ONLY two out of the numerous candidates seeking governorship in Gombe state, appears to be prominent and acceptable by the people. Both the incumbent Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of the ruling PDP and the former Commissioner of Finance, Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya of the APC respectively are struggling to take control of the seat of power into guber election.
Like the way and manner both the Governors of Benue state, Gabriel T. Suswam and his counterpart in Niger State, Babangida Aliyu, could not succeed in using their power of incumbency to achieve their senate bids, Dankwambo of Gombe state, may as well receive the shock of his life, should he continue to live some stones unturned.
His ongoing feud with his former boss, Senator Danjuma Goje, will definitely have a negative impact on his second term bid in the state.Meanwhile, with the rash of defections being experienced across the nation into the APC, Yahaya may well be in pole position for victory in today’s election.
Already, the Majority Leader in the Gombe State House of Assembly, Hon. Mamman Alkali was among the hundreds of politicians from the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), who have defected to the APC. Leading the decampees, who included over 50 personal assistants and special assistants to Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo and many contractors to the State Secretariat of the APC was the leader of the APC in the state, Alhaji Ibrahim Zamfara, received them.
A member of the PDP Elders’ Committee in the state said their decision to dump the PDP for the APC was because they felt Gombe State should not be an opposition to the federal government following the victory of Muhammadu Buhari in the last presidential election. He said they have decided to embrace change because of the illegalities happening in the PDP, which lack transparency and the discriminatory attributes of the ruling PDP in Gombe State. He said they felt it would be better for them to pitch their tent with the wining train so that the State could benefit and move forward.
Other notable decampees from the PDP, who also defected were two serving members of the state House of Assembly and two former members. While receiving the defectors, the APC gubernatorial candidate in the state, Alhaji Inuwa Yahaya, asked them to feel free and consider themselves as bonafide members of the party.
He said they are going to be treated fairly and without any form of discrimination, adding that it is better that they have joined the APC train now, which would further enhance the acceptance of the APC ahead of today’s governorship and state Houses of Assembly elections.
