OPINION: More Respect for Yahaya Seriki
By Shafihi Abdulrasheed
And somewhere between Sunday afternoon and Monday evening, I learnt something more about a man I thought I already knew.
Unarguably, Ambassador Abdulfatai Yahaya Seriki Gambari is not a new name in Kwara politics. For the better part of the last decade, it has been difficult to discuss the politics of our state without mentioning him. His movements attract attention. His political decisions make news. His business exploits have also kept his name beyond the political pages.
But this is not another story about Kwara politics.
I was in Jos last Sunday for the inauguration of the Plateau State chapter of the City Boy Movement. I left on Monday. In that short period, I heard people speak about Yahaya Seriki in a manner that caught my attention.
They called him Fatai. Not Amba. Not even Seriki. Just Fatai. I heard it from people who knew his business. I heard it from people who knew his giving. I heard it from people who had encountered him in one way or another. That familiarity interested me.
Late Sunday evening, while at his residence, I accidentally took time to walk around some shops in the area. I met people. I listened to them. Their reception was warm. More striking was the ease with which they spoke about Fatai.
The following morning came with another surprise. Before we proceeded to the Plateau State Government House, we made a quick stop at Kursi’s Trades in Jos. I saw people at work. I saw an enterprise that was alive. I later learnt that the operation provides jobs for four hundreds people in Jos alone. For me, that was the bigger story.
We speak every day about unemployment. We worry about young people roaming the streets without jobs. We ask what can be done. Here was a Kwaran, away from Kwara, putting hundreds of people to work. As a Kwaran myself, I felt proud.
Then I remembered a documentary I had watched about Seriki’s business interests. The figures were huge. Published accounts say Kursi has offices in 22 states and mining operations extending even further across Nigeria. Seriki himself had stated as far back as 2018 that his businesses employed more than 1,500 workers nationwide.
Think about that for a moment. One thousand five hundred workers are not just one thousand five hundred names on a payroll. They represent families. They represent school fees. They represent food on tables. They represent people who wake up in the morning knowing there is somewhere to go and something productive to do.
That is how enterprise touches society.
Perhaps I should not have been surprised by what I saw in Jos. Seriki has deep roots in the city. He grew up partly in Jos, studied there and began his journey into mining from the same environment. His family roots, however, are firmly in Ilorin, Kwara State.
So, in a sense, Jos knows him. And he knows Jos. The reception around him during our visit made that clear.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang is today the governor of Plateau State, while Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda serves as APC National Chairman. The reception we were accorded speak so much of respect, honour and acceptability Seriki enjoy in the faraway Jos.
Success can create distance. Money can build walls higher than concrete. Politics can make a man forget the people who knew him before the convoy arrived. What I saw was different. And that brings me to humility.
For a man with considerable business interests and political connections, Yahaya Seriki carries himself with remarkable simplicity. Politics may argue about Yahaya Seriki. That is the nature of politics. But his record in business is easier to measure. He built. He employs. He gives. He has stayed in the arena.
I have written about Yahaya Seriki before. I have also expressed my view that experience in building and managing a large private enterprise deserves a place in discussions about public leadership, especially who governs Kwara. But every political ambition has its appointed time. God’s time remains the best.
My trip to Jos was not meant to produce this article. I went there for City Boy Movement business. But sometimes you travel for one assignment and return with another story.
Mine was the story of seeing one of our statesmen doing remarkably well away from home. A Kwaran building businesses beyond Kwara. A Kwaran providing livelihoods far beyond Kwara. A man whose titles are long, but whom people of Jos comfortably call Fatai.
I left Jos with greater respect for what I saw. And so, with due regard to an elder, I say: More respect for Yahaya Seriki.
Shafihi Abdulrasheed is a PR practitioner. He writes from Abuja.
SHAFIHI ABDULRASHEED is a communication strategist and media professional with expertise in public relations, strategic communication, and crisis management. A graduate of the University of Ilorin with a degree in Sociology and currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Peace and Security Studies, Shafihi holds the professional credential of Associate, Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (ANIPR). His career spans media relations, perception management, policy communication, and organizational leadership. He possesses over a decade of experience working with government, non-profit organizations, and private sector clients on matters of strategic communication and public engagement.
