After four years of visible interventions, legislative advocacy and constituency representation, the case for retaining the incumbent is stronger than the case for changing him
There are elections that are primarily about personalities, elections that are about political parties, and elections that become referendums on performance.
The 2027 House of Representatives election in Apa/Agatu Federal Constituency of Benue State should be the last of these.
At a time when politicians are already preparing to mobilise ethnic, local-government and zoning sentiments, the people of Apa and Agatu have an opportunity to ask a much more important question:
Who has actually served them, spoken for them and delivered tangible benefits to their communities?
On that score, the case for the re-election of Ojema Ojotu deserves serious consideration.
Ojotu is not approaching the 2027 election as an aspirant making promises from outside government. He is approaching it as an incumbent who can point to legislative interventions, constituency projects, educational support, empowerment programmes and repeated advocacy over the security crisis confronting his constituents.
For voters, that distinction should matter.
A representative who has made the constituency visible in Abuja
The primary responsibility of a federal legislator is representation.
It is easy to underestimate what that means.
A House member is expected to bring the concerns of constituents to the attention of the Federal Government, participate in legislation, influence policy, attract projects and interventions, and use parliamentary oversight to demand action on matters affecting the people.
Ojotu has consistently used the National Assembly platform to draw attention to the challenges confronting Apa/Agatu.
Perhaps the most urgent of these challenges is insecurity.
For years, communities in Apa and Agatu have suffered attacks, displacement, destruction of farms and disruption of livelihoods. In such circumstances, silence from a representative would be unacceptable.
Ojotu has not been silent.
He has raised motions concerning attacks on communities in the constituency and pressed the Federal Government over the security situation.
That record is important because representation should not be measured only by what happens at constituency commissioning ceremonies. Sometimes the most important work of a legislator is the battle to make sure that a neglected community is heard at the centre of government.
Ojotu has made that voice audible.
Security advocacy: the constituency’s pain has been carried to the National Assembly
The people of Apa/Agatu do not need anyone to remind them that insecurity remains one of their greatest problems.
Farmers cannot farm effectively when they fear attacks.
Children cannot attend school normally when communities are displaced.
Businesses cannot thrive when roads and rural communities become unsafe.
Families cannot build sustainable livelihoods when they are repeatedly forced to flee their ancestral homes.
Against this background, Ojotu’s repeated interventions on security should not be dismissed as ordinary parliamentary rhetoric.
He has used motions and legislative advocacy to draw national attention to attacks affecting his constituents.
That is precisely what a representative is expected to do.
A lawmaker cannot personally command troops or police formations. Security is primarily an executive responsibility. But a legislator can raise the alarm, demand action, mobilise political attention and use parliamentary mechanisms to compel government agencies to respond.
Ojotu has done that.
The question, therefore, should not be whether he has single-handedly solved Apa/Agatu’s security crisis. No federal lawmaker can legitimately make that claim.
The more appropriate question is whether he has used his position to fight for his constituents in the area of security.
The record says yes.
Roads, classrooms, solar lights and other constituency interventions
The argument for Ojotu’s re-election becomes even stronger when his legislative representation is considered alongside projects and interventions associated with his tenure.
His constituency office has highlighted projects including classroom construction, road interventions, solar street lighting and other community infrastructure.
Among the projects publicised were a six-classroom block at Methodist High School, Obagaji; the Ogwule-Engila road; the Ofoke-Igoro road; and solar-integrated street lighting projects across communities in Apa and Agatu.
These may not solve every infrastructural problem in the constituency.
But that is not the standard by which a legislator should be judged.
A House member does not have the budgetary capacity of a state government or the Federal Government.
The proper test is whether the representative has succeeded in attracting federal intervention and directing available constituency resources towards projects that improve people’s lives.
Ojotu has projects to show.
And in politics, tangible evidence is more persuasive than promises.
Education: investing in the next generation
One of the most compelling aspects of Ojotu’s constituency interventions is the reported emphasis on education.
His office has highlighted scholarship and educational-support initiatives involving hundreds of students from the constituency.
Reports have cited financial assistance to 504 undergraduates, alongside support for exceptional secondary-school students and other educational interventions.
This is important because education is not simply another constituency project.
It is an investment in the future.
A road can connect two communities.
A classroom can educate hundreds of children.
But an educational intervention can change the trajectory of an entire family.
For young people from rural communities who struggle with school fees, textbooks, accommodation and other educational expenses, even relatively modest assistance can determine whether they remain in school or drop out.
If Ojotu has used his position to expand opportunities for students from Apa/Agatu, that is a record worth putting before the electorate.
Empowerment: representation should create opportunities
The same argument applies to empowerment.
Government is not merely about building physical infrastructure. It is also about giving citizens the means to improve their economic circumstances.
Ojotu’s constituency interventions have included empowerment initiatives reportedly benefiting hundreds of constituents.
Again, critics may argue that the scale should be bigger.
They are entitled to make that argument.
But the existence of an intervention should not be erased simply because more remains to be done.
Politics should not be an exercise in pretending that everything achieved is worthless because everything desired has not yet been achieved.
No constituency representative can solve every problem within four years.
The sensible question is whether the representative has made a measurable contribution.
In Ojotu’s case, there is evidence of an attempt to combine infrastructure with human-capital development and economic empowerment.
That is a more comprehensive model of representation.
His committee position gives Apa/Agatu another strategic advantage
Ojotu’s position as Chairman of the House Committee on National Inland Waterways is another reason voters should take his re-election seriously.
Apa/Agatu is an area where waterways, agriculture, fishing, transportation and rural economic activity are important to livelihoods.
Having a representative occupying a committee position connected to inland waterways provides an opportunity to influence policies and interventions that can have direct relevance to the constituency.
Political representation is partly about access.
The closer a representative is to important decision-making platforms, the greater the opportunity to attract attention to constituency needs.
Removing an experienced incumbent therefore has a cost.
A newly elected representative would have to start the process again: establishing relationships, understanding the parliamentary system, building influence and waiting for opportunities to emerge.
Ojotu already has that experience.
Accessibility matters
One of the most underrated qualities of a representative is accessibility.
A legislator who is physically present in Abuja but politically absent from his constituency cannot be regarded as effective representation.
The strongest case for retaining Ojotu is not merely that he has occupied a seat in the National Assembly.
It is that his constituency interventions suggest an effort to maintain a connection between Abuja and the communities he represents.
For constituents, accessibility means having somebody who can listen to their problems, escalate them to relevant authorities and seek opportunities for them.
It also means creating channels through which communities can communicate their priorities.
That relationship between representative and constituents is something an election should preserve when it is working.
The politics of rotation should not become a substitute for performance
This is where the 2027 debate is likely to become particularly interesting.
Some stakeholders in Apa have argued that the House seat should rotate to their local government after years of representation by Agatu.
The argument deserves to be heard.
But it should not automatically determine the election.
Zoning and rotation are political arrangements. They are not substitutes for constitutional representation, competence or performance.
If rotation becomes an unwritten rule that automatically disqualifies an effective representative, then elections become meaningless.
Why should a community vote out a representative who is performing simply because his local government has supposedly “had its turn”?
The fundamental question should be:
Has the representative served the people well?
If the answer is yes, voters should have the freedom to retain him.
Apa/Agatu should not reduce the 2027 election to a contest between “Apa turn” and “Agatu turn”.
It should be a contest between record and promises.
The opposition must answer a simple question
Any candidate seeking to replace Ojotu should be asked one straightforward question:
What exactly will you do differently?
Not what position will you occupy.
Not what local government you come from.
Not which political party you belong to.
Not how long your campaign slogan is.
What will you actually deliver?
If the answer is roads, Ojotu has roads associated with his constituency interventions.
If the answer is education, Ojotu has scholarship and educational-support interventions.
If the answer is empowerment, his tenure includes empowerment initiatives.
If the answer is security advocacy, he has repeatedly taken the constituency’s security concerns to the National Assembly.
If the answer is representation, he has spent four years building legislative experience and occupying an influential committee position.
The opposition therefore has a difficult burden.
It must demonstrate not merely that it can replace Ojotu, but that it can outperform Ojotu.
That is a much higher standard.
A politician who has earned another opportunity
There is an unfortunate tendency in Nigerian politics to believe that every election must produce a new face.
But continuity has value.
A legislator who understands the constituency, knows the bureaucratic system, has established relationships within government and has acquired parliamentary experience can potentially deliver more during a second term than during a first.
The first term is often about learning.
The second can be about consolidation.
Ojotu has already climbed the learning curve.
The people of Apa/Agatu therefore have an opportunity to decide whether to discard that experience or use it to their advantage.
Re-election would allow him to consolidate projects already initiated, pursue additional interventions, strengthen his security advocacy and deepen his educational and empowerment programmes.
That is a compelling reason for continuity.
The 2027 election should be a referendum on results
At the end of the day, elections are supposed to give citizens the power to reward or punish elected officials.
If a representative performs, voters should have the right to retain him.
If he fails, voters should replace him.
That is the essence of democracy.
The Apa/Agatu electorate should therefore resist the temptation to allow political sentiment to overshadow the evidence of representation.
Ojotu’s record may not be perfect.
No politician’s record is.
There will always be roads that remain uncompleted, communities that demand more projects, young people who need jobs, farmers who need greater support and families that want stronger security.
Those shortcomings should be acknowledged.
But acknowledging what remains undone should not require denying what has been achieved.
And the record presented by Ojotu’s tenure includes legislative advocacy, security interventions, educational assistance, empowerment initiatives and constituency infrastructure.
That is a record that deserves to be judged fairly.
The case for another term
The strongest argument for Ojotu’s re-election is therefore simple:
Do not remove a representative merely because somebody else wants the seat. Remove him only if somebody else has demonstrated that he can do a better job.
That is the standard Apa/Agatu should apply in 2027.
Ojotu should not be re-elected because he is an Agatu man.
He should not be rejected because he is an Agatu man.
He should be judged by his performance.
And if the projects, educational interventions, empowerment initiatives, security advocacy and legislative record associated with his tenure are weighed against the promises of his challengers, there is a compelling argument for continuity.
The people of Apa/Agatu have suffered enough from insecurity, infrastructural deficits, unemployment and underdevelopment.
They cannot afford to turn their federal representation into an experiment in political rotation simply for the sake of rotation.
What they need is effective representation.
What they need is continuity where continuity produces results.
What they need is a representative who understands the constituency and has demonstrated that he can take its problems to Abuja.
That representative, on the evidence of his current record, is Ojema Ojotu.
The 2027 election should therefore not be reduced to the question of whose “turn” it is.
It should answer a more consequential question:
Who deserves to continue the work?
If performance remains the yardstick, Ojotu has made a powerful case for another term.
