By OZIORUVA ALIU

Charles Idahosa, known by many sobriquets, the two most popular being Charly Tempo and Akakasiaka, is a man of many parts who comes in different shades to different people depending on which of his side one encounter.

Whichever way one meets him, there is unanimity about his bluntness; he does not shy away from expressing himself irrespective of whose ox is gored and he has been relevant in the politics of Edo State from the time of the zero party election conducted by the late dictator, General Sani Abacha, to elect local government council chairmen till date.

Idahosa does not come across as a regular Nigerian politician who would gather people around him for praise singing and eulogies that do not exist. When you see him with his political associates, most times early in the mornings and most times in his residence off Airport Road in Benin City, he doesn’t spare those he needs to castigate while also using those who have done well as examples to those who have failed in their duties and responsibilities.

His grip on the politics of Uhunmwonde is not in doubt as most times, the candidates he supports win elections and when he moves in a political direction, most of his followers move with him even though there are few who have also disagreed with him and chose not to go his direction. But that has not diminished his political reach and influence in the area.

He is a stickler to political arrangements and agreements. He once publicly rejected the aspiration of a politician from his area who was interested in contesting for the House of Representatives without minding whether his influence could help the aspirant and his party as he insisted that there was an agreement between the people of Uhunmwonde and Orhionmwon to rotate the House of Representatives between the two local government areas every two terms.

At the early stages of the crisis between Governor Godwin Obaseki and the then National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole now a senator representing Edo North in the Senate, it was Charles Idahosa who first publicly spoke against the plot to deny Obaseki a second term ticked and he told journalists that: “If the APC by an act of omission or commission allows Governor Godwin Obaseki to leave the APC, APC will lose the 2022 governorship election”.

Obaseki went ahead to pick the ticket of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and eventually won the election. However, I doubt if the governor has adequately appreciated the massive support he got from Idahosa which even put him against many of his political allies.

His relationship with politicians and opinion leaders across the six geo-political zones of the country is another area of strength for the political leader who is not scared of stepping on toes purely on principles. He could, with a casual response to a question by a journalist, tell you who-is-who in any of the zones and the relationship he has had with them. The conferment on him, the national honour; Order of the Federal Republic, OFR, could not have come at a better time because by September 19 this year, Idahosa would be 70 years, confirming his membership of the elders club. Beyond the formal relationship he has with many journalists, he has also many times shared concern about the welfare and personal lives of journalists; he has at various times not only shown concern but taken practical steps beyond just verbal concern.

Until recently for reasons yet to be told, he visits the Edo State Council Secretariat of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, annually where he usually grants a no holds barred interview and interaction where he would always say: “I am part of you having worked with the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA”. This was shortly after he returned from abroad before he went into politics.
Charly T is a complete family man in the African sense as he spends most part of his days, whenever he is in town, in his mother’s home where he attends to both family, political and other issues once he leaves his private home in the late mornings.

To underscore his relationship with the streets and common people, he holds his annual birthday parties in his mother’s house after the early morning prayers in his residence; he believes that gives the people in the streets opportunity to celebrate with him without protocols. He once said in an interview with journalists that: “I have seen it all, there is nothing more to prove, I will not be contesting for any election again; but even while I was still contesting, my aspiration never stopped me from saying things the way they are.

So, is it now that I know I will not be seeking for any elective office again that I will not be able to say things the way they are?” Idahosa is a newsman’s delight anytime because he always has the response to any question that may be asked and responds without reservations. By 1999 when Chief Lucky Igbinedion was elected governor of Edo State, Idahosa was made the Director of Public Affairs and Protocol, Government House. He became Commissioner for Information and Orientation from where he was sent to Abuja as a member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Television Authority, NTA, and from the Board of NTA he came to contest election for the Senate to represent Edo South Senatorial District with Daisy Danjuma where according to him, the leaders decided that it was Daisy Danjuma because there was no primaries.

“After that I decided to join other Nigerians to form a new political party which is today the APC. We started as ACD, then AC and then I contested the governorship election with Oshiomhole and the rest of them in 2007. Oshiomhole eventually emerged and I became his Political Adviser for the eight years he was governor of the state and today, I am a member of the Board of Directors of the Nigerian Railway Corporation.” Congratulations to a worthy leader and father figure.