By JOHN WADA, Lafia

Engineer Akaba Joshua Peter has declared that the House of Representatives seat for Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency must shift to Obi Local Government in the January 16 election, saying 43 years of marginalisation is enough.

Akaba, who is contesting under the Labour Party, described his ambition as a battle between David and Goliath during an interview with our correspondent in Lafiya.

“This is a battle between David and Goliath. They are looking at me as nobody, a child of nobody. I agree, but I am carrying only a sling and stone. When the time comes, we will hit Goliath on the 16th of January,” he said.

The aspirant, from Dudu Guru Ward and a bonafide son of retired Very Rev. Peter G. Akaba, the ERCC trustee, said his contest is anchored on faith.

“I used to tell people jokingly that I’m contesting House of Representative under the book of Matthew, Matthew 18 verse 20 which says, ‘Where two or three are gathered in his name, he is in their midst.’ And that confirmation is Romans chapter 8 verse 31. If God is with us, who can be against us? So, God is with us. In every step I took, God is with me,” he said.

“The purpose of me contesting this position is not for my selfish interest. Leadership comes from God.”

Akaba said the people of Lafia/Obi, particularly in Obi, have been neglected and have not felt government presence at their doorsteps.

“When you look at the constituency that we are contesting, there are certain aspects of people that have been neglected, not only in Obi, including Lafia. When you look at the surrounding, the electorate are not beneficiaries of most of these government presence in their doorsteps,” he said.

He said God created the constituency with diverse ethnic groups for a purpose.

“I’m Koro by tribe. And when you look at the constituency, Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency, you know God is not selfish in his creation. He brought Mada, he brought Alago, he brought Koro, he brought Kanuri, he brought Gwandara,” he said.

He argued that for fairness, equity and justice, the seat must go to Obi, noting that Koro people have consistently supported other groups.

“Now, for fairness, equity, and justice, Koro people have supported Alago. They have supported Gwandara. They have supported Igon. They have supported Kanuri,” he said.

He traced the political history of the constituency, recalling that in 1999, Suleiman Yusuf from Mararaba Ward, contested with Obi support, followed by Danladi Almakura from 2003 to 2011, Dr. Joseph Haruna Ikpe from 2011 to 2015, and Hon. Sarki Dahiru who spent 12 years.

“Now, Agwatashi, they produce Senator, which is Solomon Adokwe. He spent 12 years as a sitting Senator. But Obi 2, for balancing, they have not produced House of Representative nor Senator,” he said.

“The sitting House of Reps member, who is from Lafia, says for fairness, equity, and justice, that House of Representative seat should shift to Obi local government, since he is going for Senator. You cannot keep Senator in Lafia, House of Reps in Lafia. And this position has been in Lafia since 1999,” he added.

“Time has come that the House of Representative seat is going to Obi, not Lafia again.”

“People are wise. People know political calculation now. Nobody would like to be marginalized politically looking at the voting strength,” he said.

He acknowledged other contestants from Obi, including Dalla under PDP, Hon. Ogbele under NDC, and Dr. Anzaku under NNPP from Getare, but insisted Lafia should exercise patience.

On his agenda, Akaba unveiled a four-point blueprint: agriculture, education, youth and women empowerment, and infrastructure.

On agriculture, he said:

“My policy blueprint is only four-point agenda. Looking at Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency, most of the people are agrarian people. So the first is agriculture. Our farmers cannot afford fertilizer. They cannot afford it. To see it is a problem, talking more of affording it.”

“Herbicide that they will spray in their farms is also a problem because the resources are not there. Even if those things will come, they will not come at the right time. I’m a professional farmer. I farm yam, I farm rice, I farm maize, I farm beans, I farm groundnut. All these things have their seasons. I know the period and the time that they need fertilizer, they need herbicide, they need tractors.”

“I want to move Lafia/Obi from consumption to production. Because when you look at it, we consume more than what we produce and it’s not enough for us because we don’t have support of government.”

On education, he said: “Number two, when you go around our villages, all our schools are dilapidated. You will only see good schools along the roads. But just go around from Fadama Bauna to Dhibel, you go to Agwata, Adudu, all these villages, there as if there is no education. Go to Ajaragu, Musha, Takalafia and other surrounding areas, the primary schools there are dilapidated, children are sitting on the floor.”

“The generation that benefited from quality education and good governance are the ones spoiling the educational sector today. Those people during their time, they used to tell us they slaughter chickens for them, they slaughter cows, they wash their uniforms, they iron their uniforms for them. Then what happened that those policies are not working in government today?”

“We must have to check all these things and see how we are going to revive our educational sector so that this present generation and the generation unborn can sit comfortably in their classrooms and have their studies.”

“The third one is youth and women empowerment. We have talented youth, but their knowledge is being wasted. You will call someone and ask him, ‘What is your qualification?’ He will tell you, ‘I have B.Sc in Organic Chemistry, B.Sc in Microbiology, B.Sc in Sociology, B.Sc in Psychology,’ and all this knowledge has been wasted. When you finish school for about 15 to 20 years, you have not gotten a job. Tell me, when will you get that job?”

“I want to develop those talents through production by bringing skill acquisition programme. My mind is saying I should sponsor a bill for the establishment of Centre for Entrepreneurship in Agwatu so that let Lafia/Obi Federal Constituency be like China, when you finish your school, come to that place.

“Our children finish school and they left here to Benin, just to ride KEKE and motorcycle for daily pay so that they can get something to eat and even send to their family.

“Likewise, the women, women that are good in business, it’s a simple thing. Through their microfinance bank and their corporate organization, we empower them to go into business instead of sitting like this.”

On infrastructure, he said: “The last one is infrastructure. And when we are talking of infrastructure, you know, it comprises bridges, local bridges, drainages, culvert, building of hospitals and clinics. The worst of it is clinics in our villages are not functioning. Even to get a staff in a clinic, the staff will tell you that structure I cannot stay there.

“As a member of the National Assembly and being an engineer at the same time – I am a production engineer – to me, all these things, if given that opportunity, I will explore more than people are expecting, to make sure that people are seeing the dividends and the presence of government close to them, close to their doorstep.

“Most of them are culvert. They are culvert. But we look at it, ah, it’s a bridge. This is a work that 3.5 million, 4 million, 5 million will finish it. For example, the bridge linking Kaba Two Men, Kaba Gwede, Kaba Dudu Gurung, will you call those ones bridges? They are not bridges. They are culvert.

“By the time we have all these culverts being built, farmers will harvest their crops, move it to their homes, move it to their farms.

“Health care is very important, that no matter how we are going to beautify a society without a functional clinic, no matter how I’m going to help people to develop them in agriculture, without clinic and general hospital -why if they have a snakebite, or if a woman went to farm and labour caught up with her, where will she go?”