What’s the driving force behind your ambition for House of Reps?
Becoming a legislator has been my ambition in politics. This explains why the very first elective position which I vied for was the House of Representatives race in 2011. I also aspired for the state House of Assembly in 2015.
It’s my belief and conviction that no nation can advance without requisite and relevant laws that are geared towards its development, hence, my desire to be part of the lawmaking process to enact sound laws for Nigeria.
It has also been my ambition to be in a position to lobby for the siting of meaningful projects in my constituency and carry out sound oversight functions on MDAs. These and many more have been the driving force behind my desire to serve my people at the National Assembly.
Many people were surprised by your ability to clinch the PDP Reps ticket for Shendam, Quaan-Pan, Mikang Federal Constituency, especially not long after you dumped the APC for PDP. What makes you tick?
I’ll first give God Almighty the credit and the glory for my victory at the PDP House of Reps primary election for Shendam, Quaan-Pan, Mikang Federal Constituency before acknowledging the efforts of all those who God used to secure my victory.
Besides, it is my innermost conviction, that my stewardship and scorecard as the executive chairman of Qua’an-Pan Local Government, also helped in bolstering my chances at the primaries.
The Bible says he who is able to manage little, should be entrusted with bigger tasks. I believe our party delegates decided to entrust me with the ticket because of my scorecard in Qua’an-Pan.
How has your experience as a former executive chairman of Quaan-Pan Local Government prepared you for the job of a National Assembly member?
The local government is an arm of government that opens up one’s horizon beyond imagination. Serving my people as executive chairman has tremendously helped me to understand the basic needs and problems in our rural communities.
My experience at the grassroots level will be very useful in enacting laws that will not only help in better administering the third tier of government but also to revolutionize the rural areas towards a holistic national development.
Your popularity seems to have soared higher following the grand conspiracy by the powers that be, which culminated in your illegal removal from office and you seem to be cashing on that to coast home to victory in 2023. What’s your take on this?
Well, the High Court has since nullified my so-called suspension and impeachment, describing it as illegal, null and void. I have already forgiven all the culprits who I’d say are the enemies of democracy and the people.
The conspiracy that truncated the mandate of Qua’an-Pan people, which I was entrusted with, eloquently aligns with the fact that, no one dares to do the bidding of the people who elected him or her, without facing tribulations and conspiracies from those who are more familiar with poor performance.
Ahead of the 2023 polls, I believe the people have tested and now trust me, hence their clamour to propel me to a higher level, that is the National Assembly. They believe in the Divine Mandate and are working towards our victory in 2023.
What would you say were your major achievements within the two years that you served as local government chairman?
We ensured the security of lives and property, which had significantly deteriorated prior to our coming into office, and established the annual Koes Pan wrestling competition to bring about cultural reorientation and unity in the locality.
We procured ultramodern medical equipment for the Cottage Hospital, Kwalla, rendered free medical services to thousands of the indigent populace, and established the snake bite treatment center, all worth millions of Naira.
We established the Quaan-Pan Innovation Hub and awarded scholarships to deserving students. We also reconstructed and expanded the Secretariat Road with solar lights installed.
We also procured fertiliser and other essential farm inputs, resuscitated the local government owned QP Line Mass Transit service by procuring six new vehicles.
We established a mordern sandcrete and brick company, organized the first successful chairman’s football cup, provided wheel chairs for physically challenged people.
We cleared contractual liabilities of about 20 years, from 2000 – 2019, and paid the outstanding benefits of past political office holders and civil servants amongst many others
Are there things or projects that you would have loved to do or complete for your people if not for the truncating of your tenure?
Yes, we had initiated a project of sixty boreholes across the LGA, targeting communities that have never seen a government project, before the unfortunate development and these boreholes have been stalled.
The remodeling of the Secretariat Complex, construction of police out posts in Kwalla and Namu, the remodeling of Kwa police station, the construction of an ICT and skills center, were also aborted.
Also painfully aborted was our ambitious project of opening up streets within the Greater Baap Masrer Plan, completion of Long Pan’s Palace, renovation of district offices, construction of Quaan-Pan arena, as well as the completion of projects awarded in all the 20 wards through their respective councillors, among many others.
What’s your blueprint for your constituency in the first four years in the National Assembly?
As a lawmaker, my thematic areas of focus will border on bringing the dividends of democracy to my constituency through Agriculture, Water, Education, Healthcare Women and Youth Employment and Empowerment. Rural ELectricity and Water Supply, etc, all of which I’ll maximally explore for their benefit.
My constituency is mainly agrarian and rural, whereby farming is the predominant preoccupation of the bulk of the populatio. Therefore, I will first lobby the National Agricultural Land Development Agency (NALDA) to open up rural feeder roads across the entire constituency and construct rural market stalls.
I’ll partner with the National Seed Council to conduct soil fertility mapping and provide improved seeds, as well as ensure the timely provision of the most suitable fertiliser for farmers.
We’ll also partner with agro mechanisation agencies to provide tractors, rice milling machines, cassava processors to cooperative societies and lobby for construction of earth dams to promote irrigation and commercial fish farming.
I will partner with the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency to establish requisite medical facilities in the constituency., continue with the annual free medical services, which I initiated as the Executive Chairman of Quaan Pan LGA, as well as ensue the supply of equipment and medical consumables to healthcare centres.
I will expand the scholarship scheme and free JAMB registration/training, which I initiated in Quaan Pan across the constituency, attract federal projects to the College of Agriculture, Garkawa and lobby for establishment of a Federal College of Agriculture to be sited in the Constituency.
For our teeming youths and women, who constitute a majority of our population, I will provide sustainable empowerment by lobbying for the establishment of a vocational education and technical center, an entrepreneurship and ICT skills hub, lobbying for employment in federal MDAs, as well as the establishment of entrepreneurship seed fund for businesses and sports development centers.
I will also leverage on my relationship with relevant agencies to provide electricity to the constituency through solar power plants and actualize the connection of unconnected communities to the national grid. Besides, we will also ensure the supply of potable water for the people through the provision of hand pumps and motorized boreholes especially in the hinterland.
The menace of prevailing insecurity in the constituency is a matter of serious concern which I’ll engage and collaborate with relevant security agencies and government to tackle it headlong as I successfully did when I was local government chairman.
How would you leverage your combined status as a millionaire businessman, a renowned philanthropist, a man with a network of contacts nationally and internationally, as well as a Reps member, if elected, to ensure that your constituents get the dividends of democracy?
As a businessman first before becoming a politician, I’m aware that business entails a lot of networking and lobbying, so is the job of a lawmaker. That experience will make it easier for me to network and lobby. among my colleagues and elsewhere, for the projects that I would want to attract to my constituency.
Philanthropy is my passion in life. I believe that helping others is the highest source of my joy, my happiness, and even my satisfaction. The philanthropy in me, will ensure that I leave no stone unturned towards ameliorating the pains of my constituents, if elected.
So I’m definitely going to leverage on my network of connections both nationally and internationally for the benefit of the constituency using the Reps platform as a springboard .
The PDP has produced all the House of Reps members for your constituency since 1999, except the incumbent. Would you say that the constituency is actually a PDP domain ahead of 2023?
That’s absolutely true. The federal constituency is actually a domain of the PDP which produced its representatives for 20 years from 1999 to 2019. I believe that our constituents did not reject PDP in 2019 when APC got it for the first time. They actually voted for the person of Hon. Komsol Alphonsus Longgap, our current House of Reps member, not APC. Now that Komsol will not be on the ballot paper in 2023, the people will return to PDP.
What will even make things easier for PDP, is the fact that APC has betrayed the trust of the people at all levels. From feelers, I know that people will retun to PDP as the only option.
What’s your advice for the electorate as the general elections draw nearer by the day?
I call on the electorate to be more vigilant now than ever to ensure that they disappont politicians who have been tested and not trusted. Our electorate should punish politicians who have misused the opportunities they have been given to make impact but failed. They should shun politicians who only come to them during electioneering campaigns.
They should reject politicians who come with lies, propaganda and fake promises, to hoodwink them. Our constituents should vote for me because I have a track record of performance. Voting for me is a vote for creating opportunities, inclusive growth and sustainable shared prosperity.
