Kogi Guber: Wada Has 15 Years Public Service Experience But Zero Background In Politics

This weekend, November 16 to be exact, voters in Kogi State will troop out in the numbers to elect a new Governor, a Chief Executive who will pilot the affairs of the state for the next four years.

The battle for the number one seat of the confluence state is majorly between incumbent Yahaya Bello of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Bello is re-contesting the position amidst wide spread reports of non-performance which now smacks him in the face as the deal day draws nearer.

Wada on the other hand is coming into the political scene as a fresher, having joined active politics a few months back, July 2019. He is the younger brother to the former Governor of the state, Idris Wada.

The younger Wada will be hoping to benefit from the political clout of his elder brother in view of his inexperience in the politics of the state. Wada spent 15 years in public service as a civil servant without any spell in any political office. He may have defeated his elder brother, Idris Wada in the PDP governorship primaries, but the reason is unlikely to be that he has more political clout to win the governorship.

Being younger and perceived to be more dynamic may have swayed his party supporters to give him the governorship ticket.

The Kogi guber hopeful has also been accused of being mentally unstable.

A Lokoja-based lawyer, Ehimoni Sunday, who made the accusation approached the federal high court seeking to disqualify Wada from contesting the polls.

THE WHISTLER’s research shows that Wada has 15 years public service experience, having started his public service career as an engineer at the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) in 2004.

Below is a brief about the PDP guber candidate

Origin:

Wada is an indigene of Odu in Dekina Local Government Area of Kogi State. Born into the family of Alh. Wada, his mother Hajia Awawo hails from Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State.

Education:

Wada started his early education at Local Government Education Authority primary school, Okura Olafia in Dekina LGA between 1968 to 1973. He proceeded to government secondary, Dekina from 1973 to 1978, then school of basic studies from Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria from 1978 to 1979. He got a B.Sc. (Building) still at ABU from 1979 to 1983. He has a first degree in building, a master’s degree in Transport studies from Ogun State University (now Olabisi Onabanjo University), then Ph.D. in Environmental Science and Industrial Policy from the University of Calabar.

Public Service Experience:

Wada started his public service career in Nigeria Ports Authority as a Civil Engineer 2 and rose to the position of Chief Ports Engineer of Tin Can Island around 2004.

After three years in that position he became the Principal Manager, capital projects, Nigeria Ports Authority Headquarters.

In 2013, he was appointed Ports Manager, Calabar Ports till June 2015. After there he went to Onne as Ports Manager. After six months he was transferred to a subsidiary of Nigeria Ports Authority, Seaview Properties Limited as Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. He held the position until he voluntary retired in July 2019 to take part in active politics.

Professional Bodies

He is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Shipping, the Nigerian Society of Engineers, Institute of Building, amongst others. He is also an Officer of the Igala Kingdom (OIK).