A young teacher, Lawan Musa, who ended the Yobe State House of Assembly Speaker, Ahmed Lawan’s 20-year stay in the legislature, explains to journalists how he achieved the feat
A 33-year-old volunteer teacher, Mr Lawan Musa, who won the March 18 Nguru ll constituency election in Yobe State, has explained how he defeated the incumbent, Alhaji Ahmed Lawan.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria, Musa said he began his village-to-village campaign on foot.
Musa, who contested the election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party defeated the current Speaker, Yobe House of Assembly, Lawan.
The returning officer of the election, Habib Muhammad, who announced the result stated that Musa, scored 6,648 votes to defeat Yobe’s Speaker of the All Progressives Congress, who secured 6,466 votes.
According to NAN, Musa who spoke with journalists on Sunday in Damaturu, the state capital on Sunday, said that it was mid-way into the campaign that someone in neighbouring Jigawa State donated a motorcycle to him.
“Someone, who noticed our determination to the cause and lack of funds in the campaign organisation, also donated a car to boost the quest to reach out to our people.
“My people, most of whom are farmers and fish sellers, raised funds to fuel the car. Some called and wished me success, while others sent between N50,000 to N20,000 into my account as their contributions,” he said.
Musa, who holds an HND in Business Administration/Management from Federal Polytechnic, Damaturu, said that backwardness in education and other spheres of life motivated him to run for the seat occupied by Lawan for 20 years.
“In the area of education, we are moving backwards in the constituency. Our classes are dilapidated, there are no job opportunities. The health sector is something else.
“I realised that we lack good representation to address these issues or challenges. That was why our people said I should contest the seat perhaps because they thought I could make a difference.
“During our campaign, there was intimidation and harassment from some people, but thank God; despite all the challenges, we were able to win,” he said.
The legislator-elect promised to pay attention to making laws that would enhance the social and economic well-being of his constituents.
“I will prioritise education by ensuring that classrooms are renovated, more teachers employed and learning materials provided.
“In the health sector, we have more than 40 communities whose health care facilities are in dire need of drugs and medical personnel. I will do anything possible to address this problem.
“I will also lobby and approach relevant agencies to see that portable water and good roads are provided in the constituency, and ensure that jobless youths are employed either temporarily or permanently.
“I will also make sure that I visit my constituents every weekend to hear their challenges so that I can handle those I can and refer those I can’t to the appropriate authorities,” Musa said.
He said that as a grassroots politician and development worker, he was not surprised when his constituents bought him a nomination form to contest in the election.
“I contested for a councillorship seat in 2021 and lost. My constituents were not happy that was why they bought the nomination form for me to contest the house of assembly seat this time around.
“I think this explains why I got the PDP ticket unopposed; because of the love the people have for me.
“I reciprocated this gesture by refusing to step down despite being approached by some politicians with mouth-watering inducements,” he said.
The lawmaker-elect had earlier in an interview with Daily Trust, explained how he was arrested on two occasions.
He said, “Actually, I was arrested two times. One of them was from a politician in the APC before I left the party after I criticised him on Facebook. He told the police to arrest and detain me for five days
“The second one was from the Speaker, whom I defeated. I criticised him for poor representation and I was arrested and detained for 48 hours. It was last year during Ramadan.
“They arrested me for standing with my people. For example, whenever I heard that the state government approved a constituency project for state lawmakers, I used to verify where our own was executed and if it had any impact on our society? These were among the questions I used to ask myself. I even followed them to make sure the project was done. So I used to criticise him whenever I discovered that we had a problem he could solve but he failed to do so. And I would criticise with facts.
Besides the Yobe Speaker, the Speaker of the Zamfara State House of Assembly, Nasiru Muazu Magarya, also lost his re-election bid to Bilyaminu Ismail of the PDP.
Magarya, a candidate of the APC lost his Zurmi West constituency re-election bid to the PDP candidate with 9,530 votes.
INEC Returning Officer, Muddasir Moriki, who announced the result on Sunday last week, said that Ismail scored 11,213 votes.
“I, Muddasir Ismail, the returning officer of the 2023 Zurmi West State Assembly Constituency election held on March 18, 2023. The election was contested by candidates with the following votes. Mu’azu Nasiru of APC scored 9,530 votes and Isma’il Bilyaminu of PDP scored 11,213 votes,” Moriki said
“Therefore, Isma’il Bilyaminu of the PDP, having satisfied the requirements of the law, has been declared elected.”
The deputy speaker of the House, Musa Bawa Yankuzo, and the deputy leader, Nasiru Lawal Bungudu, also lost their seats to Bello Maza-Waje and Bashiru Dan-Meri of the PDP respectively.
But the Speaker, Oyo State House of Assembly, Mr Adebo Ogundoyin, was re-elected to represent Ibarapa East State Constituency in the Assembly.
The Returning Officer, Prof. John Oladeji, who announced the result of the election on Sunday last week in Ibadan, said Ogundoyin of the PDP scored 10,039 votes to defeat 12 other candidates.
He said that the APC candidate, Aderounmu Adeolu, got 7,111 votes while the Accord Party candidate, Oladeni Tunde scored 2,724 votes.
