Democracy Day: AMAC boss charges colleagues on qualitative leadership

By Stanley Onyekwere

As residents of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) join their counterparts across the country, to mark this year’s Democracy Day, leaders at the grass root level of governance in the Territory have been urged to provide qualitative leadership, so as to deliver on the peoples’ mandate.

According to the Chairman, Abuja Municipal Area Council (AMAC), Hon. Micah Jiba, who made the call yesterday, also urged his colleagues at the third tier of government not shy away from their responsibilities to the people.

Speaking during a chat with newsmen, AMAC boss, who is also the chairman of FCT chapter of Association of Local Governments in Nigeria (ALGON), noted that what is expected of them is to give qualitative and responsive leadership to the people that have given them their mandate.

“Because being entrusted with the peoples’ mandate is not by mistake; they have agreed and placed their trust on you, as they have seen you as somebody ( a leader), who can represent them, that’s why they have given you their mandate, so it is now the responsibility of people like us (politicians) to provide qualitative leadership to our people.

“Forget about executing projects or assisting people (financially or otherwise), but what kind of behaviour are you exhibiting towards your people, for them to be able to say yes, the person that they have given their mandate have not disappointed them.

“I’m encouraging and charging us (Council Chairmen) to keep on doing good things for the entire people of the FCT, as our people have given us the mandate because they believe that we are their leaders, who would represent them very well. We should not shy away from our responsibilities,” he stressed.

Commenting on the 15th uninterrupted democratic rule in the country, Jiba said despite the current security challenges in the land, “we should still thank God for everything; so let us celebrate this Democracy Day very well just as we have done in the past years.”

On his message for residents in AMAC and the FCT in general, he urged the people not to deviate from the cooperation and understanding that they have been giving to both the current FCT administration and its six Area Councils.

“They should not give gap in giving us their usual support, and I want to assure the residents of FCT that we would never disappoint them by taking their support for granted,” the chairman expressed.