By Ozumi Abdul
When traducers customarily chose to deride a man probably because of his humongous looming popularity and clout, they do such hatred job fervidly, dutifully and lustfully as though their lives wholly depend on it.
They become avoidably too faultfinding, persnickety and fastidious in finding holes in his whole.
The cynics would see no good in the man because their logical lenses have been impaired by everything aversion, loathing and bitterness for him.
In fact, it can get so worse that when they see him garb or clad on a kingly regalia and ride on the back of a festooned horse, they would still chide and flay him ludicrously and ridiculously.
They would say it isn’t a horse but rather a mere bull. That can be the extent haters of another man can go to denigrate him.
This analogy typifies and aptly exemplifies the case of the traducers of Alhaji Usman Ahmed Ododo.
I mean those who constantly question his popularity and pedigree since he emerged as the Kogi state APC's governorship candidate ahead of the November 11, governorship election in the state.
Recall that shortly after his emergence, the first person to endorse him was President Muhammadu Buhari.
Soon after the Mr President's endorsement, the cynical naysayers kicked and rubbished such epoch-making blessing of the flowery Flower Boy on the ground that the administration of the president is at its tail end, and that in no distant time he will be bidding his bye to the Aso Rock seat of power.
So to them, the President's endorsement of Ododo was inconsequentially irrelevant.
They challenged that it is only the endorsement of the President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu that would matter and hold water to them as far Ododo's candidacy is concerned.
Then, barely forty eight hours after the Buhari's blessing, their mouths were widely opened agape in utter bemusement and bewilderment to discover that the Kogi's Flower Boy, Ododo was yet again endorsed by the president-elect, Tinubu, the man they challenged that only his endorsement of Ododo would validates his chances as a serious contender for the November 11 poll.
While endorsing him, the Jagaban unambiguously averred that Kogi has been an APC stronghold with consistent electoral victories since 2015, and expressed no doubt that Ododo would emerge victorious in November.
Smarting from such huge disappointment, crestfallen and bereft of reasonable arguments about his endorsements by the country's two most powerful people, the outgoing and incoming presidents, not to talk of other gale of endorsements from the royal stools in the state, as well as other illustrious sons of the state extraction, they quickly resorted again to profiling his candidacy, questioning his popularity and pedigree.
They appeared to be terrified and horrified by Ododo's imminent and threatening popularity, then started running from pillar to post, running the race all alone and getting tired out as well, even though the race for the top coveted Lugard House hasn't even gotten underway properly.
They come to town every now and then, and all gun blazing, questioning Ododo's credentials to superintend over the affairs of the state, after Governor Bellos' stint at the Luggard House.
They cheekily demean him as a 'dark horse', in the November 11 governorship race, while also failing woefully to understand that a 'dark horse', could of course be a stallion that has spectacular and distinctive attributes, different from those harems.
Because they are illogically swayed with everything baleful aversion and perdition, they couldn't discern the fact that a 'dark horse' which could of course be a stallion is known for its unbelievable speed, unpredictable behavior and temperament, especially during horse racing.
With its power and beauty, it runs at full throttle or jumps over a massive hurdle.
They never knew that a 'dark horse' which could be a stallion is a spectacular athlete, capable of running world record speeds of almost 44 miles per hour and gravity-defying leaps as high as 2.47 metres. They fall short at knowing this.
This is how they have been demeaning The Flower Boy simply because he is not a
roisterer and bacchanal kind of politician.
Like a seed of a beautiful flower tree that grows with no sound, Ododo for long has been honing his leadership skills underground, because creation is silent while destruction makes the loudest of noises.
Thus, it is nothing short of barefaced mischiefs for anyone to think that Ododo's laconic taciturnity is a testament to weakness, because there is a lot of strength in quietude.
He is a man, who though hardly talks, or blows his own trumpet, but combines administrative acumen with courage, compassion, organization, financial wizardry and clear development thoughts.
Typical of Auditors, who work but do not talk, Ododos' strength lies in his taciturn predilection.
The financial re-engineering of the state under the Economic Team in which Usman Ododo is a key player speaks volumes about his capacity and capability to turn around the fortunes of Kogi state if elected on November 11 this year.
Another area of note where Ododo had silently laid his mark in the state is the Audit Law. Such a legal framework has strengthened planning, accountability and probity.
He is fearless, works with his team with trust and has shown the place of administrative finesse in governance.
Ododo metaphorically is the force of the silent ocean waters which carries anything on its way without noise.
He remains an unstained and unblemished detribalized and impartial figure, who had never shown any trait of religious and tribal irredentism, the socio-cultural emotions that distinctively set the administration of his Boss, Governor Yahaya Bello's administration apart from his predecessors' own.
A testament to this is his printing of over twelve thousand copies of Physics and chemistry textbooks
each, that were distributed to secondary schools across the three senatorial districts of the state without a special preference for his Central Senatorial District in recent time.
Just as the biblical account of the book of Matthew 13:31-32, Ododo remains the metaphorical mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.
As flowers generally generate happiness, so also the coming of Ododo, the Flower Boy would improve the mood of Kogi people, and reduces the likelihood of stress-related depression.
Like Flowers and ornamental plants increase levels of positive energy and help people feel secured and relaxed, Ododo's candidacy exhibits
natural aesthetic beauty and soothing to the people of Kogi state.
Posterity will in the future be kind to Governor Yahaya Bello for his premonitory vision of anointing Ododo to take over the baton of the confluence state leadership from him, come early next year after his eight years of delivering the dividends of democracy to the good people of Kogi state, particularly in the areas of security and infrastructural developments.
Of course when a lion brings forth to a cub, the cub is expected to hunt.
Governor Yahaya Bello has in deed for long seen what many of us didn't see with his anointment of Ododo to consolidate on the humongous gains of his New Direction mantra.
May Ododo succeed, may Kogi state succeeed.
Ozumi Abdul is a journalist at PRNIGERIA and columnist at Arewa Trust Newspaper.
He can be reached via Abdulozumi83@gmail.com
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