Kenyan Parliament Senator Godfrey Osotsi is among those joining former Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Amolo Odinga for the 14th annual LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards.

Odinga is the keynote speaker at the event scheduled for January 31, 2023 at the Abuja International Conference Center.

In his acceptance letter to the management of LEADERSHIP Group Ltd, Odinga also listed his entourage at the awards conference to include his daughter, Ms. Rosemary Odinga, who is also a gender adviser; Director of Communications, Mr. Philip Etale, and another of his assistants, Mr. Maurice Ogeta.

The letter dated January 11, 2023, signed by his Chief of Staff, Andrew Mondoh, and addressed to the media organization’s Editor-in-Chief and Senior Vice President, Azu Ishiekwene, read: “We have gratefully received your letter dated January 8, 2023. December 2022 by inviting HE Ralia Odinga to the previous conference scheduled for January 31, 2023 in Abuja, Nigeria.

“We are pleased to inform you that HE Odinga has accepted the invitation and will attend as scheduled. The following will accompany him: Hble. Godfrey Osotsi, Member of Parliament; Ms. Rosemary Odinga, daughter, gender adviser; Mr. Philip Etale – Director of Communications, and Mr. Maurice Ogeta – Aide. We look forward to receiving the conference program in due time.”

Odinga, who is Kenya’s top opposition leader, had earlier confirmed his participation in the LEADERSHIP Conference and Awards and said he is delighted with the Leadership of LEADERSHIP Group Ltd for inviting him to deliver the keynote address.

Speaking through one of his aides, Philip Etale, the former Kenyan prime minister said he was elated by the media organization’s decision to invite him.

Odinga, who represented the Lang’ata constituency in the Kenyan Parliament while serving as the country’s prime minister from 2008 to 2013, will speak on the Conference theme, “Credible Elections and an Economy in Transition.”

Currently the leader of the opposition Orange Democratic Movement (ODM), the choice of Odinga as keynote speaker captures the mood in Nigeria at the moment, as the country is about to participate in a general election that promises to be a determining factor in its checkered history.

As the leader of the opposition, you are expected to share your thoughts on how African countries can ensure free, fair and credible elections as a means to further consolidate democracy on the continent.

A statement from the leadership of LEADERSHIP noted that Odinga was invited as a keynote speaker because of his dream of freeing Africa from poverty through good leadership and a deliberate evolution of strategies to take charge of its internal and external relations regarding politics, economics and technology. .

“The theme of this year’s conference, which coincidentally takes place at a time when the country is headed for general elections, resonates well with Odinga’s sustained clamor for free, fair, credible and trouble-free elections.

“We therefore hope that you will discuss this issue at the conference and ultimately offer your views on how African countries can have lasting democracy through credible polling,” the newspaper conglomerate stated.

Born on January 7, 1945, the son of the first vice president of Kenya, Hon Jaramogi Odinga and Mama Mary, Ralia Odinga is the leader of the 2022 electoral coalition, Azimio la Umoja, One Kenya Coalition, in whose candidacy he participated in the general elections. of the country on August 9 as the presidential candidate.

A savvy politician, Odinga joined parliamentary politics in 1992 when he contested for Lang’ata’s parliamentary seat on the Ford Kenya party ticket, which was led by his father, the late Jaramogi Oginga Odinga.

He won the seat, beating out the incumbent, Hon Philip Leakeym, who was then a deputy minister in the regime of President Daniel Arap Moi.

Odinga was successfully re-elected for four terms. In 2010, while serving as Prime Minister alongside President Mwai Kibaki, he led the revision of the Kenyan constitution.

The new constitution establishes a presidential system and does not allow presidential candidates to be members of parliament.

He has competed for the country’s top seat five times: 1997, 2007, 2013, 2017 and 2022, and has been arrested for defending the country’s second liberation.

As a social democrat, he believes in equality and the fair distribution of resources and has always stood for good governance.

He is also a defender of press freedom and freedom of expression whose wish for Africa is to have elections free of rigging and for the will of the people to prevail.

The LEADERSHIP conference is one of the two-part activities, the other being the presentation of the newspaper’s awards to some deserving Nigerians and organizations.

It should be remembered that the newspaper recently unveiled its 2022 winners with the trio of AfreximBank Chairman Professor Benedict Oramah; National Drug Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) Chairman and CEO Brigadier General Mohammed Buba Marwa (RTD) and world champion track and field champion Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan scooped up the 2019 Person of the Year award. Newspaper.

A management statement said Professor Oramah jointly won the coveted award for his many noble achievements around the world, highlighting him as an ambassador extraordinaire for Nigeria, in his career and service to the country and the continent.

NDLEA chief Marwa, who is currently a nightmare for drug lords in Nigeria, was also awarded Person of the Year along with Oramah for their breakthroughs in the drug war, in particular for carrying out the drug busts. largest in the country’s history and reposition a government agency that had been moribund for a long time.

World champion track and field champion Amusan also entered the top honors list for breaking the record of 22-year-old Gail Devers to defend the Diamond League 100m hurdles title in a winning time of 12.29 seconds, with his latest title, the Diamond League, adding to the plethora of records and titles he achieved in 2022.

“The defining criteria for this category is to reward the person(s) who have had an extraordinarily positive impact on our lives through achievements that inspired and continue to inspire the country,” says the Management statement.

Rivers State Governor and arguably the most controversial Nigerian politician at the moment, Nyesom Wike, emerged as Politician of the Year while the trio of governors Nasir El-Rufai (Kaduna); Dapo Abiodun (Ogun) and Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (Enugu) are the Governors of the Year.

The governors won the award for “programs that significantly transformed life in their communities and for relatively transparent public records and demonstrated interest in infrastructure and business development.”

Governor El-Rufai, who was nominated last year, jointly won the award for his leadership, especially for his effort to transform Kaduna State by building a strong economy, unprecedented infrastructure development, and reforming public service and state institutions to turn them into a lean but effective civil system. Service.

Governor Abiodun also won the Governor of the Year category for his bold and focused efforts in infrastructure development and his advances in expanding the state’s business profile.

Governor Ifeanyi Ugwanyi earned the 2022 Governor of the Year award for putting the state on the path of economic independence and driving significant infrastructure development across the state, despite security challenges in the region.

The LEADERSHIP Public Service Person of the Year award was jointly won by the Chairman of the Federal Internal Revenue Service (FIRS), Muhammad Mamman Nami; the director general of the Industrial Training Fund (ITF), Joseph Ari, and the Comptroller General of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), Jere Idris.

The award, according to the statement, went to “public servants whose record of service delivery and responsiveness achieved significant results in the sector.”

LOTUS Bank won the Bank of the Year Award for Innovation and Shareholder Value Return; LEADERSHIP Social Impact Person of the Year went to the owner of the Home for the Needy Foundation, Pastor Solomon Folorunsho, for his impact on the community despite very limited resources and Tunde Onakoya.

The Banker of the Year award went to Fidelity Bank Plc Managing Director/CEO, Ms. Nneka Onyealu-Ikpe, for the bank’s outstanding commitment to supporting small businesses and underfunded sectors; while the Managing Director/CEO of Mojec International Holdings, Ms. Chantelle Abdul, won the Business Person of the Year award.

The Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps (NSCDC) won the 2022 Government Agency of the Year for the significant progress made by the corps in the last year.

Other winners are Company of the Year, won by Bua Foods, awarded as “the company with the best performing shares on the Stock Market this year”; Brand of the Year, Coleman Cable and Wire; and Telecommunication Company of the Year, won by MTN Nigeria, for its excellent value proposition and cutting-edge product and service expertise.

Mama Pride, one of the fastest growing domestic rice brands, won the Product of the Year award.

CEO of the Year went to Group CEO/CEO of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu, for his bold entrepreneurial spirit and also for the dominance and resilience of the bank’s brand.

LEADERSHIP The Oil and Gas Local Content Champion of the Year was won by the Executive Secretary of the Nigerian Content Development and Supervisory Board, Mr. Simbi Wabote; while and the E-Commerce Company of the Year, which went to Pocket Money.

This year, the Artist of the Year award went to Afro Pop RnB hip-hop music rave of the moment and Buga crooner, Kiss Daniel.

The LEADERSHIP Sportsman of the Year award went to the FIFA World Cup U-17 women’s team, the Nigerian Flamingoes, who recently won multiple medals for Nigeria at the Summer Olympic Games from August 5-24, 2016 held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; while Musa Sani, a talented 13-year-old primary school boy from Borno, who redesigned the Maiduguri flyover with mud, won the LEADERSHIP award for Outstanding Youth of the Year.