Offa, being the headquarters of Offa local government area of Kwara State in today’s North-Central Nigeria, is a popular Yoruba town. It has been in the news for different reasons – the good, the bad, and the ugly – in the past. However, the electoral victory of former President John Dramani Mahama of Ghana has now put Offa town on the spotlight again.
The town is noted for its weaving and dyeing trade, using vegetable dyes made from locally grown indigo and other plants. Offa is well known for the cultivation of sweet potatoes and maize, which also formed part of the favourite staple foods for the indigenes in the town.
In recent years, Offa was in the news for the wrong reason when armed robbers attacked banks and a divisional police headquarters in the town and killed 33 people in broad daylight on April 5, 2018. The matter lingered for about six years up until September 2024, when the culprits were sentenced to death by the court.
Offa is now in the news again – this time for the right reason – the election of President-elect John Dramani Mahama for a second time in office at the Jubilee House seat of power in Ghana.
LEADERSHIP reports that John Dramani Mahama emerged victorious in the December 7 general election in Ghana and was formally declared winner on Tuesday by the country’s electoral body.
Mahama is returning to the seat of power, having served as President from 2012 to 2017. He also served as Vice President of Ghana from 2009 to 2012, Member of Parliament from 1997 to 2009, and held deputy and ministerial roles between 1998 and 2001.
For those who didn’t know his connection with Nigeria, Mahama’s father once lived in Nigeria on exile, the former President and President-elect also had some of his formative years in Offa in present-day Kwara State. He holds a traditional title of the town bestowed on him by the Offa monarch, Oba Muftau Gbadamosi, Esuwoye II, in 2015 during his first tenure as Ghana President. He had a Nigerian stepmother from Offa town.
Mahama himself disclosed all these facts about himself in an undated viral video on social media following his victory in Ghana’s presidential election at the weekend. Some Nigerians of Offa origin have particularly shared the video across social media platforms and their statuses basking in the euphoria of Mahama’s electoral victory, apparently to show off their relationship with the incoming Ghana’s President.
According to the video, Mahama said: “Let me clear a few things here: one, about my Nigerian antecedents. My stepmother is Nigerian, who raised me and she comes from Offa in Kwara State.”
“At a point in time when there had been a coup in Ghana, my father left and lived in exile here in Nigeria and I had to come and stay with my stepmother for many years in Offa, so I know Offa quite well. And I consider that as my hometown here in Nigeria. And Olofa of Offa was very gracious too, he grant me a chieftaincy.
“For those of you who don’t know, I am the Aare Atolase of Offa Kingdom,” Mahama had told an excited gathering at an event in Nigeria a few years ago.