Yusuf Gagdi represents Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau State. He is an aspirant for the Speakership of the House of Representatives. In this interview, speaks about why he is well positioned to lead the 10th House of Representatives, what he would bring to the table, the fact that the North-Central has never produced a Speaker of the House, why the All Progressives Congress (APC) should in the spirit of equity, fairness and justice zone the position to the North-Central, among other issues. JOY ANIGBOGU brings the excerpts….CONTINUE READING...CONTINUE READING
You said that you are the kind of leader that Nigeria needs now, there are other contenders for that office, what are you bringing to the table as Speaker of the House of Representatives, and why do you think that you deserve to be the Speaker?
As a contender, what I will be bringing to the table is experience and how do I define experience here? I have the privilege to be reelected as a member of the State House of Assembly and as a Deputy Speaker to preside over the state House of Assembly. Secondly, the constitutional responsibility of the parliament is to make laws, and how do you make laws, for peace, order and good governance? In addition to the secondary version of discharging oversight responsibility. I have done that maximally to the best of my ability and I have said that I am qualified in the sense that within three years of the four years of my being in the House of Representatives, I have sponsored 21 bills and out of these 21 bills, Mr President has assented to six of my private member bills. This is on record and I think that if you search, four angles of the archives of the National Assembly, I don’t think that there is any member of the House of Representatives who has within three years pushed, lobbied for 21 bills, with six being assented to by Mr. President. If I have within three years pushed for 21 legislatures and six have received the blessing of Mr. President, So, if parliaments are to make laws and I have come within three years, pushed for 21 bills and six have received the blessings of the President, I am in the Guinness Book of Records. I represent Pankshin/Kanam/Kanke federal constituency of Plateau State, with three local governments. I am a Muslim and my constituency is made up of 70 percent Christians, can you tell me of one or two politicians who based on the 2023 general elections, that is fully of religiosity, ethnicity and what have you, who is coming from a Muslim faith, whereas he is contesting an election in 70 percent Christian dominated constituency that will elect him for the second time. It tells you the kind of relationship, and how I have represented my people so far in the last four years. So, if that is the case, I am looking at the contemporary issues within Nigeria, the issue of insecurity, issue of mutual distrust among the different regions in Nigeria, I think my background coming from a Christian dominated constituency, and as a Muslim, I have the qualification to preside over the 10th House of Representatives. In addition to the fact that I did well, I will also say that leadership comes from God. The constitution guarantees the financial autonomy of the National Assembly. It is placed on the first line charge in the federal budget. However, committees of the House routinely get financial and logistics support from Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), which they oversee in the course of their official duties. It is not a good use of resources for the House of Representatives to spend all of its time on establishment bills. It is an aberration of democratic practice for the oversight committees of the National Assembly to depend on the executive agencies under their purview to fund oversight activities. I plan to trigger a conversation on how the parliament ought to perform. I acknowledge that the federal parliament has yet to meet the expectations of Nigeria after 24 years of uninterrupted democracy. I promise to open up the activities of the House to ensure transparency and accountability.
Hon. Tajudeen has reportedly been endorsed by Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the President-elect, for the Speakership position, the same position that you are vying for, how do you see that jeopardizing your ambition?
I see that as a mere speculation because as an elected representative of the people, and a serving member of the House of Representatives I need to be told. As a stakeholder of the party if there is any decision like, until I am informed I will take it as it is now. I see it as a mere speculation. Assuming it is, it is not a big issue, and it doesn’t stop me from contesting. At the unveiling of my manifesto I said something. I said that the President-elect is someone that I respect. He knows me. I am his grandson. He is a talent hunter and I am one of the talents that he is hunting for. I am not saying that for him to endorse me. I have seen election took place in 2022, the primary election of APC that brought Aswaju Bola Tinubu as presidential candidate were some politics happened, the Northern Governors came out and said the north has had the presidency for eight years and that ideally it is good to be shifted to the Southern part of the country. I respect the fur taking that position. It was for the purpose of equity, justice and fairness. He was not endorsed by the president, the presidency was only zoned to the southern part of Nigeria and as President-elect, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu contested, just like many other candidates his capacity, his record made him to be elected by the APC delegates. I am equally of the opinion that let the Speakership be zoned to the North-Central where I am coming from because in the North, the North-West has produced Speaker four times where you have Salisu Buhari, Aminu Bello Masari, Tambuwal and Ghali Umar Na’Abba.
The argument is that your party the APC had the biggest numbers in the last general elections and Tajudeen Abass happens to come from there, which is Kaduna State…….
When the Northern Governors said that the presidency should move to the south they knew the votes in the north are more than the votes in the south but in the spirit of fairness and equity they said that it should go there. Again, without undermining my zone the North-Central, this particular zone in the presidential and governorship elections delivered four and five states respectively. The North-West delivered two states in the presidential election, the North-East delivered one state but the North-Central delivered four states. So, where is the fairness? If the North- West has produced four Speakers in the past, North-East has produced one in the past, and from 1999 till date, North-Central has never produced, yet it has delivered four states and five states in governorship and presidential elections respectively, more than the states delivered by the North-East and the North-West, so where is the fairness to warrant what happened in presidential zoning not to happen in the National Assembly, particularly in the House of Representatives.
Beyond what is going to happen in the National Assembly some Nigerians are saying that they don’tenvythoseofyouattheleadershipposition because of the myriad of challenges currently bedeviling the country, from economy to security, and what have you so what kind of Speaker do you think that Nigeria actually needs at the moment?
Nigeria needs a Speaker for the Nigerian people and I am going to deliver. I am a teacher, I hold Masters Degrees in Conflict Management and Peace Studies, Securities, Doctor of Philosophy (PHD) in Security Studies. I think that Nigerians should expect a Speaker for the Nigerian people, a speaker that after four years Nigerians will know that they have supported the executive arm of government to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people and definitely by the special grace of God if I am elected I will be of benefit to the Nigerian people to deliver the services. I will be a servant Speaker. I will serve the people of Nigeria….CONTINUE READING
