Political contests, all over the world has witnessed the face-off between competing ideologies, opinions and view points with the liberal/progressive camp squaring off against the conservative or reactionary tendencies and the ensuring titanic engagement has led to the unleashing of seismic and centrifugal forces that deeply impact on the very fabric of society. For instance in the United States, the inception of the 1960s saw a conglomeration of progressive forces under the banner of the New Frontier Democrats with the likes of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Eugene McCarthy, Dean Rusk, MacGeorge Bundy, George McNamara, John Schlesinger Jnr, Hubert Humphrey, Martin Luther King Jnr, George McGovern, ranged against conservative curmudgeons like Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower, Douglas McArthur, John Foster Dulles, Richard Nixon, Barry Goldwater, Spiro Agnew etc. The John Kennedy-led progressive forces were determined to radically transform American society for the better with their emphasis on equal rights for women, youths and minorities and equal access to education, health, housing and employment. As the 60’s drew to a close it was clear that the New Frontier Democrats had won a decisive victory against the old conservative order with the unveiling of the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, the Fair Employment Act, the desegregation of American educational, recreational and health institutions and the gender rights revolution.
In the Nigerian political and socio-economic milleau, the year 2011 could be regarded as the apogee of the progressive movement as the inauguration of the 7th House of Representatives saw the emergence of an array of young, dynamic, forward looking and articulate federal legislators insistent on delivering crucial democratic dividends to their long suffering people. One of the emergent New Age Democrats is undoubtedly Hon Aliyu Ibrahim Gebi who was Chairman, House Committee on Internal Security from 2011 to 2015 and is presently the Senior Special Assistant to the Honourable Minister of Interior, General Abdulrahman Dambazzau. Right from the start of the 7th House legislative session, an eloquent Hon Aliyu Gebi signaled his commitment to empowering the men, women, youths and children of his Bauchi federal constituency come rain, come shine: ‘I am here to restore the dignity of my people because over the years, their dignity has been collectively eroded by misrepresentation, misdirection and political tyranny of a few people belonging to certain affiliations. My mandate is clear, the covenant I have entered with the people is the covenant I have entered too with our creator, God’. Indeed Hon Aliyu Gebi is loyal dedicated, upright, principled and dedicated to the core, a far cry from the political henchmen and horse traders that parade the nooks and cranies of the nation’s political arena as we see it today. And the forthright populist did not fail to deliver as he made momentous strides in the area of education, health, agriculture, power, potable water, roads, manpower development and women and youth empowerment. A far sighted Hon Gebi was able to attract key infrastructural projects from the Millenium Development Goals agency to Bauchi federal constituency much to the delight and admiration of his people. Also a compassionate Hon Aliyu Gebi operated a refreshingly open door accommodative policy towards his constituents as well as other Nigerians from all works of life, listening to their issues and concerns as well as taking far reaching steps towards addressing those concerns and anxieties. However Hon Alyu Gebi’s progressive exertions did not go down well with the core conservation bloc in the Bauchi socio-cultural and political nexus as they vowed to do all within their power to checkmate his valiant efforts at uplifting the poor, the infirm, the disenfranchised, the dispossessed and the disinherited of society. As far as the arch conservatives were concerned, Hon Aliyu Gebi had to be stopped Q.E.D. Apart from the then ruling PDP federal and state overlords that were uneasy with his unrelenting criticism of their party’s rampant mismanagement and financial profligacy, even those within the CPC and later APC formations did not take kindly to Hon Aliyu Gebi’s belief in the radical restructuring of society for the better. Thus his opponents both internal and external joined forces to undermine his political desiderata, even leveling all manner of trumped up politically motivated and mischievous vendetta against the undisputed people’s tribune. However those that attempted to thwart Hon Aliyu Gebi’s political agenda have only managed to short change the people of Bauchi Federal constituency and indeed Bauchi state at large giving the porous, mediocre and downright incompetent leadership traits peddled around by his successor in the House of Representatives, Hon Aliyu Shehu Musa. Indeed Hon Aliyu Musa is virtually invisible and unheralded in the Greens Chamber, hardly moving a motion or sponsoring bills, not to talk of executing basic infrastructural project for his people. The difference between Hon Aliyu Gebi and Hon Aliyu Musa could be likened to the difference between sunlight and darkness and the time has come for the good people of Bauchi federal constituency to reclaim their birth right and divine mandate from political jobbers and visionless charlatans while entrusting such to resourceful, erudite, courageous and formidable men of worth and grit like the inimitable Hon Aliyu Gebi. The future of Bauchi citizens and those of their unborn children and grandchildren can only be guaranteed and safeguarded by the redoubtable and progressive social, political and economic philosophy, desiderata and paradigm thrust objectives of Hon Aliyu Ibrahim Gebi and his New Age Democratic Agenda.
-MUSA, A PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANALYST SENT IN THIS PIECE FROM BAUCHI, BAUCHI STATE