative could be justified as a sort of homecoming. The Kogi born data scientist is the secretary of the All Progressives Congress, APC, in the United Kingdom, UK.
He said his visit was partly to assess the condition of infrastructure in the zone, familiarise with the achievements of the state governor, Ahmed Usman Ododo, and drum support for his administration.
He did not stop there. Obaro, who held a series of consultations with critical stakeholders, used the avenue for political sensitization.
He enjoined people to come out in their numbers to participate in the continous voters registration exercise by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
He called on people who had just turned 18 years to guide against self-disenfranchisement by performing their civic duties.
He noted that voting was the only legitimate tool through which a citizen could either retain a desirable leadership or change an under-performing administration.
Obaro commended the APC led government in the state and at the federal level. He singled out the level of road networks running to more than 250 kilometres embarked upon by the Ododo administration in Kogi Central alone and the gradual nurture of the Nigerian economy to the path of recovery by President Bola Tinubu as feats worthy of support and continuity.
Since the visit, speculations have been rife about the political future of the UK based economist. Observers point to his silence, but steady interventions in promoting living standards in the region as being outstanding.
For instance, Obaro solved a 50-year-old water problem in Ogaminana when he singularly provided them with a borehole in June 2023.
His other community services include empowerment programs, an enduring educational support scheme for indigent students at all levels of learning, facilitating access to potable water in several places, and picking many medical and other bills of some of his less fortunate kinsmen.
He also extends patronage to communities outside his immediate senatorial zone.
In all his recent public outings, the APC stalwart has left people to second guess his intentions.
He explained that as a stakeholder in the APC project, his desire was to see those elected on its platform succeed where others had failed. Even at that, Obaro has been named among those nursing ambitions to contest the 2027 election.
In fact, a campaign committee was recently put together to advance his interest without specifying the preferred role for which he is being groomed.
Should he heed the pressure to seek election, Obaro would be on a familiar turf.
His first attempt at an elective office was more than two decades ago when he contested for the People’s Democratic Party, PDP ticket in the 2002 governorship primary of the then ruling party.
The former numero uno of Ebira politics, the late Senator Ahmed Tijani Ahmed was also in contention for the ticket.
Although Obaro did not win the poll, his participation redefined politics in the state. Arguably, th