Zamfara rep: Politicians shouldn’t wait until elections to support constituents

Sulaiman Abubakar, a member of the house of representatives, says politicians should not wait until elections to support their constituents.

Abubakar, who represents Gummi/Bukkuyum federal constituency of Zamfara state, spoke during the weekend at a rally organised to welcome him to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

In October, the lawmaker defected from the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the APC over the “lingering and unresolved internal and external crisis” in the main opposition party.

“I was taken by surprise by the good gesture of 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,” he said.

“And the message I passed to them is that politics is about people. It is 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 until election time to give out money.

“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.”

The legislator stated that he has been implementing various projects in his constituency, not in preparation for the 2027 election, but to ensure his constituents benefit from the dividends of democracy.

“We are not thinking about 2027. What we are thinking about is how to bring development to your people. Why you are there (as a politician) is to represent them properly and bring the goodness of politics to them,” he said.

“When they vote for you, you return the gesture by being kind and being a good representative for them. The message is we should be responsible to our people.

“I think it was a remarkable sight to see how the whole structure of a local government came together to work for one individual towards achieving dividends of democracy.

“So, today was a very good event and I am hopeful that when the time comes, there won’t be much struggle to get re-elected or for you to get the support of your people.

“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 pull our teeming youths out of joblessness to being gainfully employed through agriculture and that is what we are trying to promote.”

The legislator added that his goal is to see his constituents become self-reliant.