Meet ‘Okada rider’, Donatus Mathew, who won House of Rep seat

Donatus Mathew, popularly known as an ‘Okada rider’ won a seat in the Federal House of Representatives under the umbrella of the Labour Party (LP), for Kaura federal constituency of Kaduna State.

Matthew is from Kpak, Kagoro chiefdom in the Kaura Local Government Area of Kaduna State and was born in 1988.

He attended the Local Government Education Authority (LGEA) Primary School in Kadarko, before he proceeded to Saint Jani Seminary School; however, he completed his secondary education at Teachers’ College, Kagoro in Kaduna State.

He graduated from the Saint Albert Institute with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy.

Before being elected into the Federal House of Representatives, Matthew was a commercial motorcycle operator, popularly known as Okada rider, a job he embraced for hard times and lack of employment.

Q: Before being elected into the Federal House of Representatives, Matthew was a commercial motorcycle operator, popularly known as Okada rider, a job he embraced for hard times and lack of employment.

Matthew began his political journey as a councillor where he acquired more skills in politicking against erroneous belief by many that he is a greenhorn to Nigerian politics.

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He cut his political teeth as a councillor, having served as a supervisory councilor in his local government.

“Before I became a councillor, I was an Okada man. I have been using a bike to sustain myself and I am proud of that. That is my humble beginning,” he said.

The father of four said he initially joined the Labour Party to work for the presidential candidate then. But later on, in the course of events, people urged him to go into the contest, which he said he reluctantly went into because he never intended to.

However, after due consultation, people insisted that I should come for service and that triggered my interest. That was the simple reason why I joined the contest. Also, we want to give people the credible leadership they expect, most especially my constituency.

He encouraged politicians with humble backgrounds not to look down on themselves.

“They should not allow distractions from other angles. Once they come into politics, they should just be real and people will assess them for who they are,” he noted.

Matthew won the seat with 10,508 voters, followed by Gideon Lucas Gwani of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) who polled 10, 297 votes. The candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) got 9,919 votes to place third in the election.