Today, one beautiful thing about democracy is the liberty of our opinion and the freedom to express it, most times when we choose to express our personal opinion is not necessarily the most refine or most scholarly driven but to participate in social and public affairs discourse is our right.
Another thing I want my readers to understand about this piece is the fact that it is coming from a constituent whose Senatorial District and representation is culminated by incompetence, misrepresentation and most baffling – arrogance.
I am from Gombe North Senatorial District and the Senator representing me is Sen. Sa’idu Alkali, the popular opinion about him is that, the senator sees himself as an emperor and always want some act of deification from his constituents. I guess you will understand my taste for good representation like that of Danjuma Goje.
The only argument that can be valid on Goje’s exiting the senate is about giving chance for other upcoming generation, but alas I still can’t see who have sincerely unveil himself to take up such a challenge. No wonder his people rejected the move.
Even though, I am a young person but I’ve stopped insisting on the idea that political parties must give out their tickets to the Young minds, but rather they should give their tickets to the most competent who will satisfy the need of his people – in the last one decade Danjuma Goje have distinguished himself and display himself as the most performing Senator in the entire Northeast region and among the few best in Nigeria, and I challenge anyone to present a better person than him in terms of performance from the region in the last 10 years.
Most of the concerns raised is about the senator getting old and he should pave way for others, but while the senator is yet to clock 70 years – such cacophony is coming from the same people who voted a septugenarian as their president in 2019, Muhammadu Buhari.
The main problem with most of us is how we are ill-informed and have failed to understand the basis of representation in the parliament or congress that some of us are complaining when someone is in the senate for three terms despite having the most finest score card in his state and geopolitical zone. For the records, I’d like to give some few examples from the people whose democracy was imported.
Mitchell McConnell is a united state senior senator representing Kentucky since 1985 and now in his 9th term, he was the senate majority leader sometime and presently the senate minority leader, he is 79years old and his people have voted for him 9 times – in a four year term
Peter Bottomley is an MP in the UK since 1975, the septugenarian has represent the Old Woolwich constituency, Eltham and later Worthing west from 1997 to date in the house of Commons of the Uk Parliament. Sir James is still an MP at 76years of age.
Nancy Pelosi is the present speaker of America’s congress, Pelosi is an octogenarian in her 81 years and amazingly have been a representative from California since 1987, in her 18th term now, even though their tenure in congress is two years, but this means her people have voted for her for 18 times.
It seems we need to understand the fundamentals of representation in the parliament, congress or the senate respectively – the aforementioned examples are from those who are seen as the most refined and thoughtful constituencies in the world, but amazingly are sticking to single identified individuals for better representation because no one want to end up voting individuals who can only be redundant in the senate while displaying their arrogance to their constituents like what is happening in Gombe North – it is not basically a shifting pendulum that if someone is there he or she must shift after few terms so that another person will also assume the office to enjoy from the taste of it devidends.
The argument that he should not contest because he has serve 3 terms by 2023 cannot hold water as far as good representation is concerned.
Sen. Danjuma Goje has his flaws as any humankind can have, and this piece is not attempting to deify him or disclose his infallibility but to sincerely put the facts clear. When it comes to his people, his constituents and his state he stand unmatched in the state and the region. In the activity of making citizens “present” in public policy making processes when political actors act the best interest is the interest of one’s constituents, and Danjuma Goje is doing that.
As disclosed by many stakeholders last week while unveiling the so many things enjoyed by the people of Gombe Central Senatorial District because of Danjuma Goje’s representation in the last 10years – I urge those constituents to be wise and if it takes they should insist on Danjuma Goje’s continuation, he has served them well and looking at those who have present themselves preparing to seek for voters confidence in 2023 I’m yet to see who can match him. Most of them were tested sometimes and their scorecard is nothing to talk about.
The constituents can chooses to let him off, but by 2023 when they mistakenly vote someone like the senator representing my District they will understand the gravity of my concerns.
Abdullahi
Writes from Gombe LGA,
Aauwal3@gmail.com
