Udora Orizu in Abuja
The reelection bid of the member representing Biu/Bayo/Kwaya/Kusar/Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State, Hon Muktar Betara Aliyu, received a boost on Saturday as a mammoth crowd of his constituents converged in Biu local government area to declare their support for him.
Betara was accompanied by some of his colleagues including Senator Haliru Jika. Rep. Umar Bago, Rep. Ahmed Jaha, Rep. Kabir Tukura among others who all hailed the lawmaker’s performance and were overwhelmed with the crowd.
According to constituents who spoke to correspondents, the visit of the lawmaker is usually occasioned by the unprecedented crowd.
One Mr Ibrahim said, “The crowd will not allow him come out of the car when he comes here because they all want to touch him. He’s our son, we love him so much that’s why he has no opposition in the constituency. No one can beat his performance.”
Betara, who received the nomination form purchased for him by his constituents, was also endorsed by the Emir of Biu, Mai Mustapha Biu, for positively transforming the lives of his people. Speaking when Betara visited his palace to present the nomination form to him, His Royal Highness, Alh. Mustapha Umar Mustapha lI, Emir of Biu described the support for the lawmaker as unprecedented.
He said it was the first time constituents contributed money to buy a form for a politician in appreciation of the positive impact made on their lives. The traditional ruler said Betara had done so much for the community, adding that in just one year Biu had witnessed massive positive transformation due to the lawmaker’s intervention and same to Kwaya Kusar, Bayo and Shani Federal Constituency. He hoped the federal lawmaker would emerge as the Speaker of the House of Representatives if re-elected in order to attract more benefits for the people.
Also declaring support for the lawmaker, a former deputy governor of Borno State, said, “We are witnessing something that has never happened in Borno State in terms of politics. It has happened here in Biu. In order words, amongst the constituents of Hon Betara based on what we have seen and what he has been able to achieve for us, the community themselves decided to say thank you. “So they decided to contribute some token and purchase the form for him. What is interesting is that he was not even aware. We decided to start contributing the money when he was on Hajj. So we had people that contributed even as little N20 for the form because of what we had seen. So we opened the account and in less than 24 hours we got more than N130 million and the form was just N10 million. We said based on that he should not pick the form in Abuja, but we should come and present it to him here and that is why we are here. We presented the form in front of His Royal Highness and of course all the elders.” Also the member representing, Damboa/Gwoza/Chibok Federal Constituency of Borno State, Hon Ahmadu Jaha, declared his support for Betara’s re-election and to emerge the next speaker of the 10th House of Representatives He said, “We have seen one of the wonders of the world. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first time I have ever seen this kind of crowd and this kind of honour given to somebody as an individual. I was in a state of confusion when I saw the number of contributors to Hon Betara to buy his form.
“They started to generate only N10 million but at the end of the day, they generated more than N120 million. What is surprising is that there are contributors that contributed even N20. This would tell you that they have contributed everything they have just for Betara to come back to the National Assembly. “For us us, he has made us proud. He is our colleague. He is our friend and we are proud of him. I wish him all the best and one of the best I wish him is for him to become the Speaker of the 10th National Assembly because we are strongly behind him. Insha Allah, we are going back to the National Assembly to elect him as our Speaker because we know he is going to continue from where our able Speaker, Femi Gbajabiamila, stops.”
The member representing Chanchaga Federal Constituency of Niger State in the House, Hon Mohammed Umar Bago, said the support was well deserved.
“We say congratulations to Hon Betara. He is being well appreciated by his people. He has done so much for them. And the people are appreciative. This is what we call democracy. This is what we call humanity. He has given back to the society. He has transformed this beautiful old ancient city to a very contemporary city. Behind me is the Emir’s palace. You can see how beautiful the palace is. You can see the roads and the lighting. You can see water gushing from the taps. He has done very well,” he said. Speaker of Biu Legislative Council, Hon Abdul Mohammed, said they wanted Betara back in the House of Representatives because he has done so much for the people. “We want him back because he has done a lot and he has done well. We rate him excellent in various endeavours like infrastructural development, empowerment to youths, women, employment. For his constituency, he has done a lot developmentally. We wish him very well and we hope that he becomes the Speaker of the 10th Assembly,” Mohammed said. Hon Betara expressed appreciation for the support from his constituents. “I feel happy for coming to my constituency to collect my nomination form. Every time they elect me, I have things I do for my people. When you come to my constituency, you would witness what I have been doing for them. If you know my town previously, if you knew my home town before and the way you see it now, you would know what I have done for my people,” he said.
