Tom Garba is gaining strong grassroots support for the Lere West Assembly seat as residents cite his community work, scholarships, and local impact as reasons to push for his candidacy.
Nobody called Tom Garba into politics because he was ambitious. They called him because he was already there, just without a title.
Long before his name began circulating in APC circles as a potential candidate for the Lere West constituency seat in the Kaduna State House of Assembly, Garba was the man residents reached for when a student needed fees, when a scholarship form needed filling, and when a mosque that had sat half-finished for years needed someone to pick up the phone and start making calls. He was doing the work of a representative without anyone having voted for him.
That is precisely why people want to vote for him now.
The pressure building around Tom Garba’s potential candidacy in Lere West is not the manufactured kind that political operatives pump into press releases ahead of primaries. It is the kind that comes from a community that has watched someone show up consistently, in the small moments and the large ones, and has decided that this is the person they want speaking for them in a government building.
Nehemiah, one of the voices at the centre of that push, put it plainly. “Tom Garba has been on the ground lifting others, giving scholarships, and using his platform, Tgnews, to promote our region even when he never had the ambition. In fact, we called him home to represent us because if he can do all he does as a private individual, he will definitely do more as a public servant.”
It is a logical argument. If someone builds a foundation, awards scholarships, sponsors JAMB candidates who cannot afford the fees on their own, and mobilises resources for a community mosque project while holding no office and drawing no salary for any of it, what does that person look like when they actually have access to government resources and a platform in the legislature?
That question is what is driving the conversation in Lere West right now.
Mallam Aminu, another community figure, was direct about where the energy for Garba’s candidacy is actually coming from. “It is our aspiration, not Tom Garba’s. He is our leader. We believe he will listen to us and represent our collective voices in the House. Giving him the ticket is a win,” he said.
Mallam Abdul, who has watched Garba work on the central mosque project up close, added something that cuts to the heart of what communities look for in a representative but rarely find. “He is a liberal man who believes in humanity first. He has been galvanising support for the central mosque, which has been abandoned because we lack funds to complete it. You can see he is a child of this soil but believes that we need a decent place to pray.”
This is the texture of Garba’s support. It is not abstract. It is built from specific things he did, for specific people, in specific places. That is a different kind of political capital from the kind that rallies and endorsements accumulate.
The APC’s interest in Garba is also shaped by a broader political reality that party strategists closely watch. The African Democratic Congress has been gaining ground across Kaduna State and the wider north, drawing voters who feel that the major parties have consistently handed them candidates chosen in offices rather than chosen by communities. The ADC’s rising profile has alerted the APC. Popularity, not party loyalty alone, will decide outcomes in an increasing number of constituencies.
A senior APC source acknowledged the shift. “People will only support other parties when they see their beloved candidates running on the platform,” the source said. The message from the Lere West communities reinforces exactly that. They are not threatening to leave the APC. They are telling the APC what it needs to do to keep them.
The political environment that Governor Uba Sani has created in Kaduna State further sharpens the picture. His administration has delivered visible infrastructure to areas that felt marginalised under previous leadership, and that record has built a reservoir of goodwill that the party can draw on, but only if it fields candidates who reflect those same values. Nehemiah linked the two directly. “We are pleading with him and the APC leadership to consider our voices. The person who will be a plus to his second-term bid is Tom Garba.”
The nomination window is narrowing. The decision sitting before APC leadership in Kaduna is not complicated, but it is consequential. Field a candidate the community has already chosen for itself, or field one that the community will reluctantly accept until an alternative presents itself.
The Gazette News (Nigeria) notes that Lere West is watching. And Lere West has already decided.
This report was produced by the editorial team at The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful in line with our commitment to accuracy, fairness, and responsible journalism. Information in this article is based on verified sources available at the time of publication. The Gazette News | Independent. Human-Centred. Impactful may update the story as new facts emerge or additional context becomes available.
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