For me Monday mornings, which is the commencement of a new working week, is just like any other day. However, being set aside as a public holiday, makes the day unique. On this Easter Monday, April 21, 2025, as I got off my bed the first thing that came to my mind, a product of a persistent desire to get exclusive reports, is how to get an audience with Senator Ned Munir Nwoko, the federal lawmaker representing Delta North in the red chambers of the National Assembly.
Why not, if not. Ned has been in the news in recent times for so many reasons ranging from the situation report regarding his love affair with Regina Daniels, the Nollywood star; his switching of political allegiance from the opposition Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) to the ruling All Progressives Congress(APC); his ownership of a sports university, the first such institution in Nigeria and his campaign for the carving out of Anioma State from Delta State.
I have been on the trail of the politician for quite a while now as I try to engage him in an exclusive chat but I have not been fortunate enough to get his nod to do the chat. Reason been that he shuttles mostly between his homestead in Delta State and Abuja, the federal capital city where the National Assembly Complex is situated. He doesn’t respond to my calls nor does he reply my text messages.
The longer I miss the opportunity to get him to do an interview, the more new occurrences pop up about him which need to be clarified. What makes it even more difficult is that none within his circle of aides can tell you when he will be available for such “extravagance” in Idumuje Ugboko, where his country home(which Google Map identifies as Mount Ned Nwoko Resort) is situated.
On this Monday morning, it just popped up in my subconscious that the day been a national holiday to celebrate Easter would be a good day to make my move. I quickly placed a call to a close aide of the Senator to get a confirmation that he is in Idumuje Ugboko and would be available for my enquiries. I dashed to the bathroom to freshen up and took off to the nearest motor park where I will get a vehicle to my destination.
As I made my way to the motor park the view which engaged my subconscious was the pace of work on the construction of the first flyover in the history of Edo State which is ongoing courtesy of Governor Monday Okpebholo. The workmen, engineers and the likes on site dont seem to think much about holidays as they work frantically setting their sight on meeting up with the stipulated contract agreement to deliver a good job in record time.
Soon the vehicle which I boarded arrived safely at Onicha-Ugbo Junction from where I boarded a motorcycle to my final destination. As I made enquiries from a petty trader nearby on how to get to Idumuje Ugboko I watched from the corner of my eyes how she quickly beckoned on a cyclist and signalled to him that I am a new face.
The cyclist quite understanding what she was using eye contact to tell her placed a heavy bill on me which I acceeded to without any argument. As we commenced the trip I threw a short jab at the cyclist that if they’re now making such huge profit from visitors to their community when the Anioma State that their representative in the Senate, Ned Nwoko, is still clamouring for what would happen when the state is finally approved and created.
“We are going to get our own share of the national cake just as others before us did. We are not letting our guard down even as we await the response to our long overdue request for the creation of a state of our own,” his response was like a punch to my ribs.
Shortly, I was driven into the massive structure which the cyclist, a son of the soil, told me is always left open to visitors who throng the place most especially when their host is in town. On this fateful morning the place was filled with a gathering of people some of whom, I later learnt came to meet the Senator from nearby communities.
I quickly put a call through to my source who told me that he was on a special assignment for the Senator elsewhere far off, assuring me to send a text message introducing myself to him or tell any of the crowd of security operatives there my mission and pronto I would be given access to meet him. I did as instructed but was not able to get an audience with him.
Thus started my about three hours of waiting just like everyone I met there. As he came out and was being ushered into one of his vehicles for onward movement out of the place I dashed to him to quickly introduce myself and tell him my mission. He replied that he was going out for a meeting and would return shortly.
He was soon back but he didn’t give anyone audience as he went right into his living quarters where he later emerged from after about an hour accompanied by Regina, baggages and some of his family members. My efforts to get his attention and remind him of my presence was rebuffed even as his sea of security minders formed a protective shield around him and his family members as they board the fleet of cars set to start their journey out of town.
A young man, probably a native of the community, who was patronising the Senator with eulogies/praises, was vehemently shut down as the Senator yelled at him to “keep quite or else I will slap you.”
As he boarded his vehicle he called an aide and instructed her to make N2,000,000(Two million naira) available to be shared equally among all the people present which yours truly could not benefit from as night was fast approaching and I needed to get back to my base(Benin), a trip of two hours, before dark.Â
Discussion about this post