By Aaron Ossai
Re-election bid of the member representing Biu/Bayo/Kwaya/Kusar/Shani Federal Constituency of Borno State, Hon Muktar Betara Aliyu, received a boost at the weekend as a mammoth crowd of his constituents converged in Biu local government area to declare their support for him.
Hon. Betara was accompanied by some of his colleagues to include Senator Haliru Jika. Rep. Umar Bago, Rep. Ahmed Jaha, Rep Kabir Tukura among others who all hailed the lawamkers performance and was overwhelmed with the crowd.
According to some of the constituents who spoke to newsmen, the visit of the lawmaker is usually Occasioned by the unprecedented crowd.
One of them who gave his name as 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.”
“Bobi is our son, we love him so much that’s why he has no opposition in the Constituency” No one can beat his performance”, he said.
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, the Emir of Biu described the support for the lawmaker as unprecedented.
He said it was the first time constituents from the arey 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.
He added 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 as 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”, he said.
In his response, Hon. Betara expressed appreciation for the support from his constituents, saying “l feel happy for coming to my constituency to collect my nomination form.”
“Everything y 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.
Hon Betara, who was elected into the House of Representatives in 2007, served as the Chairman, House Committee on Army in the 7th Assembly; Chairman, House Committee on Defence in the 8th Assembly, and currently Chairman, House Committee on Appropriations.
