Mai Mala will take Yobe to the next level -Gombe

Dauda Mohammed Gombe is the Mai Mala Buni House-To-House Campaign Coordinator. He speaks with Musa Mingyi on what his candidate intends to offer if elected as Governor of Yobe state.

You were APC candidate for the State House of Assembly in Yobe, what motivated you to join the train of Mai Mala candidature?

Mai Mala is a humble, straight forward person and a graduate school of activism who passed through all hurdles and cradles of life and later found himself where he is today.  He knows the sufferings and enjoyment of the people at the grassroots, and above all he has a listening ear irrespective of who you are and where you come from.

He has no segregation, sectionalism or tribalism and has passion for engaging youths in his activities because he is also a youth. That is why it is very important for me to join his train.

Mai Mala believes the society can only be developed when youths are involved and carried along in every activity.  In the history of Yobe, there is no better time than now where youths from all nooks and crannies are joining the fight for good governance.  If we make it happen, history will not forget us just as when we failed, so joining his train will help us rescue democracy in Yobe state.

As the backbone of every organization, what does your party has to offer youths and people of Yobe if elected into office?

Since inception, Yobe has almost had a single political party. We have been eating same soup and we have not regretted that because it has not disappointed or failed us.

This is because of the way we handle people here.  Look at the tremendous developments the APC brought to Yobe state.  From road construction to housing, water supply, health, education, youth empowerment, name them, things have changed.

The government of Ibrahim Gaidam moved Yobe from under developed to

developed state. It can now be compared with any semi-industrialized state in Nigeria.

Unlike before where you could easily have counted the number of roads, concrete culverts, number of doctors in the hospitals, today we do not have only doctors and health workers but we have witnessed the establishment of Teaching Hospital.  Every road comes with dual culvert; solar powered light so what we will offer is consolidation and continuity. We will build from where Ibrahim Gaidam has stopped, what we are going to do is to help Yobe actualize its dreams.

Gaidam established many projects including the Cargo Airport, how will this transform Yobe in terms of agriculture?

We are going to ensure Yobe becomes one of the leading states in agricultural exports in Nigeria and at the same time lead in feeding the nation, Africa and the world at large.  This can be done through exporting agricultural produce to the wider world and import products that we do not have in Yobe.  So voting Mai Mala Buni is like investing in Dangote Groups of Company because the future is guaranteed.

As Coordinator, what do you intend to achieve?

We want to bridge the gab. To make sure this time around, the kind of votes we are going to generate for President Buhari, Gaidam for Senate and Mai Mala for Governor will be the highest ever in the history of this state.

Since the return of democracy in Nigeria, the number of votes usually received for gubernatorial elections had around 300,000 – 400,000. As house-to-house campaign team of Mai Mala, we intend to reach to 150,000 households in Yobe, by meeting the households’ leadership and engage them in bilateral discussion and sell our candidates to them.

We need at least 2 votes in every household.  The intended votes from 150,000 house holds plus the 400,000 votes normally realized, we will produce not less than 700,000 votes.

Which sector would you like Mai Mala to concentrate on if elected?

The most important sector that I would like the incoming government, if elected into office, to concentrate on is the people. He should first of all understand the needs and aspirations of the people. If you do not engage the people in governance, no matter what you have done problems won’t be solved.

You will end up promoting education, living health aside or develop agriculture, while road construction is the challenge in the other side.  So what we want is a government that will be all inclusive. When it’s time for budget, communities would be allowed to decide, discuss and come up with what they want.

Mai Mala told us, he is going to consolidate on YOSERA I, II, III and IV,  Yobe summit I, II and all relevant Yobe documents that are meant to develop Yobe. We do not need new ones; we have enough documents and resources that will change Yobe to a greater height.

Yobe is one of the best in the financial management system, so what we need now is all inclusive government: a government that listens and executes the wishes and aspirations of the people.

Wishes may defer but our major areas will be on security, where people can move to farms freely, children to go to school at will and residents to travel out any time.  Other areas will be of health, education, agriculture, water supply and infrastructural development among others.

In nutshell it would be all inclusive government where youths, women, vulnerable, disabled and everybody in the society will have a role to play.

A lot of PVCs are yet to be collected, what will you do to assist intending voters?

We are in collaboration with Yobe Youth Alliance and the media houses here have been mobilizing people to make sure they get their Permanent Voters Cards.  We tell them, PVCs are their key and mandates to elect credible leaders.

In any forum we find ourselves, we have tried to enlighten them on the importance of having their PVCs because without it you cannot elect the candidates of your choice or make Nigeria great. They must go and collect their PVCs and we will continue to encourage them to do so.  We are working with government officials, traditional leaders, party leaderships and civil society organizations to ensure all Yobe residents are reached and enlightened.

2019 election is around the corner, what message do you have for politicians that hire thugs to cause chaos?

Both the politicians and the thugs should always think twice. If somebody will ask you to go and take aims to beat or kill someone, you need to ask him to bring his children to join you in doing that. Most of these politicians their children are schooling abroad or in Nigeria under the protection of security guards, therefore being a political thug is foolishness of the highest order.

In Yobe, we do not have political thugs any longer, but party members. Before now, I used to go to the party secretariat to sensitize them.  So giving arms to youth to work for you under the influence of drugs, you have not been fair to their parents and the country; I totally disagree with this notion.

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