Dogara, always a political icon

  The Board of Editors voted for you in recognition of your antecedents as a dogged patriot, a torch-bearer, a staunch believer in the principle of the separation of powers and ultimately the defender of the democratic faith. We have followed your path since you emerged the Speaker of the House. We also know that […]

 

The Board of Editors voted for you in recognition of your antecedents as a dogged patriot, a torch-bearer, a staunch believer in the principle of the separation of powers and ultimately the defender of the democratic faith. We have followed your path since you emerged the Speaker of the House. We also know that there have been battles here and there. But you are still here and we recognize the courage you have shown maintaining the delicate balance between the independence of the Legislature and working with the Executive and more importantly, your safeguarding the principle of separation of power without rocking the boat.” These were the exact words of The Sun newspaper’s Eric Osagie when he notified the Speaker of the Political Icon of the Year 2016 award.

 

And today, the Speaker with all humility and gratitude to God almighty will step forward for this recognition, which comes with its own concomitant responsibilities. Coming from a very humble background, one would have said that he was not cut out for politics because from his days at the University of Jos to the early part of his legal practice, nothing in his life indicated that he will become a politician someday. This is even more so that politics in Nigeria is loathed, derided and is often described as anything but good. However, this wholesome generalisation is highly misplaced because there are many honest, truthful, patriotic and good people in politics as Dogara. He plays politics without bitterness and reaches out to even his staunchest critics and self-declared enemies.

 

I could recall that just few hours after his election as Speaker on June 9, 2015, the Speaker started the work of reaching out to his opponents in both words and action as he said in his inaugural speech that, “together we will heal the wounds and divisions of this contest. Together we shall work to deliver good legislation and good government to our people.”

 

Thereafter at around 2am, we drove to the residence of Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila in Apo Legislative quaters in Abuja  in company of scores of members where he truly began the work of healing the wounds and divisions of the election but unfortunately Hon. Gbajabiamila wasn’t home and all efforts to reach him on phone proved abortive. It was the Speaker’s singular decision even against the wishes of many of his strong supporters and allies in the House that saw to the emergence of Gbajabiamila as the House Leadership. He continued to appeal to and pacify those opposed to it and the rest as they say, is history.

 

The next big challenge was the constitution of the standing Committees of the House. In that too, Dogara was able to navigate the tumultuous waters. In spite of initial misgivings by few of his colleagues everything went smoothly and one after the other he kept reaching out to them. I could recall that the House Chief Whip Rt. Hon. Alhassan Ado Garba once told me that he was shocked and that if he had his way he would have dug the ground and buried himself when he heard a knock on his door and lo and behold it was the Speaker, the very man whom he did everything to stop from emerging and even continued to oppose his leadership. Once the door was opened, the Speaker only told him that “Alhassan we are brothers please come let’s work together. Let’s put our differences aside and begin the work of remaking Nigeria.”

 

Dogara achieved greatness through sheer hard work, honesty and commitment. A lawyer par excellence, erudite scholar and patriot, he is also selfless, humble to a fault, and a team player. It is his philosophy that leaders should at all times live exemplary lives of service, sacrifice and selflessness. The Speaker always says for societies to grow, leaders must understand the workings of justice, which is necessary in any democracy for equality to thrive. In fact, he strongly believes that establishing both principles is necessary for Nigeria to make any meaningful progress.

 

Today, the House of the Nigerian people, also called ‘the green chamber’, is at peace with itself and busy legislating for the good of the people. Indeed, Dogara’s efforts and leadership have started yielding positive fruits for the country as record number of bills are being passed on daily basis which include the unprecedented passage of 150 bills for first reading in one day. Today, in just one and half year, more than 150 bills have been passed by the House, work is being done on about 800 more and of the 18 non-budget related bills signed into law by President Muhammadu Buhari, 17 are House bills and all emanated from the statues reforms committee set up by the Speaker.

 

Worthy of mention here is the Speaker’s interventions on the humanitarian crisis in the North East where he is championing calls for the convocation of an international donor conference to rebuild the region in addition to his sponsoring of the North East Development Commission Establishment bill which is now awaiting presidential assent; to his many visits to Internally Displaced Persons camps across the country providing succor and relief materials to them.

 

“This kind of award coming from The Sun serves as a motivation and without motivation we cannot achieve much. We cannot innovate without motivation and whether we like it or not, politics remains the only way through which leadership can be recruited in many countries and the only way we can institute governments. So, it (politics) has come to be with us; we cannot run away from it. It can only take people and not angels to improve on existing situations; so when leaders who truly love what they do are motivated, this increases the chances of having better leadership,” the Speaker said when the award notification was delivered.

 

Hassan, Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, wrote in from Abuja.