By joshua LOKOJA I: THE CASE FOR CONTINUITY — WHY TEAM BEST DESERVES A SECOND TERM
By Abu Micheal
There was a time when Hon. Bin-Ebaiya Shehu Tijjani held no political office, yet he was the toast of Lokoja. From far away Lagos, he touched lives. He intervened in school fees, in hospital bills, in water problems, in youth matters. He did it methodically, planning his little resources to meet needs as they came. That goodwill is why his election in 2023 was like a referendum. The people did not vote for a stranger; they voted for a man they already knew.
That is the context many have forgotten today.
To be a lawmaker for Lokoja I is not the same as being a private philanthropist. Lokoja I is not a quiet ward. It is the metropolis itself. It is the state capital where every indigene, resident, trader, student, okada rider, civil servant believes you are his representative. Needs are infinite. Resources are finite. In an austere economy, no one man can meet all needs at once. This is what distinguishes public office from private kindness. In private life, you choose who to help and when. In public office, everyone queues at your door at the same time.
Yet by every measurable yardstick, TeamBest, as he is fondly called, has done well. You cannot fault him on lawmaking. The primary role of a legislator is to make laws for good governance. Hon. Bin-Ebaiya has been active on the floor of the Kogi State House of Assembly. He has moved motions on the expansion and strengthening of the Lokoja mass transit system to protect residents from arbitrary keke and okada charges. He has raised issues affecting water supply, youth unemployment and the peculiar urban pressure of the capital city. He has contributed to debates that matter to the common man.
His closeness to government has also worked for Lokoja. Working hand in hand with the Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Aliyu Umar Yusuf, who represents Lokoja II, he has leveraged that synergy to attract democracy dividends to the metropolis. Where others shout, he lobbies quietly and results come.
Before now, as a private citizen and as Senior Special Adviser on Water Resources, he undertook water reticulation and repair of pipes across traditional wards from Karaworo to Up Garage, an intervention the Hakimi of Ward C publicly commended. As lawmaker, he has sustained that concern for water with boreholes and facilitation of interventions. In education, his record is clear. He has paid for 500 free JAMB forms for constituents under his Educational Development Programme, organized computer-based pre-examination lessons for JAMB, WAEC, NECO and NABTEB, and promised special rewards for the best ten male and female candidates who excel. These are not token gestures. They are investments in the future of Lokoja children.
He is, by nature, very unassuming. That simplicity has been misconstrued by some as weakness. It is not. His strength is in his calm ability to build bridges, to listen, to forgive and to keep working.
Usually, a second term comes with its hurdles. Many aspired. From findings, majority of the loudest tantrums against the lawmaker are coming from one axis, Ward A, where it was perceived it was their turn. This is normal in politics. Contest is allowed. But what is not normal is for dissent to continue after a process has been concluded.
Except for dissidents, the supremacy of the party ordinarily makes members unite after a contest where interest is not met. In Lokoja I, stakeholders subjected all aspirants to an open secret ballot. Everyone agreed to the process. The result was 18 votes for Bin-Ebaiya, six and one for others. His own ward is now rallying behind their son. One wonders why it is difficult for some sections to accept the outcome. There will be another time. It may be your turn tomorrow.
Without fear or favour, Hon. TeamBest working with stakeholders is a sure return to the Assembly. The real challenge will not be the general election, but who will be labelled as having played anti-party. That tag is costly. It stays for years.
This is therefore a subtle appeal to the few aggrieved persons still holding on. Let us put our differences behind us and ask as party members, what do we stand to benefit if we waste our votes voting ADC, PDP or other parties only to lose? Where will we hide our faces afterwards? If the lawmaker, when accosted, has made an appeal for forgiveness, to what extent should our anger go, except there is something else that is not known politically?
Change is important in politics, but change for change sake does not fit the yearning and aspirations of the people. What is available now does not match what TeamBest offers in experience, accessibility and party loyalty. He may not have done everything, no leader does, but his best far outweighs his shortcomings when juxtaposed with available resources and other Lawmakers in the Assembly.
The time to rally behind Hon. Bin-Ebaiya Shehu Tijjani is now. Let us not be tenants in another man’s house when we can be owners and landlords in our own APC. It is better to be in a party where your voice counts than to go and queue behind as a stranger, later to be called a traitor and betrayer.
The time for Ward B APC to take ownership of TeamBest is now. He is there bride. The truth is anything short of victory coming from Ward B after there long years of agitation will make them a mockery.
Let us give the young man another chance. His second term will be unusually positive because he has learnt, he has listened and he is ready to do more.