Dorothy Mato is surely on cloud nine right now, but don’t you dare think it’s permanent territory for her. About this time two years ago, she was in opposite mood.
In June 2015, Mato was suspended by the leadership of the All Progressives Congress (APC) for “anti-party activities”. But in June 2017, the Supreme Court willed her a mandate she may have thought was forever lost. Now, Mato must be marveling at the irony of this thing called life: one minute it lets you down, the next it lifts you up.
On Friday, the Supreme Court sacked Herman Hembe, the lawmaker who had been representing Vandeikya/ Konshisha Federal Constituency of Benue State at the House of Representatives since 2007. It ruled that Hembe was not the valid APC candidate, but Dorathy Mato. INEC is to award her a certificate of return as soon as possible, and Hembe is to immediately vacate the seat.
FASHION DESIGNER, DAUGHTER OF A FARMER
Born on September 16, 1968, Dorathy Kpentomun Mato hails from Mbatyough Kindred, Mbaduku in Vandeikya Local Government Area of Benue State. Her parents were farmers but they understood the value of education, hence they enrolled her at R.C.M. Primary School, Chenge, from where she obtained her First School Leaving Certificate in 1979.
Ostensibly due to a lack of funds to prosecute secondary-school education, she was sent to Lagos, where she trained as a fashion designer at the Nikky African Fashion Institute, in 1987, and subsequently got married to her husband, Ahura Mato, with whom she now has three children.
KPENTOMUN — KEEP WISHING
The meaning of her name “Kpentomun” is “keep wishing”, but Dorothy did more than just kept wishing. Despite the challenges of being a housewife, she enrolled into the secondary school — Mbagba High School, Mbamngu — and obtained the West African Senior School Certificate (WASCE) in 2002.
By 2006, Mato had obtained a Diploma in Public Administration at the Benue State Polytechnic, Ugbokolo, and in 2010 she graduated with a Higher National Diploma Certificate in Business Administration from Fidei Polytechnic, Gboko — the first privately-owned Polytechnic in Northern Nigeria. She would later become a member of the school’s Board of Trustees.
POLITICAL CAREER
Mato’s foray into politics began in 2007 when she was appointed Deputy Chairman, Vandeikya Local Government Council. She was later named Special Assistant to Governor Gabriel Suswam on Women Affairs between 2008 and 2010.
She then joined the then Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), on which platform she ran and won a seat into the Benue State house of Assembly on April 26, 2011, to represent Kyan constituency.
At the House, she served as House Committee Chairman on Science and Technology as well as member of the committees on Housing and Urban Development and that of MDGs and donor Agencies.
AN ENEMY OF THE PARTY
On June 15, 2015, shortly after the general election, the Benue State APC announced the suspension of Dorothy Mato and some other members of the party for alleged “anti-party” activities.
Mato’s crime was that she challenged the victory of Hembe, who was declared winner of the Vandeikya/Konshisha Federal Constituency at the House of Reps.
The suspension was short-lived, though; it was lifted after a few days, following the intervention of President Muhammadu Buhari; George Akume, a Senator and former Governor of the state; and Samuel Ortom, the Governor.
ALUTA CONTINUA, VICTORIA ACERTA
A dogged fighter, Mato maintained that she won the primary and ought to have been the APC’s flag-bearer in the election.
The case would have terminated at the appeal court but being a pre-election case, it got to the Supreme Court. And on Friday, after more than two years of legal battle, Mato got her wish, with the court judging that she was the rightful winner of the APC ticket.
Mato has waited more than two years to reclaim her mandate; that’s long enough. But the five-day wait from now till Wednesday when she officially becomes a rep will surely be longer in her eyes than the two-year-legal battle. In moments of delirium, five days is longer than 730 days!