In this interview, NDC House of Assembly candidate for Chikun Constituency, Dr. Matthew Moses, speaks on why he is running to unseat the incumbent, the NDC’s chances in Kaduna, and the APC’s limitations in the state. Excerpt…
What is motivating you to contest for the Chikun Constituency seat in the House of Assembly? And what competence and experience will you bring to the Assembly?
As a person, I’m a humanitarian to the core. I work for different international NGOs up to the level of director in Nigeria. And apart from that, I have a business which is called Rexbhola Nigeria Enterprise. We are into medical consumables. That is for that. And at the same time, I have a foundation called Dr. Matt Foundation.
What gave birth to this Dr. Matt Foundation is because of my experience at the humanitarian level. I’ve seen how my people have suffered. I’ve seen out-of-school children, the aged are not being catered for, the widows have been vulnerable. And one of the ones that drew my attention is a widow that went to one of the police headquarters in Nigeria to claim her husband’s gratuity, and at the same time, she was impregnated in that place. And she came back with pregnancy, and it became another issue. The husband was an ex-police officer. Her husband died, and the woman went to claim her husband’s benefit, and in that place, they got her impregnated. Which is a very sad one. All these and co. are the things that pushed me to establish a foundation called Dr. Matt Foundation.
How do you get funding for the foundation?
I’ve never written a proposal to anybody in the world or any individual to give me a kobo for that foundation. What I did is that 25% of my total income in a month goes to that foundation. And after three months of every year, which is every quarter, we go out as a team to see how we can support the children out of school, to support the women’s business, to support small-scale business, and so on and so forth.
Last year, we helped many children in Chikun to pay for their WAEC, which we have evidence of their results. Currently, we are mobilizing another set of children for NECO for the children whose parents are struggling.
Apart from that, we have supported many businesses and schools in Kaduna. We have dug boreholes for them in Kudenda. And the recent one we did was that of Janruwa as a community. The community has been without electricity for 18 months. There’s a location called Transformer 1 and 4. They have been without a transformer. By the grace of God, through the foundation, we were able to get them another transformer in 1 and 4, Janruwa. Today, there’s a testimony that there is light in Janruwa. This is all we have been doing as a private citizen, without ever working for any government in my life apart from NYSC as a corps member.
Today, Dr. Matt Foundation is a household name in Kaduna South. In Chikun Local Government, it’s just everywhere. You can ask and they will tell you how many people have gone off the street because of Dr. Matt. Come in two weeks’ time, we are going for an outreach for eyes to see how we can help the aged people that are fighting battles with their sight. Those are the next plans that we have that we want to do.
So, what exactly is the reason you’re seeking to replace the current occupant of the Chikun Assembly seat?
Our motive for coming into politics is because since the inception of the 4th Republic in 1999, Chikun has been deprived of dividends of democracy. All the people representing us in state and federal, apart from a man called Honourable Ekene Abubakar Adams (Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency) that died some months ago, that is the only man that lets people like me know that there is money for Chikun Local Government. And after the passing away of Ekene, till today, we have never had any benefit of democracy in Chikun.
This is the reason why the youth reached out to me on 30th of March, 2026, that please, there’s a new platform called NDC. They say can you please come and help us collect this seat from the wicked people so that we can be in government.
I initially refused because I’m one of the advocates of people that insult politicians most in my life. Why? Is because I’m an NGO person. And what does NGO do? Is what the government neglects. So when they called me to come in March, it became a tug of war. In view of this, the youth in Chikun used their money to go and buy the expression of interest and nomination form. Some of them provided 100 caps, 100 t-shirts to do declaration, to show that, “Oga, you have done your best. We want to give you support so that you can win this election. We know with you, we are going to see the dividends of democracy in Chikun.” These are one and many of the things that led me to politics today.
So you mentioned that as a result of Hon. Ekene’s representation of Chikun constituency, you knew that there was money. Can you explain that?
There’s a name called “No Shaking” as a nickname. He was our representative, but we didn’t know who he was. In the House of Assembly, we didn’t know. When Obi contested under Labor Party, the wave of Obi helped Ekene to win the election. Before we knew, we saw medical equipment for hospitals. Before we knew, we saw boreholes going on, we saw schools being renovated.
And, you know, they say good people don’t live long. Within 1 year and 2 months, that’s 14 months, Ekene had done all this. After Ekene passed away, we saw many things that he had bought on behalf of Chikun that were arriving. This is what makes us understand, so there is money for this constituency? Where has this money been kept? And okay, we gave other people the opportunity to go after Ekene. Everything Ekene had been doing stopped till today.
The current person sitting on the seat of Chikun in the State House of Assembly in Kaduna, he has spent six years as I speak to you. You can call anybody from Chikun, his name is Jesse Tanko. He has never done a gutter of 1 meter. Call anybody. Anything they tell you, believe. Just call two or three people. Even me that I’m talking to you, I don’t know Jesse in person because you cannot see him. I have to go to Facebook to search for him.
The current government in Kaduna has been trying to bring about religious harmony in the state, and the governor appears to also have enjoyed the support of many people, especially in that your constituency. Won’t that affect you? Don’t you think that the governor is that popular and that anybody who runs under the platform of the APC might just carry the day?
The governor is good. He’s doing his best. I can’t crucify him, he’s human. He cannot be 100% perfect. He has picked one of my best friends as his running mate, Jerry Adams. Fine. But the good news of today is that people are wiser than before. The simple question is that: Jesse Tanko, representing Chikun, what has he done for you? What is the benefit of democracy you have gotten from Jesse Tanko? That is the simple question.
What is the most pressing issue now in that constituency that you will address if elected as a lawmaker?
Believe me, one of the main things I will first address in that constituency if I’m elected as a lawmaker is out-of-school children. And I will create a lot of avenues for skill acquisition. We just accomplished one of the skill acquisitions which I supported, the Kaduna Buy and Sell. They finished on Sunday, which you can see students that are ready to learn, and they just need an enabling environment, and they need the opportunity.
The government cannot create jobs for everybody. The people on the job are not ready to resign. They are even falsifying their age to remain in service. So we have understood that the only way we should create an enabling environment is to create more skill acquisition. Let people know that they can employ themselves and employ others. And if skill acquisition goes round and out of school children are returned to schools, security issues will reduce. Because when people are idle, it gives them the opportunity to do rubbish.
Finally, if I may just ask this question: who is your role model in politics, and why?
I can’t call anybody’s name. My role model in politics is the concern of my people. Because I don’t want to have a godfather.
From my research, why the current person (Jesse Tanko) is not performing is because of godfather and godmother. If somebody sponsored me to become a House of Assembly member, I am obligated to be answerable to that person. You can see example from Wike and Fubara.
So, I have many role models. People I like one or two things about them. But I’m not personalizing it. The real thing that pushed me to do this is my community concern and the cry of my people. And I see them as my role model, because if they are happy, I’m fulfilled, and they will be proud of me. I prefer them to be proud of me than even the governor or anybody to be proud of me. Because I want to write my name on the rock of Chikun.
