The ‘Oyinbo’ Woman Who May Become Kogi Governor

If she happens to win Saturday’s election, Natasha Hadiza Akpoti would become the first female to be elected as the governor of Kogi State.

Akpoti is the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the November 16 election.

The lawyer-cum-philanthropist was recently reinstated as SDP’s candidate in the ballot paper of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) after she and her running mate, Adams Khalid, approached the court to challenge their exclusion from the Kogi State governorship election by INEC.

There is very little about Akpoti online, but available information shows that she was born on December 9, 1979, in Ilorin, Kwara state, to a Nigerian father, Jimoh Abdul Akpoti, and a Ukrainian mother, Ludmila Kravchenko.

Due to her complexion, she was nicked-named “Oyinbo pepper”, a name that seems to irritate her.

In a written bio, she seems proud of her African heritage and stated, “I knew my mother had a complexion different from everyone around us; she was white. However, I didn’t think I was any different from the children I played with barefoot in my village… but I surely hated being followed and teased “Oyinbo” by the children whenever I expressed a different point of view.”

Akpoti got married at the age of 19 and has a son, but there is no information to suggest that she is still married as she had not been seen with her husband during her political outings.

It is also unclear how the governorship candidate made money and became a philanthropist, but our online research indicates that she may be the owner of an e-commerce website, Builder Hubs marketplace, which sells various building materials and household items.

The online store, whose domain name was registered on June 4, 2017, has its warehouse and head office at Onabule street, along Oworo-Ogudu Expressway, Lagos State.

Information on Akpoti’s personal website show that she attended Federal Government College Idoani, Ondo State, for her secondary school education and obtained a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Abuja in the early 2000s. She attended the Nigerian Law School, Abuja, and was called to the Nigerian Bar in 2005. Akpoti bagged a Master’s degree in Business Administration at the University of Dundee in Scotland, UK, in 2012. 

Her bio states that she had worked as a legal counsel at Brass LNG in 2008 and became a “social entrepreneur” in 2015, the move she said was born out of her passion to play a key role in the industrialization of Nigeria and create employment for youths in the country.

Part of her achievements as a social entrepreneur was the partnership between her organization, Builders Hub Impact Investment Program (BHiiP), the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), and the Small, Medium Enterprise Development Agency (SMEDAN) to establish Nigeria’s first integrated technology development and business growth hub situated in Uyo, Akawa Ibom State.

Akpoti’s governorship bid is her second attempt at a political office after previously taking a shot at the Kogi central senatorial district seat under the SDP platform in the February 23, 2019, general elections.

Her leading rivals in the Saturday election are incumbent governor, Yahaya Bello of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Musa Wada of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).

Akpoti, in her campaign posters, said her vision is to bring “Social Justice and Economic Development” to the people of Kogi State. She also described her political views as “Social Democratic”, saying she believes that “true power rests with the common people and that governance must reflect the views and desires of majority especially the masses.”

Top on her campaign promises to the people is the pledge to see to the revitalization of the Ajaokuta Steel Company in Ajaokuta, to create jobs for the people of Kogi.