As the 2019 general elections season gathers momentum, desperate attacks by political jobbers are not unexpected. It comes within the territory.
It has been noted by sociologists that an election season is usually a period when all manners of hack sayings and character assassinations dominate the public space. So even without Senator Danjuma Goje’s sayings, the good people of Gombe state know that the administration of Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo would be the target of baseless media attacks in a vain effort to cast a slur on the governor’s sterling performance in office.
Political jobbers and hirelings will do their worst to downscale the prodigious achievements of Governor Dankwambo. One of such garbage was the cocktail of lies presented in one of the All Progressives Congress, APC’s own radio station, Progress Radio, Gombe by Danjuma Goje.
It is intriguing that a man with doubtful pedigree should attempt to white wash the achievements of Governor Dankwambo just because he wants to dismiss people’s complaints that he wasted public funds during his tenure as the governor of Gombe state and the claims by his party members that he isn’t working for the success of the APC in Gombe, but rather wants to maintain his status as a so-called chieftain of the party.
A lot of allegations have been put by the Gombe state chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) against Sen. Goje that he isn’t working for the success of the current APC’s gubernatorial candidate because of his claims that Inuwa Yahaya isn’t competent enough to deliver and will never win elections in Gombe because of his unpopularity, tribalistic inclinations and religious sentiments.
What Sen. Goje figured out in one of Progress Radio’s programme “Fitilar Siyasa” was an attempt to scale himself out from the allegations of his party members.
Goje has been at daggers drawn with other chieftains and members of the APC in Gombe, including the Gombe state APC’s gubernatorial candidate, Inuwa Yahaya.
Gombe people also have it against Danjuma Goje and Inuwa Yahaya that their inability and lack of capacity to manage public funds in Gombe during their tenures as governor and commissioner for finance, respectively, led to the rejection of the entire APC in Gombe state. It is public knowledge that Inuwa Yahaya has never contributed to the development of even his Jekadafari ward where he is said to have a fair chunk of political support.
In APC’s desperation, Inuwa Yahaya was alleged to have recently distributed cash to some of the rehabilitated ‘Yan Kalare’ in an obvious attempt to bring them back to thuggery, criminality and the old bad habits to destabilize the current peace in Gombe state in the name of a political rally.
Now with that background, listeners to Progress Radio, Gombe could understand why the fictitious claims on Progress Radio had to be aired. But in order to perforate the false logic, I wish to point out the major underlying reasons why attacks on the Dankwambo administration is coming in torrents at this time of impending electoral unease:
- It is a well-known fact that education is the cardinal programme of the Dankwambo administration for which he has received plaudits from all over Nigeria and abroad. As such, attacking the achievements of the governor has become the best way for these overzealous politicians to achieve a semblance of popularity.
- The emergence of Sen. Bayero Nafada as Gombe state PDP gubernatorial candidate and persistent calls on Governor Dankwambo to step out and contest the Gombe North senatorial seat, all manner of spurious attacks, including misinformation and outright falsehood, are being put forward to draw the peaceful and pacifist ‘Gombe PDP’ out for unfruitful exchanges.
Be that as it may, the following few clarifications by way of rebuttals need to be made, so that Sen. Danjuma Goje’s jejune concoctions do not assume the status of truth.
Of a truth Progress Radio, Gombe are not operating based on ethics. The radio station has been aiding some mischievous people to present their falsehood which is against the ethics of the Nigerian Broadcasting Commission (NBC) and the journalism profession in general.
While it is true that there is always room for improvement in human society, the attempt to set the hand of the clock back, regarding the impressive mileage covered by the Dankwambo administration in various sectors in Gombe leaves much to be desired, as it offends natural justice and good conscience.
If Goje is parading himself as a king maker and godfather, he should first, return (even if it is just) 80% of the much that was allegedly looted from the Gombe state economy during his tenure and still, that will not and will never warrant public celebration of his alleged sleaze.
Like a good statesman that preaches and practices politics without bitterness, Governor Dankwambo has not tried to vilify or denigrate other citizens that served the state. Dankwambo is not vain.
Kuna is Senior Special Assistant on New Media to Governor Dankwambo of Gombe state.
