The real Abubakar Audu that I know

One of the many lessons I learnt from my mother is that you cannot go to the kitchen unless you are ready to stand the heat of fire. There is also a very profound possibility of getting your hands burnt.

Politics is like cooking, it is not a vocation for the faint of heart. It is one of the most risky vocations because very few if any would ever come out of it with their reputation intact or untainted. So, my father, Audu Abubakar is not an exception.

It is even worse to be a child of a politician as you share greatly from every filth thrown at your parents, even when you know nothing about the issues at stake. No wonder Barack Obama was said to have confessed that he usually hide newspapers from his children, because he hated their reactions whenever they read the many lies and insults against their father. It is the lot of politicians to receive insults from intemperate minds and it is worse in Nigeria politics where opponents try very hard to recreate your image to suit their fancies and their own imaginations. The implication is that many undiscerning masses may accept the lies as truth.

I am not in any way trying to defend my father because for obvious reasons, none of my views would pass the objectivity test, but I will be failing my generation if I refuse to present the real Audu that is different from newspaper's reports. Though it is impossible to capture a significant part of the disposition and character of my father in a short essay, I will still try to present a part and leave other part for posterity.

Audu is not your conventional politician so I definitely expect him to suffer many misconceptions and bad judgment.

The Audu that I know is very strict, highly discipline, organised, humane and cerebral and above all, loves his family so much. These are virtues that he demonstrates wherever he is, that could be mistaken for arrogance. He has a strong work ethics based on standard, due process and never believes anything is impossible to accomplish and it had helped him to become an achiever in politics.

Infrastructural and human developments are his driving force in politics. He is never happy whenever potentials are not in tune with realities and that is why he bowed to pressure from his people to contest in the 2015 governorship election. He believes that the state has enough resources that could make it the best in the country.

You need to be self confident to be around him because he has a presence that is somewhat intimidating. Love him or hate him, Audu is not a man one can ignore but happily, he has more friends and fans than foes.

He thinks about his people and how to use his own God given resources to uplift the standard of living in the state and that why, today, he remains the darling of Kogi masses.

Maimuna Yahaya Audu (Eke) wrote from Abuja