The victory of a just cause, triumph of truth – Menachem Begin (Former Isreali Prime Minister).
The Office of the Clerk to the National Assembly (CNA), no doubt, is one of the most challenging first-class positions in Nigeria.
The reasons are not far-fetched. The Clerk sits at the peak of the bureaucratic machine in the nation’s topmost legislative body, where we have the Senate and the House of Representatives. He sees to the peaceful and sustainable development of the National Assembly.
Therefore, when the National Assembly Service Commission (NASC), ably led by its Executive Chairman, Engr. Ahmed Kadi Amshi, came up with a circular on July 17th, 2020, that reeled out the names of fresh appointments into the highest administrative echelon of the National Assembly, with Architect Amos Olatunde Ojo, heading the list as the Acting Clerk to the National Assembly, the Commission clearly showed that it was living excellently up to its statutory responsibility.
In picking Architect Ojo as the number one Chief among the members of the management cadre, the NASC has sent a clear message that its newest personality in the highest saddle of reckoning is a round peg in the round hole.
Allowing Ojo to wear the deserved crown of the leadership of the National Assembly, amid a gaggle of desperados who went to town with their foot soldiers, with the unkindest, fabricated and unfounded allegations against his candidature, shows graphicly that Amshi and his team at the NASC allowed fairness, equity and transparency to come to fruition in arriving at their judgement.
In the light of the above, one must commend the NASC for standing above the stone of unnecessary scandal and unwarranted controversies.
Perhaps, a brief look at the intellectual background and career records of Ojo will give us a marvellous idea why the Commission rated him far and above other contenders.
Born on February 14th, 1963, in llobu, Osun State, this apostle of progress and humility, a brilliant thinker and mental giant left Ilobu Secondary Commercial Grammar School in 1983, with a first-class academic laurel.
His sojourn at the Obafemi Awolowo University, lle-Ife, after gaining admission to read Architecture, which began in 1985, was sealed up with a Masters Degree in Architecture in 1992.
Ojo’s amazing imaginative and creative prowess manifested in his designing Ogun State Cultural Centre; the proposed Oba Alesinloye Market in Ibadan; the United Bank for Africa (UBA) Plc Building, llesa branch, in Osun State; the Primate Lodge of the African Church, Ifako, Agege, Lagos, to mention but a few.
His loaded intellectual proficiency has given way to his designing and supervising the construction of the Niger Insurance Headquarters Building in Lagos (12-floor skyscraper); the National Assembly Fire Service Station; the National Assembly Office Complex Phase three, part one and the National Assembly Office Complex, phase three, part two, etc.
His pedigree in his chosen career opened doors for him earlier in 2004, when he became a staff of the National Assembly, as Chief Architect in the then newly established Department of Estate and Works, where he rose from Assistant Director to that of Director.
As a Permanent Secretary, Department of Estate and Works in the National Assembly, Ojo was responsible to Mohammed Ataba Sani-Omolori, the former Clerk, in procurement, physical planning, development and maintenance of the facilities within the National Assembly.
It is not out of place to declare that the masterful display of synergy and moral magistracy with the immediate past Clerk to the National Assembly, led to the extraordinary infrastructural transformation that took place.
One thing is very clear, the career of Ojo speaks volumes of his invaluable treasures, inexhaustible sense of knowledge, learning and moral sophistication.
As l congratulate a wondrous achiever, a man with a chain of goodwill and dazzling records of performance, my absolute wish is that the supreme divine forces controlling the universe will continue to accord him sound health and mind, for the staff of the National Assembly to tap to the extreme, his fountain of knowledge, uncommon intelligence, unfettered philanthropism and unrivalled sagacity.
This unbeatable champion of superior ideas, undefeated winner in the field of public service struggle and a successful super navigator of storming waters of intrigues, simply deserves to be celebrated and given his meritorious respect.
Today, the entire National Assembly is blessed to have an Acting Clerk who will leave office far better than how he met it because he is a flourishing example of a good man cum administrator, who parades unparalleled ethical credentials of the highest repute.
Despite the avalanche of odds that were amassed against him and the cocktail of lies, he has succeeded to smash his way to the pinnacle of his career.
That he has been able to wade through a maze of determined rivals, who threw decorum to the winds and carried personal grudges to the point of nausea, to secure his historic triumph, is a demonstration of his legendary integrity.
After the startling victory of July 17th, 2020, his appointment as Acting Clerk to the National Assembly has attracted a stream of praises which has qualified him fittingly as a man of integrity.
- Tolu, a journalist, writes from Abuja.