By joshua KOGI EAST 2027: WHEN QUALIFICATION, CHARACTER AND HUMANITY MATTER, CONSIDER QS AMINU
By Christopher Sunday
Now that INEC has released the final list of senatorial candidates for the 2027 general election, I have found myself returning to a question I have asked repeatedly over the years of watching politics: what exactly should qualify a person to represent us?
For me, the answer goes beyond party, friendship, familiarity or political connections.
Kogi East has educated people. We have lawyers, SANs, PhD holders, academics, engineers, doctors, Quantity Surveyors and professionals with years of experience. We should therefore be bold enough to ask whether the people seeking our votes are actually prepared for the responsibility.
A Senate seat is not just a political reward. It requires the ability to understand laws, interrogate budgets, engage policy and speak intelligently for the people.
That is why qualification and competence should matter. But they are not enough. Character and humanity must matter too.
We need people who are qualified enough to understand the job, competent enough to do it, decent enough to be trusted and humane enough to remember the people they represent.
I also believe it is time we seriously consider a candidate from the Idah Federal Constituency. Not simply because of where the person comes from, but because fair representation should give every part of Kogi East a genuine sense of belonging.
This is where QS Aminu Abubakar Suleiman, FNIQS deserves serious consideration.
QS brings together academic training, professional experience and practical exposure. As a Quantity Surveyor and infrastructure professional, his career has been connected to issues central to development: cost, procurement, contracts, accountability and project delivery.
Of course, qualifications alone should never determine an election. We must examine his record, character, ideas, humanity and capacity to represent Kogi East.
But we must also stop pretending that competence does not matter.
The question before us in 2027 should not simply be: Who do I know? Who is my friend? Who belongs to my political camp?
It should also be: Who is qualified? Who is competent? Who has character? Who has humanity? And who is genuinely prepared for the job?
Kogi East has the human capacity. We should have the courage to vote for it.