On January 7, 2023, the All Progressives Congress, APC, held a rally in Birnin Kudu local government area of Jigawa state and the occasion was fantastic. The rally portrayed Hon. Da’u Aliyu as a crowd puller. Heavy crowd, unprecedented in any single gathering in Birnin Kudu graced the occasion because of Magaji Da’u Aliyu.
It is heartwarming to note that since political parties have been holding rallies in Jigawa, none of the rallies was able to pull the crowd Da’u has pulled. All came because they wanted to meet with Dau Aliyu, the people’s representatives. Hon. Aliyu’s political clout was proven by the large attendance, men and women from all walks of life, to the rally. No single crowd in Jigawa state matched what was witnessed in Birnin Kudu town on Saturday.
We who are well informed about the political development in Jigawa state were not surprised by the unprecedented large number of electorate Hon Aliyu had pulled. This is because his antecedents in office speak volumes of his humanity and leadership qualities. Whatever he does, whether in office or out of office, his central concern is the people, their welfare and security. He treads where his feeble minded colleagues cannot. His courage, honesty and love of country manifest in whatever business he finds himself in.
While many Nigerian public officeholders who matter would keep mum on pressing issues, Da’u speaks out. In one of his courageous speeches, he blames reoccurring national grid collapse on the obsolete equipment inherited by the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN). Da’u, who represents Birnin Kudu/Buji federal constituency of Jigawa state, in the House of Representatives, said this while fielding questions from journalists after a reception in his honour on the completion of his PhD programme in Birnin Kudu on Sunday.
Courageously, Da’u said though he was not trying to defend TCN, but Nigerians should note that the company inherited old infrastructure, so, all at their disposal are outdated. He said TCN does not even have a scanner to monitor their activities, adding that up to last month, they could not even access their network in Shiroro because of banditry.
He further said that the House of Representatives plans to hold a public hearing to seek stakeholders’ views on the issue. However, he expressed opposition to calls for the privatisation of the TCN, for obvious reasons. We’ve privatised DisCos and you see what happened, we have to take them back,” he said.
The popularity of Dau came to the front burner when more than 4,000 people graced his reception on the lawmaker’s return home upon the successful completion of his PhD programme in Public Administration at the University of Scotland.
During the reception, he expressed optimism that the APC would win the 2023 general elections at all levels in the state. He arrived at this analysis because he has seen the handwriting on the wall very clearly.
This is a singular public officeholder who is able to meet with people and connect with them to make then feel relevant and realise their social and political worthiness. Da’u and his colleagues have done their best to ensure that APC wins in the election in Jigawa in 2023 at all levels.
We, his supporters, are also confident that he will be re-elected in 2023. Our prediction is realistic because in this event alone, there were over 4,000 people of his constituency from the two local government areas.”So I’ve told them that if anyone of them can bring five people (voters), that’s 200,00 votes to win the election,” Da’u said.
The articulate Chairman, House of Representatives Committee on Power, courageously told Nigerians that the over 40-year-old Mambilla Hydro-Power project had existed only on papers because there was nothing on ground to show that the project had commenced before the coming APC-led government.
The humanity and altruistic nature of Da’u have all combined to endear him to the people. His popularity that was spreading like wild fire, made his traducers resorting to threat on his life. Therefore, out of envy, anger and frustration, his enemies who could not stop his popularity attacked his convoy in February last year, in order to eliminate him and clear the way for them. But God protected his servant from the the miscreants and hired assassins.
He was right to say the attack was sponsored by his political detractors who were threatened by the record of his sterling performance in the green chambers of the National Assembly.
Aliyu insists that he offers effective and quality representation for his constituents in his years at the House of Representatives.
The incorruptible lawmaker has personally sponsored and attracted people-oriented projects to the constituency with verifiable record. Recently, members of the APC across 248 polling units of his constituency had passed a vote of confidence on him for his good representation and people-oriented leadership.
Why not? The lawmaker has executed over 18 road projects and hundreds of solar street lights. He has constructed numerous classroom blocks in schools, built maternity hospitals, and attracted to the constituency Federal Government College of Special Education project, approved by President Muhammadu Buhari.
Because of his constant connection with the people, he identifies their problems and goes about to solve them. He has therefore, promised to bring more dividends of democracy to them, challenging anyone with allegation of his poor performance or neglect of any area in his constituency to come forward and prove it.
Da’u’s focus on his constituency is unshaken so as to sustain his effective representation for the people. We are happy that Da’u said he cannot be distracted by those who mean no good for the people of his constituency and Jigawa state.
Birnin-Kudu, a student of Kaduna Polytechnic, writes from Kaduna.
