Festus Okoh: Climbing Up On His Own Ladder

By Williams Eghebi

I recently read again the globally celebrated THINGS FALL APART by  Prof Chinua Achebe. I was somehow attracted by the part that talked about Unoka, the lazy man that incidentally was Okonkwo’s father.

By all standards, the frail flutist should not have been the father of Okonkwo, the great wrestler, brave husband and caring father as well as the pathfinder in Umuofia Village. Okonkwo’s greatness was not dwarfed by the circumstances of his birth.

In Agbor Kingdom, the land of my birth and heritage, there have emerged several great men and women who were not born blue-blooded. They graciously became very successful by dint of hard work plus other prevailing variables. Hon Festus Chukwuyem Okoh perfectly falls in this enviable group.

His primary education may be without truncation but same cannot be said of his secondary education.

He had a patched process that took him to both Ika Grammar School now in Owa and Omumu Grammar School, Omumu, Agbor.

Without any motivation for further academic progress, he enlisted for training on how to sell farming implements such as cutlass, hoe and axe.

His target was probably to set up his own shop few years after, rent a room, buy motorcycle for local runs and begin to raise his family.  For  him, the goal was ambitious.  Suddenly, came a knock on his head. He left his  master  and traveled to Abraka to obtain university admission form.

Five years after, he was posted to Rivers State for his compulsory national youth service. The university education he acquired through pains, refined him to realise that he can compete on the global space without inhibitions.

Festus Chukwuyem Okoh,  emboldened by his formal education, left Nigeria for Europe in search of  new life with high propensity to achieve new dreams.  While in Cork, near Dublin, he acquired substantial wealth with which he made high-profit yielding investments in both Europe and Nigeria.  

As he began to reap profits in double digits from his real  estate and forex trading, he became tempted to join politics where he could dine and  wine  with kings and queens if he got it right.

In 2011, Festus Chukwuyem Okoh, stubbornly dared the political hegemony by contesting for House of Representatives under the Democratic People’s Party to represent Ika Federal Constituency. Though he didn’t win that fierce election, he however announced his presence boldly  in partisan politics.

Little wonder that when he contested four years after for House of Assembly under Accord, he did not only defeat the candidate of the ruling PDP but somehow throw open the political leadership in  Ika South.

Today, the Ime-Obi born politician is the Majority Whip in  the Delta State House of Assembly. He didn’t record this feat on a platter of gold. This young man referred to as Chuky Dandy walked to this enviable level through tenacity of purpose, financial investment, social currency, native intelligence and above all, his uncommon power to absorb all muds  thrown at him.

He has been called several unprintable names by both folks and foes. While many  perceive him as arrogant, others loathe him because of his  generosity and capacity to break new frontiers.

Irrespective of these pockets of vitriolic attacks, it is a truism that he stands high on Ika South political pyramid. The  incontrovertible tripple score is not expected to be received by many of his peers that are amazed by his rocket speed promotion.

This young man taps into the disturbing poverty index in his community. He maintains father and son relationship with the party elders, he regularly oils the wheels of party officials, socially keeps tabs with his contemporaries and meet the minimum basic needs of youths and women especially the widows.

As he turns fifty years, there is no better time for him to put sentiments aside to work with his contemporaries that he often times labelled wrongly as foes. The political battles ahead of him will no doubt, become more ferocious. The firing pins are saved in his armoury. The ebullient politician must find a way to support the  creation of  collective leadership structure populated by cerebral and brave youths. This is one of the ways  posterity will judge him favourably. He must be seen as part of the new desire of  putting his constituency on a strong tripod as 2023 beckons.

Happy birthday, Chukky.

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