Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Gebis (who served as Member of the House of Representatives from Bauchi Federal Constituency from 2011-2015 as Chairman House Committee on Internal Security) primary motivation and driving force for wading into the perilous political waters of our epoch stems from a burning desire to change the political, economic, social and developmental dynamics of his people and indeed Nigeria as a whole for the better, to ensure that their inalienable rights which has for long being denied them due to incompetent, insensitive and incoherent leadership that tends unfortunately towards self actualization, self aggrandizement and self perpetuation. As far as the straight talking Bauchi born political maverick is concerned, now is the time to dispense with such selfish and self-seeking political charlatans, and chart a fresh and glorious course for the long enslaved and over manipulated masses who are presently wallowing in abject and desperate poverty on a scale unprecedented in the history of the nation.To achieve this noble and unarguably herculean, self imposed assignment, Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Gebi is prepared to push to the outer limit and would go to any length, even to the moon, metaphorically speaking, in order to lead his beloved people to the promised El-Dorado. And the forward looking youngish statesman minces no words and does not engage in deceptive double speak in order to get his message through. In fact AIG looks you straight in the eye and delivers his prose, swiftly and deftly, right to target not carrying if your or any others ones ox is gored for that matter.In fact the 7th NASS has uncovered a lot of fraud, wastage, corruption and mismanagement in the bureaucratic structure of the MDAs and several top officials have been indicted and recommended for appropriate sanctions by the Executive though in many cases those NASS resolutions have not been implemented or carried through to the chagrin of many Nigerians.Indeed the people of Bauchi federal constituency, Bauchi state, the National Assembly, Nigerians and indeed the nations political and economic elite are in for an interesting, rollicking, reverberating and action packed adventure as Hon. Aliyu Gebi has irrevocable affirmed that it is no longer business as usual, but business unusual for all arms of governance be it the state institutions, federal agencies, ministries and parastatals, the judiciary, the presidency and even the legislature itself. The woebegone years of complacency, mutual back slapping, back scratching, cronyism, nepotism, corruption, mismanagement and monumental theft of state resources are now happily a thing of the past. Still on legislative oversight of the MDAs performance, a thorough going Hon. Aliyu Gebi has continually pushed for a more fastidious implementation of the budget arguing that lack of or delay in its implementation was largely responsible for the economic woes presently being experienced by the holloi-polloi: I would not say that there has been remarkable improvement, but there has been some improvement in budget implementation and this is the much one can ask from a very stagnant system. The fact that we raised certain red flags and the Executive for the very first time listened and started implementing certain changes is a good sign not only for the relationship between the National Assembly and the Executive but also between the leaders of this country and the followership. And if you can recall, we were given our marching orders, those that oversaw MDAs, to verify the level of implementation of the budget and then report to the House so that we will take a decision as a united body.On a wide variety of issues, the outspoken political avatar has had cause to be at daggers drawn with a cross-sector of the Nigerian political elite e.g. the minimum wage issue, the 6 year single term proposal for president and governors, the merging of the anti-corruption agencies and the performance of former Bauchi State Governor, Mallam Isa Yuguda.Hon. Aliyu Gebi deftly waded into the minimum wage controversy then raging in 2011 by unequivocally insisting that the 36 state governors can and should pay the 18,000 minimum standard even averring that the Nigerian workers deserve even more: These peoples demands are not crazy, they are not outrageous. N18,000 minimum wage is not too much, yet some banks are saying minimum deposit is N25,000; this amount is insignificant. I participated in the debate and said our governors are very intelligent, creative people. If they really want to pay, they can find some creative way of doing some magic. Or is it because elections seem so far away' Four years is not a long time, my brother, if we are alive 4 years will come and pass us. I empathize and sympathize with labour, N18,000 is not a lot of money. And these people, their demands were initially N50,000 but they dropped it to N18,000, pay them for the love of God, for the love of the Nigerian nation.On the other hand, Hon. Aliyu Gebi is quick to lend unalloyed praise and appreciation for institutions and public functionaries that are up to the job in their operational duties and functions. For instance the Bauchi born whiz kid has had to doff his hat for the 7th National Assembly on account of its legislative activism and democratic populism: On a scale of one to ten, I will rate this assembly, eleven and a half and this not because I am a part of it. If we have not achieved what we set out to achieve, I would be one of the assemblys loudest critics. Again this validates our decision to independently choose the best out of the officers because if you give people the right to choose on a level playing field, they will choose the best of the best from within themselves and that is what we have done. That alone is something that has never happened in the history of our nation. And if you look at all the disagreements we had with the executive, the 7th Assembly has always placed the people first, it is no longer about our interests but the interests of our people, we are thinking about the future of Nigerians.Similarly the then Speaker of the 7th House of Representatives Rt Hon. Aminu Waziri Tambuwal also received unadulterated adulation from Hon. Aliyu Gebi for his humility, dynamism and statesmanship: I think that The Politician of the Year Award is symptomatic of the leadership style that he exhibits and his level of integrity, dexterity of character, transparency, accountability and humility. The most admirable quality of Rt Hon. Tambuwal is his humility, I have never met any person that is as humble within the context of leadership like the Hon. Speaker. And our advice is simple, we are behind him, we are loyal to him, we chose him based on certain characteristics that he should continue to exhibit and I pray that he continues to be the same Aminu Tambuwal that we knew before we elected him, the same Aminu Tambuwal that I know personally as my older brother and for an individual as unassuming as Aminu Tambuwal to hold 359 members together is a remarkable achievement.This Bauchi born political maestro is out to restore the dignity of his people and ensure that they get it right this time, no matter how strenuous or stressful the struggle for emancipation is or how long it takes, this time the peoples will, aspirations and desires must ultimately, irrevocable and irreversibly prevail. Hear Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Gebi: 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. We are not a nation or state or constituency of beggars, we have pride, though our dignity has been eroded, we want our dignity to be restored meaning that we want to make sure that people who want to go back to school, do so and those people who want to stay back and take care of the home, do that too. Need we say more' Only time, destiny, providence and posterity will decide and give definitive judgment on the political, social, economic and developmental trajectory of Hon. Aliyu Ibrahim Gebis postulations but we wish him Gods continued blessing and divinely sanctioned wisdom in all his endeavours and deliberations.-ALIYU, A PUBLIC AFFAIRS ANALYST SENT THIS PIECE FROM GARKI ABUJA
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