Some members of the House of Representatives have revealed why they change their phone numbers after winning elections.
The federal lawmakers who cited the economic meltdown as a reason for the obvious gaps between lawmakers and their constituents added that resolving personal issues of constituents is not a reason they were elected.
Town hall meetings, according to the lawmakers, cannot be held successfully without the people’s request for stomach infrastructure, and the people in their constituency equate money sharing during such meetings to performance.
According to Yunusa Abubakar, a member representing Yalmatu Deba Federal Constituency, the people’s willingness to make requests outside the purview of lawmakers has caused some legislators to remain in Abuja.
Abubakar made the announcement on Saturday in Gombe, during the North East Open Square, which was organised by Daria Media and supported by the Mac Arthur Foundation.
He said, “The psychology and the perception of the people have changed. I don’t know maybe because of the economic meltdown in Nigeria and the world over people are having a lack of stomach infrastructure and everybody is looking for money because the legislators are the most accessible.
“When such meetings are held people are not coming to deepen it or better the society, rather what will better their lot. Before you can organise such meetings you must come with Ghana must go bag full of money to distribute.”
When people claim lawmakers aren’t coming home, he explains, “it means he hasn’t been sending them money; even if he comes and doesn’t give them money, they will say he didn’t come.”
“The further danger is that any legislator who wants to come closer must be corrupt because he will either steal with the pen or do armed robbery to get money to come to his constituency if he doesn’t want to steal, it is better for him to stay off,” The Gombe Lawmaker added.
Kwamoti Laori, a member representing Adamawa State’s Numan/Demsa/Lamurde Federal Constituency, also spoke, calling for political enlightenment of the people on the responsibilities of lawmakers.
“Hardly will you see people bring constituency problem but rather personal problems. Out of 10 persons, 9 of them came with personal problems and we are not elected to solve personal problems.
“I wish people will be more educated so that they can confront us with; what have you done, what was your decision on this, why didn’t you come back to get input from us. I appreciate this because it is an opportunity to let the people know what we do, and what should be done,” he said.
Commenting further, Laori noted that the disturbances faced by members were reasons many changed their number, adding that he wouldn’t change his contact.Laori went on to say that the disruptions experienced by members were the reason many changed their phone numbers, but he would not change his contact.
Laori added, “With political education, this can be corrected, many now believe that when politicians share money then they are performing but it is not. An engagement as this will help to correct this.”
Kadaria Ahmed, for her part, stated that the purpose of open Square is to help bridge the gap between lawmakers and the people, emphasising the importance of educating the public about the roles of legislators.
“When we focus on politics we intend to focus on the executive arm of government, for our democracy to be complete the people sent to the centre by Nigerians also need to be held accountable but you can’t hold them accountable if you don’t understand what their roles are,” Ahmed said.
