By Dapo Ipoola

Avuncular is an adjective that describes someone who is kind, patient, and friendly- resembling benevolent, warm- hearted, kindness, or generosity. An avuncular legislator is a lawmaker who acts like a kind, wise legislator. They use patience and experience to mentor younger politicians, build friendships across the party lines, and calm tense arguments. Instead of fighting, they guide the law-making process with a warm and pragmatic approach. An avuncular parliamentarian gives meaningful contributions, not just being a legislative doormat. He brings to the floor the plights of his constituents, and aptly gets them accentuated to the appropriate quarters or authorities. By so doing, his/her constituency/senatorial district will be duly and diligently represented- bringing life-changing impact, meaningful developments and total transmogrification of living conditions.

Not by happenstance, many Nigerian legislators have magnanimously demonstrated legislative avuncularity by bringing succour to their people through influence and law-making. To a legislative spectator- those that are being referred to as bench warmers, this may look like rocket science because of the difficulty in expressing themselves. In the end, they end up representing their pockets and sundry pecuniary gains, and this makes their constituents poorer with development far becoming elusive.

Enter Rt. Hon. Dr. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, (Ph.D.), the House of Representatives member representing Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam federal constituency, Plateau State. Before his foray into partisan politics, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi has on many occasions and on different platforms demonstrated accountable leadership. As a brilliant and articulate student unionist, he served as the Chief Judge of the Students’ Union Government, where he demonstrated robust leadership capacity before his election as a member of the Plateau State House of Assembly- winning as the only opposition member in Plateau State 8th House of Assembly, and this subsequently led to his emergence as the Deputy Speaker of the House. In Plateau State, it’s quite rare for an emerging politician to have such grassroot appeal that led to victory despite the political tsunami that consumed some strong political martyrs in the State. Surprisingly, Yusuf Gagdi broke the jinx and later got elected as a member of the House Representatives, emerging as the Chairman, House Committee on Navy, and later in eighteen other strategic committees, which includes Defence and others. He did not only meritoriously served in those committees, he sponsored twenty bills, moved motions with some of them signed into law.

As a legislator with palpable impact, his footprints in the Green Chamber will forever be hallowed as the legislator who made advanced reforms in the Naval operations, Maritime Safety, National Defense, Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, by instituting the bills that aims to establish Specialized Institute under the EFCC to provide training, research, and capacity building in the fight against fiscal indiscipline. Gagdi in his avuncular nature sponsored the bill for the Police Act(Repeal and Re-enactment), which aims at modernizing Nigeria’s Police operations after 77years of outdated colonial law; sponsored the bill for the establishment of the Federal University of Education, Pankshin; facilitated sundry employment and empowerment opportunities for the youth; sustained interventions during crises, relief materials during flooding and insecurity incidents. In his effort at giving diligent representation, he has constructed, rehabilitated many roads, classrooms, district palaces, and upgraded facilities at different health centers across his constituency. His community development initiatives have not only brought hope and succour to his constituents, it has added value to their standard of living and thereby imbued hope of a brighter future.

Ipoola, a media consultant lives in Abuja.