2019: Mad rush for Gombe Gov’t House
Haruna Gimba Yaya, Gombe
A frontline contender from the ruling PDP whose posters are all over the town is Alhaji Bala Bello Tinka, a successful businessman and close associate of the governor.
Tinka had declared interest in the House of Representatives and the Senate in 2011 and 2015, respectively but failed to get the ticket in both attempts.
He was the convener of ‘Neighbour-toNeighbour,’ a campaign group that provided the political structure for Dankwambo in 2015, a group many political observers believed to have played a vital role in returning Dankwambo to power and survived the APC tsunami that swept 16 governorship seats across the northern states.
As the Gombe-North coordinator for Dankwambo in 2015, he delivered all the LGAs in the zone and also contributed in capturing the remaining LGAs across the state.
A successful businessman and a philanthropist, he was the only candidate from the ruling party to openly declare interest to contest for the governor’s seat. He is said to have the financial strength to bankroll his campaign without support from government coffers.
Another aspirant for the governor’s seat is the Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Alhaji Ahmad Abubakar Walama. Walama was the chairman of Dukku LGA for eight years during the administration of former governor Muhammad Danjuma Goje.
Also as a commissioner for local government since 2011, he coordinated the 11 LGAs that ensured the return of Dankwambo to power in 2015.
As a successful businessman before venturing into politics, Walama is believed to have the resources to finance his campaign.
Being in the cabinet for the past six years, he may have the support of his colleagues at the state executive council, who will find it easy to smoothly return to the cabinet in the event he wins the election.
A technocrat and brain behind the success of the Dankwambo administration, Alhaji Hassan Muhammadu is another contestant for the governorship seat. The reputable accountant has been commissioner for finance for over six years now.
Prior to joining Dankwambo’s cabinet, he was at different times a technical assistant to former Minister of Finance, Mrs Ngozi Nkonjo Iwela.
His political associates say the unassuming and soft spoken technocrat is consulting widely and studying the trends carefully before making his ambition public. The Chief of Staff Dankwambo, Alhaji Ahmed Yayari, is also believed to be eyeing to succeed his boss. He was Commissioner of Lands and Survey and later Youth and Sport in Goje’s administration.
Though zoning of political positions, especially between Gombe North and Gombe Central which always produced the governor or the speaker since return to democracy in 1999, is not making much impact in the state’s politics, observers believe that coming from Akko LGA in Gombe-Central would be an advantage to Yayari in the event he throws his hat in the ring.
A frontrunner among the aspirants in the opposition APC is Alhaji Abubakar Habu Mu’azu Hassan, who was the PDP youth leader during former governor Goje’s first tenure in 2003.
Habu Muazu played a vital role in the campaign that brought the administration of Danjuma Goje in 2003 and was believed to be a contributor to many of the successes recorded by Goje. However, since 2007 when he parted ways with Goje, Youth Leader, as he is popularly called, plays politics at the PDP headquarters in Abuja. He was so close to former President Goodluck Jonathan that he was made the PDP presidential campaign coordinator in the 2011 elections.
Since he ditched the PDP for APC in 2016, he was scheming to clinch the APC’s ticket with numerous meetings with party stakeholders, especially at the grassroots level. Another big shot said to be aspiring