By God’spower Ede, Lafia

Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada, the All Progressives Congress APC governorship candidate in Nasarawa State, is a bonafide indigene of the state. This is a fact anchored on both constitutional standing and deep-rooted lineage.

Wadada holds the revered traditional title of Sarkin Yakin Keffi, a strategic city in Nasarawa State. In traditional institutions, such titles are reserved for “true sons of the soil,” not settlers.

His political records reinforces that claim. He served two terms in the House of Representatives in 2003 and 2007, and currently represents Nasarawa West Senatorial District in the Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, where he has been credited with quality representation of his zone and the state at large.

Beyond politics and chieftaincy, Senator Wadada’s maternal roots tie him directly to Nasarawa soil. His late mother, Hajiya Iyatum Danyaya, hailed from Loko Area of Nasarawa Local Government Area, of Agatu extraction.

Records show that Mama Iyatum’s father was Ocho Imaiku, her mother Onyemeka, and her sister Ejewun.

She was however raised by her maternal relative, Oyigada, at the palace of the Sarkin Loko in Nasarawa State.

Mama Iyatum was later married to the legendary Hausa praise singer, Alhaji Danyaya, Senator Wadada’s biological father, after the couple met during Danyaya’s singing career.

The Senator’s maternal genealogy is, according to family sources, verifiable. His mother’s only surviving paternal uncle, Mr. Ikaka Eliagwu, now resides in Ogbangede Village, Agatu Local Government Area of Benue State.

Although,  in Nasarawa’s political chessboard, questions of indigeneity often shape governorship contests, but Wadada’s record of service, maternal lineage, and traditional title, combine to “confer on him the constitutional and cultural right” to aspire to the highest office in the state and by extension, the nation.