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By Adeleke Gbenga

A calm and a cloudless morning it was, the 6th of December 2025. That grassroot politician, a shrewd and astute political gladiator, Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji Abdulkadir was at it again. He a staunch member of the All Progressive Congress(APC) representing the Ilorin Central Constituency in the 10th Kwara State House of Assembly. He is also the majority leader of the house.

He stopped at nothing to pull out all the stops to stage his 3rd mega empowerment rally on the said day, the 6th of December 2025. It was a show stopping studded political rally strewn with the usual Oba Magaji’s trademark of melodrama and theatrics in soapbox and grassroot politics.

The empowerment mega rally was not without a strong sense of deja vu as it unfolded, unmasking the usual clientele-patronage politics of the grassroot for which Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji was known. It was a dazzling display of astuteness in grassroot mobilization in its fastidious detail.

Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji took the ECWA School Oja-Iya in Badari Ward Ilorin Kwara State by storm on this day, with the open field of the School pulsating with energies, excitements and rhythms of the excited mob of followers and loyalists. It was coloured with a throbbing drumbeats of the traditional praise singers who competed for space and attentions of their clients. Emotions ran high. The APC  loyalists and followers who besieged the venue shouted from their rooftops.

They sang praises of their benefactor, Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji and threw diatribes and innuendoes at the major rival political party and its principal leader in parables and songs. All the paraphernalia of soapbox politics were deplored. It was not difficult to hazard educated guesses that, this was a season of politics. The empowerment itself was in the class of its own. It was jaw dropping, mouth watering, lavish and generous. Who could have made that possible if not the tzar of the mega empowerment himself,  whose stock in trade was to turn himself to a sanctuary of a sort for the less privilege.

Investigation reveals that his Constituency Office at Surulere was always a beehive of activities, a Mecca of sort for different categories of beneficiaries regardless of religion, language and tribe. He was described as a true Nigerian patriot who transcends the narrowness of tribe and religion. The empowerment was themed ”3rd Mega Empowerment 2025”. There was no way one would not be stunned by its magnitude in term of the items involved,  including its size or scale. It gulped millions of naira even during this austere time of austerity.  And by no any stretch of the imagination could these be described as publicity stunt. He had done it before.

The mantra that rent the air on the 6th of December 2025 during the 3rd Mega Empowerment rally of the majority leader of the Kwara State House of Assembly at the open field of ECWA School Oja-Iya was ”Oba nio”  ”Oba Magaji has done it again”  ”the close confidant of Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq” “Ile-yerimisa lanlo” among other epithets and wits. The major political opponent and its principal leader were not spared in the mockeries. If the language in which the dramas of the empowerment rally was couched, were anything to go by, it was crystal clear that the battle lines had been drawn already.

It was type-cast in a suspended animation until the 2027 general elections. And again if the straw polls conducted by our reporter were the yardsticks to forecast the likelihood of the 2027 general elections and their outcomes, the events revealed that these might be a bumper harvest for Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji. The ECWA School Oja-Iya’s open field that day was a bedlam of associations and groups in their colorful ”aso ebi” which were ankara and kampala fabrics. They were excited and cheerful with manic energy and emotion, sweeping the entire field. At exactly 11.46am, Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji was heralded into the venue of the event amidst tumultuous crowds of supporters who danced to a medley of drumbeats and musical instruments.

It was a triumphant entry into the venue,  flanked left, right, front and back by the rowdy crowds of supporters. One thousand beneficiaries benefitted from the largess. The items distributed included sewing machines, pop corn machines with gas cylinders, ground pepper machines, freezers, hairdresser dryers among other working tools. Cash supports of various amount were also given out to various interest groups and associations.

Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji did the empowerment to equip the beneficiaries with working implements according to Abdulwasiu Tejidini. He tasked the beneficiaries not to sell the equipment but to use them to support their livelihoods. He thanked Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji and urged him not to relent on his oars. The beneficiaries with whom our reporter spoke were full of thanks and prayers for Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji. They pledged their supports for APC in the 2027 elections. They praised Mallam Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq’s administration for turning the State around with heavy investments in infrastructure. They pledged their loyalty to Honourable Barrister Oba Magaji saying he was a leader they would always follow.