“Ogene, where are you?” The voice at the other end inquired, betraying an admixture of anxiety, disappointment and uncertainty. The day was Saturday, June 6, 2015, only three fleeting days before the inauguration of the 8th Assembly of Nigeria’s House of Representatives.
Aware of the testy times, I had in quick reply stated that I was at home. The response from the caller was both a request and a command: “Please, come over to Bolingo!”
I knew intuitively that something was amiss. For Hon. Yakubu Dogara (as he then was), to speak in such manner, shorn of the usual mirth that accompanied his calls, only meant one thing: our project had probably run into stormy seas.
Indeed, from the day the nucleus of what was to become “The Consolidation Group” was birthed immediately after the March, 2015 National Assembly elections, it was a daily struggle for self-assertion by those who felt that they ought to be allowed to choose their leaders, as against others who leaned on the status quo to foist one on the institution.
As a matter of fact, that was exactly what the incoming All Progressives Congress (APC) sought to do on that memorable day, when it summoned all members elected on its platform to a shadowy session, with the intent of abridging the constitutionally guaranteed rights of members to elect their leaders. This fact, so vividly captured in Section 50(1)(b) of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria, as amended, to wit: “There shall be a Speaker and a Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, who shall be elected by the members of that House from among themselves”, although this has over the years been notoriously observed more in breach.
Upon arrival at Bolingo, located in the central area of Abuja, I was greeted with the forlorn faces of about six members who had made it back from the International Conference Centre (ICC) venue of the supposed straw poll.
As head of the campaign organisation’s media unit, the situation demanded all of my attention, and maybe expertise. Having failed to rally the party behind our quest, all we probably had left was the media – and of course, the continued support of members of the opposition People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
But instead of proffering the expected media solution to the seeming logjam, I went for the political.
With my erstwhile boss, the amiable Hon. Zakari Mohammed in tow, I demanded that we hold a quick strategy session with Dogara in one of the adjoining rooms. The three of us had barely sat down when I let out what I considered as the surest bet to us having a fighting chance to clinch the speakership.
“Your Excellency”, I began, in a rather subdued tone, “ I think that our only way out now is to formally offer the Deputy Speaker position to the PDP”.
Momentary silence descended upon the room, as I watched Dogara close his eyes in contemplative reflection.
After a spell of two minutes, which seemed more like two hours, he began to utter the words which would eventually define his essence as a selfless leader: “Ogene, I thank you for your suggestion. These are times that test the faith of men. We have all come a long way. How do we explain it to Lasun (our candidate for deputy speaker)? I think we should leave the PDP with the chairmanship positions we’ve ceded to them, and put our trust in God”, Hon. Dogara stated.
An Igbo proverb aptly captured my predicament thus: “it is out of sync for someone, whose mother passed on to be crying, ‘ewo ewo’ whilst a sympathiser will be bellowing, ‘mama oh, mama oh’.
Perhaps, another way of saying that one can’t cry more than the bereaved!
Instructively, between the trio of Dogara, Mohammed and myself, we were well aware that the situation which confronted us, was exactly what was to play out in the Senate in three days. For Dogara, therefore, to labour climbing over the fence, when there is, seemingly, a manhole through which he could so easily pass, speaks volume about his strength of character, fidelity to group cause, and unwavering faith in the creator of the universe as the author of destinies.
With my belief in him as a trusted leader reinforced, I had immediately afterwards plunged onto the task at hand, deploying both sentiments and propaganda to churn out the statement which the team published on the eve of the election for speakership. As it turned out, the giant fingers of God was evident in the outcome, as Dogara won by a slim margin of eight votes.
Since mounting the saddle, in addition to having held the House together in admirable fashion, Speaker Dogara has gone ahead to prove that he is a consummate lawmaker, a tactful diplomat, as well as a compassionate and humane leader; above all, a lover of his people and defender of their interest.
All these are evident in his people-oriented and level-headed leadership style in the House, which has continued to endear him to the hearts of many beyond his political fold. For instance, his concern for the welfare of the downtrodden shone brightly few days ago when he hosted a charity football match in Abuja, to raise funds for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), as part of his 50th birthday celebration.
“As I clock 50, what is uppermost to me really is not longevity, I want to see how well I have invested the 50 years that God has given me. You know, when you are alive, you can choose to invest in yourself, or in others. I think honour is when you serve others, that is why I want to commit all we generate in the course of this celebration to address the plight of these wonderful people who are trapped by a crises they did not originate, don’t know how it began; most of them are just unfortunate victims of this crisis. There is nothing we can do that can either be too big or too little if it is being invested in order to raise people from the ashes to be able to fulfil their God-given destinies,” Speaker Dogara enthused.
This, essentially, is the worldview of a Dogara who colleagues, friends, associates and subordinates have come to respect as a model.
But even months before this charity gesture, Speaker Dogara had written his name in gold in the hearts of the entire people of the terrorism ravaged north-eastern part of the nation, by doggedly showcasing excellent representation of their well-being.
Apart from his legacy projects which cuts across the zone and his skills acquisition scheme that ensures that youths of his constituency and beyond are lifted from the harsh desert of unemployment, his greatest gift to the zone, perhaps, is the North East Development Commission (NEDC), which he brought about through a bill he sponsored and pursued with zest, passion and commitment, until it was signed into law by President Mohammed Buhari few months ago.
Being able to galvanise his colleagues at the National Assembly to pull through such a sensitive bill at a time when unity and national cohesion are sadly on the decline says a lot about Dogara as not only a man of the people, but also an experienced legislator and shrewd negotiator.
This singular act of commitment to the well-being of his people and the development of their devastated land raises a fountain of hope regarding the rebuilding of the area from the ruins foisted on it by the debilitating impact of insurgency.
Overall, going by his strides in leadership, it does appear as though “leadership blood” flows deep in Dogara’s veins. For instance, his forebear in politics, the late Alhaji Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, first Prime Minister of Nigeria, hailed from the same Bogoro/Dass/Tafawa Balewa federal constituency, that Dogara proudly represents today.
Under his leadership of the 8th Assembly, he had stated in a mid-term report thus: “In terms of the core mandate of law-making, we have remained a bastion of legislative activism. Indeed, members of the 8th House Representatives are in keen competition with one another in fashioning out legislative solutions to myriad of problems facing the nation. That is why in all facets of law-making, we can comfortably and conveniently assert that we have broken all records.”
Indeed, despite the huge volume of bills presented and treated so far, and the number of other legislative activities and interventions on national issues, a grateful nation can only wish Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara 50 hearty cheers (as he turns 50 on Tuesday, December 26) and more grace, wisdom and candour in the continuing service of the fatherland.
*Hon. Ogene, was deputy chairman, media & public affairs in the House of Representatives, Abuja, (2011-2015).
