Politics can be a challenging as well as a rewarding profession in which one potentially gets the power as an elected official to make a difference in his community.
Politicians are expected to play a central role as the concentrated voices of the people by making efforts to improve their constituencies and peoples’ welfare.
To be an effective politician, one needs to combine hard work with smart choices, so he can end up in a position of influence and be able to effectively represent voters on a local or national level.
Good and dependable politicians are therefore always expected to be delighted to serve the people and to consider themselves as servants and people their paymasters. Cumulatively, good politicians should be selfless in all their dealings.
Winston Churchill, a foremost British politician described selfless service as “the first of all human qualities, because it is the quality which guarantees all others”.
And according to a late President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, “the most successful politician is he who says what the people are thinking most often in the loudest voice”.
In Kaduna state, one politician happens to be an accurate personification of all these virtues, having been gifted with the ability to represent the hopes, aspirations and the interests of both his admirers and opponents alike.
Alhaji Lawal Adamu aka Mr LA, the current thrill of Kaduna politics, is gifted with a rare blend of the wisdom of the old and the dynamism of the younger generation.
His chief qualities are his characters that are natural, often backed by skills, experiences, intelligence, integrity, with instincts – all combined together to achieve his goals, and the overall happiness of the people he aspires to represent in politics.
First and foremost, his best selling point as a politician is honesty, which makes him trustworthy and reliable; he captures the essence of truth, displays sincerity and practices what he preaches. He makes decisions and accepts responsibility for his actions and his words.
Mr LA makes promises and keeps those promises, loves people with all his heart, might, mind and soul by striving to help them as a true mark of responsible politician.
Quite apart from the stock of fake politicians that sees the struggle for political ascendancy as an end in itself, rather than for public good, Mr LA’s greatest strength is deriving joy in expending energy and personal resources on serving people, firmly believing that a fulfilling and meaningful life is created through service to others.
A rare example of an effective politician, his followers have trust in him as he has long ago built trust by displaying good sense of character and qualities composed of values, beliefs, traits and skills.
Other traits that stand Mr LA out are integrity and inherent technical skills to handle challenging moments, issues, plans, projects, ideas and to initiate solutions to problems.
Integrity, to him, is simply a matter of consistency of actions, methods, measures, values, principles, expectations and outcomes.
He cherishes doing what is right, both legally and morally at all time, even when no one is looking – a quality that endears him to people.
Mr LA believes that since politicians are expected to play very significant roles in administrative processes, especially having hands in policies to their communities, state and country, they should be modest, with experience in social welfare, volunteering or should have done some good work for the society.
To translate words into action, Mr LA, with a thorough knowledge and up-to-date information about his political constituency, promptly provides most of its immediate needs from his private purse.
His disciplined personality with selfless service to make life better for his people is therefore reflected in his empowerment effort for the community where he lives in all ramifications.
He has taken it upon himself to initiate hundreds of skill acquisition efforts, sponsor the education of hundreds of disadvantaged children and put smiles on the faces of hundreds of families within communities that make up his constituency, which earned him the acronym, “Alheri ne.”
He does all these out of an abiding conviction that a good politician enriches lives, and that selfless service is “putting the welfare of the people you’re aspiring to represent before your own”.
Mr LA also firmly believes in taking care and maintaining the community of his people, convinced that community service is about giving back.
This is in contrast to most other self-seeking politicians in Kaduna state and their agents who capitalise on the exploitation of cleavages of religious and ethnic nature to cause artificial divisions among the people.
This class of politicians not only thrive in scandalising the state’s institutions, ridiculing its traditions and customs, but also derives pleasure in rendering the people jobless, homeless, helpless and hopeless by undermining the state’s economic and social fabrics and encouraging rampant poverty, corruption and social problems like thuggery, kidnapping, prostitution, drug and substance abuse.
In contrast, Mr LA prefers to remain the bulwark of respect, integrity, dignity, decorum, decency, morality, civilization, etiquette, good behaviour, politeness, accommodation, and all other positive traits that earn him the esteem and praise of the people who rightly consider him the “man of the moment”.
With Mr LA flying the Peoples Democratic Party flag for the senatorial seat of zone two comprising Kaduna North, Kaduna South, Birnin Gwari, Igabi, Chikun, Kajuru and Giwa Local Government Areas, the stakes are definitely raised notches beyond the reach of other contenders.
And as the coming round of fresh elections draw closer, Mr LA’s chances of becoming the next Senator of the Kaduna Central District also become brighter with voters already giving a sealed guarantee of victory.
Suleiman is the Special Media Consultant to Mr. LA
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