By Prince Sekat, Jos
For as long as I have been old enough to understand what goes on in Nigeria, it has always been clear to me that citizens have often been unhappy with the quality of those who govern us.
As 2022 winds down, major political gladiators across the country have stepped up their game ahead of the election year, 2023. Aspirants have embarked on tours to different political zones, visiting perceived power brokers for a buy-in bid to lead the electorates. Their surrogates are also busy simulating events to position their principals in a better stead.
As elections are imminent in Nigeria, a good number of Nigerian citizens both home and abroad have started to analyse the quality of the candidates for the 2023 elections. Quality of leadership is vital to any country, and it determines the direction the country will go during that particular tenure. Nigerians have continued their outcry for leaders who would bring about an egalitarian society.
The entrepreneurs of falsehood are back in business. And, this is very understandable as it is that time of the year. Lies, deceits and contrived data are now the order of the day courtesy the merchants of death and the enemies of truth. It is a season when politicians are quick to make promises which they do not intend to fulfill. These little values that they take for granted have become the standards with which they are accessed when they come into office.
Every four years we get in the web of this vicious cycle. Sadly, we don’t reflect on the last cycle, we hardly learn lessons and we don’t plan. The patterns of our electioneering remain the same. The issues are left to the media to discuss. The candidates do not have a grasp of the issues at stake upon assuming power, neither do they know how to address them. Altercations and name calling are common place in our polity. A close look at the personalities reveal that they are self seeking than service-oriented. There is a dearth of commitment to the people and knowledge of the cardinal issues that plague the nation.
Nigerians generally feel that majority of candidates our political process throws up for legislative and executive positions are not representative of the respectable Nigerian intelligentsia and 80-90% of professional politicians have no iota of altruism that triggers true service to the people. Admittedly, we have seen some few bright and hardworking elected officers who sometimes seem exceptional. Rt Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi falls within this category of exceptional leaders.
Rt. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi needs no introduction in Nigerian politics. His political sojourn started from PDP to APC. In all these parties, his name rings a bell. His contribution to the return and development of Plateau state cannot be overemphasized. He was one of the brain behind the dorminancy of the then ruling party(PDP) from 2010-2016 before he decamped into the All Progressive Congress (APC). .
On competence, Yusuf Adamu Gagdi has distinguished himself in various phases of leadership and professional achievements.
After many years of remarkable state legislative productivity, he moved on to become a Federal legislator, providing him with a rich reality of experiences, while his earliest career as an economist has groomed him with a working experience on the mechanics of development interplays.
Gagdi is a leader who is dependable and has integrity. He has proven to be someone who is transparent and accountable and was able to shake off the shackles of nepotism, tribalism, and all other forms of bias.
The next Nigerian leaders, at all levels of government, should be people who have the know-how to tackle Nigeria’s insecurity and poverty and other malaises facing our great country. One of the most germane functions of a leader is to ensure the security of lives and property. This has been an issue in Nigeria for a long time now and it has led to people losing hope about the future. In Gagdi, PKK has a leader who has shown commitment and resilience to tackle these security challenges and make the constituency safe for everyone to live in.
Love or loathe him, Gagdi today is a factor in Plateau’s political circle. All those who knew and work close with him will attest to the fact that politics and leadership were woven into his DNA.
His affinity with both the high and mighty and the downtrodden is second to none. He leaves no stone unturned in grassroots developments, socio-economic worries and general political affairs.
Gagdi is scoring high goals as a Federal legislator in manners that even his fiercest detractors and critics cannot wish away.
Even a person knocked in 3 years COMA will come to terms with Roads, Bridges, Palaces, Schools, Townhall, Primary Health care centers, great infrastructural projects that the constituency has not seen in a long while, if at any time.
Currently over 50 projects which have direct impacts on the lives of constituents have been compmeted and some are ongoing ranging from schools, hospitals, handpumps, townhalls and roads across the constituency. You have the 9.5km road in Pankshin, 9.7km road in Dengi, solar street panels across the three Local Government Areas, Primary health care center in Jarmai, school in Zalli, townhall in Tankwal amongst many others.
The drilling of waterized handpump across all the polling units in PKK are 80% completed. It was inaugurated during the second quarter of the year, and have gone a long way in addressing the perennial water concerns of his constituents.
If performance and participatory leadership is the basic rule for re-election, then Gagdi should be giving a second mandate. He has used his office to touch the lives of students in terms of human capital development, graduates in terms of employment, women and elders in terms of empowerment, and the rural areas in terms of grassroots development. He is the only legislator in PKK history that has projects all over the 384 wards of the constituency.
Let us re-elect Gagdi – he is an enigma, astute politician, statesman, thinker and strategist. Like everyone else, Gagdi has his strengths and weaknesses.
Freelance Reporters 