Member representing Gumi/Bukkuyyum Federal Constituency of Zamfara State, Honourable Suleiman Abubakar Gumi, who defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC), speaks with KEHINDE AKINTOLA on employment generation, empowerment schemes and other developmental programmes amid insecurity in his region.
We just witnessed an unusual political rally to herald your defection from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressives Congress (APC). What will you say was responsible for the large turnout?
That shows there is something the politician is doing right, and I know that this is what every politician aspires to have. What we witnessed today is just remarkable. I was also taken by surprise by the good gesture by my people because if you decamp from another party, I think you always leave some people behind, but in this case, you see the whole town decamped with me from PDP to APC, which is just a joyous moment. The message I passed to them is that politics is about people; it’s about representing people, doing what is right for the people, and offering justice and fairness to everyone. That is the message I passed across to all the politicians in my zone; that the way forward is not to wait till election time that you give out money, but be kind to the people, be just to them as you execute your official engagement, and by doing so, people will always align with you.
Could this be a pointer to the 2027 election?
No, 2027 is far away; we are not thinking about 2027. What we are thinking about is how we should bring development to your people. Bringing development, the way forward is why we are there. You are there to represent them properly and bring the goodness of politics to them. When they vote for you, you return by being kind and being a good representative for them. The message is we should be responsible to our people.
What will you say was responsible for the massive turnout of party stalwarts at the rally?
It’s just a rare occasion where you see the executive of one party merging with another executive of another party under one umbrella. I think it was a remarkable sight to see, where the whole structure of local government coming together to work for one individual towards achieving dividends of democracy. So, today was a very good event and I’m hopeful that when the time comes, there won’t be any much struggle to get re-elected or for you to get the support of your people.
You made certain donations to your Constituents during the rally, what informed the gesture?
Today’s donation is one of the things we do, we get items for them as much as we can from the federal level. Today was for the distribution of irrigation equipment so that we can empower our youths to go back to farm. That is one way we can take teeming youths out of joblessness to being gainfully employed through agriculture and that is what we are trying to promote. Apart from the solar pumping machines, we are trying to encourage the youths to go back to farm.
What other developmental project did you intend to do for your Constituents in no distant future?
I announced the commencement of the construction of a major road that is leading to the farms in Gummi Local Government. The reason is that if we are encouraging people to farm, we should pave the way for them to access their farm and bring out their produce with ease, that is why we launched that and it will be constructed in the shortest possible time. Secondly, there’s another ward called Zonma in Bukkuyyum Local Government which the road in their town has a lot of water crossing a particular point where there’s a dam. Unfortunately, the dam gave way during the raining season and the road is really not motorable and its very difficult terrain for them to pass through. So, we think it’s better to create a permanent solution by constructing a steel bridge for them so that they can be accessing their homes and coming to town to do their normal day to day business. That is also ongoing. Every member is entitled to certain threshold in the annual budget, at this moment what our people are suffering from is insecurity. Because of insecurity, they cannot go to farm as farming is what we do in my region. So, I will focus on a lot of empowerment for them so that they can get some succour from the insecurity that we are facing. The road that we are trying to construct is another part of the local government that is safe for farming and because of the bad road people cannot go there, so the best thing is to divert their attention from where there’s so much insecurity, to the area that is secured. By creating that road we will open up more farm lands in the areas where there is good security so that they can go to farm. And part of the things I plan for them is to make sure we empower them as much as we can so that they can farm, because farming is the fastest way you can get employment for people so that they can be self-reliant.
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