I really admire the courage, vision, honesty, steadfastness as well as exemplary leadership qualities of a lady who has come to be regarded by all and sundry as an epitome of what a true representative / leader should be. The Most Distinguished Senator Natasha Hadiza Akpoti Uduaghan is a leader indeed.
The Kogi State Central Senatorial District experience should serve as a formidable lesson to other States where democracy is being trampled upon because some people still nurture the primitive and ill-fated idea that leadership is the exclusive preserve of their ill-motivated clique. This has continued to constitute a big cog in the wheel of progress of Kogi State that is blessed with abundant human and material resources.
Inevitably, Nigerians have written, said and thought a great deal about the wind of change, since the “White Lion “was forced by the expiration of his tenure to sing bye bye to direct governance of Kogi State to now resume ruling by proxy. And equally inevitably, we are looking forward to making comparisons between our quite painful sojourn in the last eight years and present-day governance in the State.
It is indeed understandable that many Nigerians should find in the Ebira people epoch much reason for mixed emotions; tears, fears, cheers, food for thought as well as food for hope. Cheers for the people of Ebiraland for Natasha’s eventual success at the Senate. Tears for the families of our people that lost their lives and means of livelihood in the struggle. Fears for our future. Thoughts of what we could have long accomplished, but woefully failed to. Hope that we may and can still do it with Natasha at the Senate, improbably as it seems sometimes. Some might even find reasons for despair, feeling that our people may not be suffering from growing pains, as we think, but are in fact, post-mature; ossified; inability becomes the only (stable) staple of our life.
It is my belief that the most important lesson for us from the Ebira people experience is to learn from the Natasha example of personal sacrifice. Admittedly on the pragmatic level which most ordinary folk will see Natasha’s action, it is real – politics, but a truly sincere one. It is not political gimmickry. That is why some of her earlier political opponents, after a period of soul-searching, came to the conclusion that this lady of substance is a genuine believer in what she preaches and joined forces across political party lines for her electoral victory during the February 2023 Senatorial election.
In his appreciation of what Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan stands for, for all humanity, the departed Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, His Royal Majesty, Dr Abdulrahman Ado Ibrahim of blessed memory, said this during the conferment of the traditional title of “Ohiogu of Ebiraland ” on her. The Ohinoyi said, “people often ask me what difference one person can make in the face of injustice, cheating, human rights violations, mass poverty and disease. I answered by citing the courage, tenacity, dignity and magnanimity of Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan “. She has laid down the sign post for recognizing a true democrat and an amiable character prepared for a positive change. Natasha could have lived a life of selfish luxury in the midst of the rampant poverty and fear in the land. But she gave her legal counsel job with the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas to lead an opposition against oppression to liberate her people to achieve something that would be greater than her own personal well-being and interest. She is indeed a breath of fresh air when she joined the political fray in Kogi State.
She is highly appreciated and reputed for her untiring efforts in advocacy for the resuscitation of the moribund Ajaokuta Steel Company, and a dedicated philanthropist.
The rising sun of December 9, 1979 heralded the birth of a Star, Natasha Hadiza in Ilorin – Kwara State to the family of Dr Jimoh Abdul Akpoti from Ihima and Ludmilla Kravchenko, her mother from Ukraine. Early in life, Natasha Hadiza Akpoti attended Christ the King Nursery and Primary School in Okene and proceeded to Government Girls Unity School, Oboroke and the Federal Government College, Idoani – Ondo State. She studied law at the University of Abuja and attended the Nigerian Law School in Bwari – Abuja and was called to the Bar in 2005. She obtained a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Dundee, Scotland in 2012.
Today, Senator Natasha Akpoti Uduaghan is the Senate Committee Chairman on Local Content and Vice Chairman of the Senate Committee on Steel. Her first motion on the floor of the Red Chamber was to request that the recently departed Ohinoyi of Ebiraland, His Royal Majesty, Dr. Abdulrahman Ado Ibrahim be immortalized. She canvassed for the re-naming of the Federal College of Education, Okene, after the transited royal father. In less than two months in the Senate, she has facilitated gainful Federal Government appointments for over forty unemployed graduates from her Senatorial District.
She has commissioned and staffed her constituency offices in the five Local Government Areas and street light project, fulfilling some of her campaign promises. The Amazon was home during the last Yuletide Season to share love with her constituents. She gave out six trucks of rice, clothes, money, school bags and books. Among her priorities is the functional resuscitation of Ajaokuta Steel Project, which is very close to her heart, because of its potential to impact on the lives of her people and the country as a whole.
She is happily married to an Itsekiri High Chief Emmanuel Oritsejolomi Uduaghan, the Alema of Warri; a great supporter and believer of his wife’s dreams and projects.
