Transformational leadership is governance built and nurtured on the foundation of love for everyone, irrespective of ethnicity, religion, political affiliation. It is a leadership model anchored on inclusivity, impacting lives towards self-reliance, through educational empowerment, skills acquisition, job creation and developing or empowering the unemployed army of youths who otherwise are used as thugs by desperate politicians to terrorise perceived opponents.
Honestly, Africa and especially Nigeria need to wake up if at all they have confidence in the principle of transformational leadership. This because transformational leadership is leadership is founded on sincerity, clarity of purpose, dreams, visions and goals which if adhered to strictly will yield positive outcomes. Transformational leadership also has faith in good partnership founded on confidence for the followers who give the leader the power.
It is an appreciation from the leaders to the followers as well as displaying unalloyed reference to the elite, the traditional leaders, the clergy and the populace in its entirety. A down-to-earth transformational leader is one who prioritises the interest of his or her followers over his. A sacrificially minded transformational leader is a team manager, a torch bearer who puts on the light to eliminate darkness through positive thinking which when applied, easily proffers solutions to quantum of challenges facing the society like those of the marginalised people of Benue South Senatorial District in Benue state.
In this connection that as a journalist and public affairs commentator with knowledge about the leadership acumen of Honourable Chief Dr. Agbo Ottah, the immediate-past member, House of Representatives, representing the good people of Ado/Okpokwu/Ogbadigbo federal constituency of Benue state, I liken him to everything highlighted above regarding transformational leadership. It is indeed indisputable that Agbo Ottah has all the qualities to be rewarded with the senatorial seat of Benue South in the 2027 general elections.
Dr. Ottah is a man with pragmatic dreams and vision with mapped-out transformational programmes for the people of Benue South which he is keenly executing across the nine local government areas of the zone long before he went into politics. It was partly because of these programmes that he was massively voted into the green chamber of the National Assembly in 2019. Facts at hand show that he was notable for his human capacity building programmes and community development projects long before he ventured into the murky waters of politics.
He was the deputy spokesman of the House of Representatives from 2019-2023, and later, chairman, committee on narcotics and drugs where he displayed unprecedented leadership to restore the lost glory of Nigeria Drugs Law Enforcement Agency. Till date this feat is still a topic of discussion across Nigeria especially in the media where he is also a notable figure. It is in view of his conscientious leadership that the principle of Lewin’s leadership bravura appeared in my mind. The Lewin highlights three kinds of leadership which revolves around decision making which can either affect the society negatively or positively.
These decisions are; autocratic, democratic and laissez-faire. Honorable Dr. Agbo Ottah is a true democrat with a large heart, fully fortified by God Almighty and blessed with the spirit of hard-work, determination and focus. This has made him to achieve great heights academically, human capacity building and community development, especially for the good people of Benue South. Thus, a lot of his beneficiaries are already canvassing for him to be rewarded with a senatorial seat in the 2027 general elections.
Ottah is indeed a truly detribalised leader with democratic spirit who takes decisions by involving others irrespective of class or status to ensure that the larger number of his people feel the impact of governance. This is why even when even he is not in the House of Representatives due to inter-party squabbles, his impacts across every nook and cranny of Benue South where he hails from, are still standing tall in the eyes, ears and minds of people across political, religious and tribal lines.
As a true democrat, even when he is yet to be elected as a distinguished senator, he has already initiated and executed projects in all the nine local government areas that make up Benue South Senatorial District. For instance, it is on record that the amount of job he created during his tenure as house committee chairman on narcotics and drugs, is unprecedented in the history of Benue state, especially Benue South. I make bold to say that in Benue South, there’s no ward that doesn’t have more than five people enlisted into the Nigeria Drug Law Enforcement Agency or other government organisations.
His impact on infrastructure development is also monumental in his senatorial district. He has constricted township roads, bridges, schools, markets, hospitals, etc. It is also on record that the modus operandi of Dr. Agbo Ottah scholarship scheme doesn’t discriminate against any indigene of Benue South Senatorial District. In fact, hundreds of people across the senatorial district confessed that they were awarded scholarship without hindrance. This is unlike other people that only award scholarship to their immediate constituents based on sentiments.
He also deserves to be rewarded with the senatorial seat of Benue South come 2027 because his approach to the insecurity in the zone is second to none. On many occasions, especially during his tenure in the House of Representatives, he ensured that security personnel are fully deployed to all the insecurity prone areas in the zone to provide adequate security to his people. Prominent among his display of care for the people of Benue South was when the people of Agatu, Apa, Otukpo, Obi, Oju, Okpokwu, and Ado were attacked by herdsmen.
Agbo Ottah, in his usual transformational leadership style as a true democrat, took trailer loads of relief items comprising bags of rice, beans, semolina, grains, house items, drugs, etc to each community attacked by the dare devil herdsmen. It is in view of his unimaginable and incomparable large heart towards the entire people of Benue South Senatorial District that many political observers believe Agbo Ottah should be rewarded with a senatorial seat in 2027. He is eminently qualified for the senate, having been a member of the National Assembly with superb academic qualifications, a veteran media personality and an international business mogul. Will Dr. Ottah hearken to the clarion call to run for senate come 2027?Time will tell as we head towards 2027.
Onoja Agada, a political analyst, writes from Efoyo, Ugbokolo in Okpokwu local government area of Benue state.