By Ahaziah Abubakar Suleiman
Since independence,the people of Gombe South have been blessed with different types of political leaders. Prominent amongst them is the late Senator Uba Ahmed, Senator Ajuji Waziri, Senator Idris Abubakar, Senator Umbi Wada all of blessed memory and Senator Joshua Lidani and Amos Bulus amongst many others etc.
Amongst all-them, Late Senator Uba Ahmed stands out as the only one who did not just become the Secretary of the then ruling party of the Second the Republic the famous NPN, but also a one time Minister of Labour and Productivity in Nigeria the highest position to be attended by someone from the Gombe South Senatorial District.
There has been the rise and fall of politicians from Gombe South since then. Apart from the position of Deputy Governor, Secretary to the State Government, Party Leadership or Commissioners, no indigene of the area has risen to a prominent position in the country.
The 2023 general elections in Nigeria threw up new set of leaders in the area who are not just committed to the cause of the people but redefining the politics of Gombe South and indeed Gombe State. This new set of leaders are being led by Distinguished Senator Anthony Siyako Yaro, Hon. Ali Isa JC and Dr. Paul Obed Shehu.
The three political leaders of the District have redefined the politics of the area by introducing many people oriented programmes using their Constituency Projects budgetary allocations to reach the people and adding their personal funds in order to meet the yearnings of the people.
Indeed Gombe South has never had it so good as they do now. The three representatives work hand in hand with each other. The advantage they have is that they are from the same Political Party the PDP.
Senator Anthony Siyako Yaro is the leader of the team however, the focus of this writer is on the Member representing Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency Right Honourable Ali Isa JC PhD the Minority Whip of the House of Representatives.
As a child, Honourable Ali Isa JC started his humble beginning in Cham where he enrolled into Central Primary School Cham from where he proceeded to Government Science Secondary School Billiri for his secondary education then the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi and to the University of Abuja for his first degree and Masters before enrolling for his PhD in the Nasarawa State University Keffi where he obtained his Doctorate Degree in Business Administration.
Ali Isa JC showed his leadership qualities as child and truly grew up to become a leader and a consequential political icon in not only his Constituency and State, but indeed in Nigeria of today.
His emergence as Minority Chief Whip in the House of Representative unopposed is a pointer to his leadership qualities and trust and believe his colleagues have in him. His humility, doggedness, determination and commitment to giving his people quality representation stands him out among his peers.
Hon. Ali Isa JC is not new to the National Assembly. He started his journey into the National Assembly as a staff and was later elected into the Green Chamber in 2015 as Member Representing Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency and re-elected the second time in 2023 having failed his re-election bid in 2019 through controversial circumstances.
Since the return of the country to democratic rule in 1999, apart from Ali Isa JC, who has been able to get elected twice, there have been five other persons who have represented the Constituency but none could get second term and could be compared to Ali Isa JC in terms of quality representation, touching the lives of people and attracting Federal presences to his Constituency.
After the 2019 elections, in which his opponent emerged victorious, Hon. Ali Isa JC did not stop working for his people. He used the goodwill he cultivated while in the House between 2015 & 2019 to attract more constituency projects to his people doing more than even the sitting member then.
Some of the projects he executed while out of the Chamber included but not limited to; health centers, block of classrooms, solar powered boreholes,roads and solar powered street lights etc.
That is not all, Hon. Ali Isa JC empowered dozens of youths through skills acquisition projects in various fields.
In his second coming to the National Assembly, Hon. Ali Isa JC opened new vistas. He did not just emerged as a Principal officer, but one of the most reliable and trust worthy member of the tenth National Assembly from the opposition.
In just one year on the saddle, Hon. Ali Isa JC has been able to get jobs for more than fifty youths from his Constituency, trained and equipped ten cobblers (shoe makers) from each of the twenty wards in the constituency, five Hair dressers from each ward, trained five dry season farmers in each ward, assisted pregnant women with kits for birth and money in the two Local Governments that make up the Constituency.
For the first time in the Constituency’s history, during Christmas and Sallah celebrations, constituents were give rice, money and meat to celebrate the religious festivals.
Another important innovation that has never been witnessed anywhere was the empowerment of the people of Balanga/Billiri with the distribution of ATM Cards loaded with money to more the three thousand five hundred vulnerable members of his constituency. The ATM Cards are loaded with fifty thousand, twenty thousand and ten thousand Naira respectively. This gesture is not a one off project. Since its introduction, holders of the cards have been paid twice.
Hon. Ali Isa JC procured tractors to assist more than one hundred under privileged local farmers for free while others are to pay fifty per cent of what is being charge for the hiring of tractors. This is to augment what farmers go through in tilling the land and to fight food security in the constituency.
Hon. Ali Isa JC has provided Scholarships for Medical Students, Law Students and other disciplines in both science and humanities schooling in different Universities across the country.That is not all, there has been monitory incentives for the aged, widows and elders in all the communities.
The Bangu road construction in Balanga Local Government Area, Laushi Daji and Ladongor in Billiri Local Government Area are some of the on going road construction projects under the constituency projects from the 2023 budget.
These are all in addition to the construction of blocks of classrooms in all the twenty wards that make up the constituency, solar powered water projects in all the wards, health care centres in each ward of the constituency as well as the solar powered street lights in all communities that make up Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency.
Hon. Ali Isa JC is a trailblazer who is setting the pace and doing for his people what no one before him has ever done. He does not discriminate whether you are Waja,Tangale, Cham, Lunguda, Fulani or Dadiya person as tribes that make up the constituency he is representing he sees everyone as his own. He carries everybody along be you Christian or Muslim it does not matter to him as long as you are from the constituency you are his own.
The Minority Whip of the House of Representatives is the type of leader that we need in today’s Nigeria and in this time and era. He is a young dynamic leader who could be best described as a dynamite and a true leader who was not made but born.
He is having a spectacular affection and empathizing with his people by touching the lives of many persons in Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency.
The people of Gombe South are indeed blessed with this young, energetic type of leader who is ever ready to go to any length to get what is due to his people.
People kept asking where does Ali Isa JC get all the funds and the support to get these things done? The answer is as simple as anything. His determination to give his people good representation ability to persuade and lobby, excellent inter personal relationship with his colleague and friends stand him out and gives him what he wants.
His most recent Bills on the floor of the House of Representatives advocating and calling for a living wage for Nigerian workers shows how empathetic he is on the plight of not only the Nigerian worker but also the common man on the street.
Another Bill he recently sponsored is the Bill for an Act to Amend the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board Act, Cap. O10 Laws of the Federation of Nigeria 2004, to Provide for Establishment of Orthopedic Hospital Billiri, Gombe State under the control of the Orthopedic Hospitals Management Board and Affiliated to Federal Teaching Hospital Gombe and For Related Matters .
Hon. Ali Isa JC could best be described as the right person for the job for the people of Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency. He has done it and its been seen, felt, and many have benefited from his benevolence in Balanga/ Billiri and ready to do more not only for his constituency, State but indeed for Nigeria.
Let us all follow the man who knows the road to our developmental needs and strides in Gombe State Hon. Ali Isa JC PhD the trailblazer and the beacon of hope in Gombe South.
Ahaziah Abubakar Suleiman, Former Executive Director of News, Voice of Nigeria.
hazisuleiman@gmail.com
08034061580
