Kachikwu: Daring the Odds!

Kachikwu: Daring the Odds!

In Delta State, the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu did his best for President Muhammadu Buhari’s election in a political turf where the president ordinarily stood no chance and his efforts are not trifling, writes Shola Oyeyipo

The Minister of State for Petroleum Resources, Dr. Ibe Kachikwu, is one individual, who knows his onions, not only in his chosen field as a technocrat but also on the turf of politics, even though he nurses no political ambition for now.

For a man, who had suffered baseless and needless persecutions almost throughout his entire stay in the Muhammadu Buhari government from those who hate to see other succeed; that he was able to keep his head high and focused was perhaps his staying grace!

The months leading to the elections were not particularly easy for the minister as he battled almost every other week with different allegations, a majority of them bordering on alleged political ambition and unfounded accusations of certain impropriety. But while he did not waver, he remained focused and determined to help deliver Buhari’s success story, at least, from his posting.

For the first time, the February 23 presidential election put him to serious capacity test in his Delta State, where he is the undisputable leader of the Buhari political family. And realising the task ahead, the weight of the mobilisation deployed to work was evident of the man, who definitely knew what was at stake.

He was not oblivious of the strength of the ruling PDP in his state but was neither intimidated by their menacing posturing. To coordinate a team work that reduced the margin of defeat in the state, he had moved to Delta long ahead of the election to soften the ground for the president.

The 221,292 votes polled by the president in the state as against PDP’s 594,068 did not fall from heaven or grow from cultivation; it was the result of the hard work of a team put together and coordinated by Kachikwu. At least, for the APC, he made the difference in Delta and it is worthy of note and mention.

Therefore, whenever Buhari’s 2019 election success story is being told, particularly where a state by state analysis was inevitable, that the party lost in Delta state with 221,292 votes to PDP’s 594,668 would not form the totality of the Delta account, but who played what role and for whom?

This is where Kachikwu comes in and deserves to be extended his dues in terms of his contribution to the collective success story of the APC and Buhari.

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