As Dankwambo declares for 2019 presidency
The day was Saturday 4th August, 2018 at the new Banquet Hall of Gombe Government House. It was a long awaited declaration not only by the PDP card carrying members in Gombe state but also by the very people of the North-East subregion and admirers of Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo nationwide, cutting across sectional, regional, ethnic and religious divides.
With representatives drawn from the six states of the North-East geo-political zone, the Hall was filled to capacity as party executives, elders and other relevant stake holders were seated and that speaks volume and an attestation to the seriousness attached to the daunting task. Governor Dankwambo’s wellarticulated and inspiring address could well be summed up as a formal response to the numerous clarion calls on him to contest for the Presidency of this country. He was so emphatic and straight forward wearing a volte face, he never minced words in accepting the challenge. It goes without saying that, true to his usual type, he would remain resolute, firm and ready to absorb shocks, obstacles and extreme provocation he might encounter on the way. Dankwambo is not lacking in discretion and diplomacy as he castigated no one nor did he mentioned names.
Needless to say, the Dankwambo declaration could not have come at a better time than now when many school of thoughts and political commentators have advanced arguments as to why the North-East sub-region should be given the slot and especially to Governor Dankwambo being a sitting Governor, a performer and who proudly combine both the required necessary attributes, academic, administrative and undoubtedly, the capacity to lead the nation.
No doubt, the North-East sub-region has been relegated and marred from clinching the Presidential seat. Several efforts made by our prominent sons in the past to aspire to this position were frustrated. Ever since the late Prime Minister of the Federation, Sir Abubakar Tafawa-Balewa held sway in the 1960’s and murdered in a cold blood, the region only came close to the peak when Atiku Abubakar deputized Obasanjo and attempted to contest in 2003, 2007 and with President Jonathan at the 2011 Presidential primaries.
Whenever it matters for the North to struggle, the North-East would be mentioned, but when it comes to the issue of leading the country, the NorthEast would be excluded. Generals Gowon, Babangida, Abdulsalam (NorthCentral) while Murtala, Shagari, Buhari, Yar’adua (North-West).
According to Governor Dankwambo, “we have been making consultations and those consultations are ongoing. We felt this time around, our zone should be given the opportunity to conduct and preside over the affairs of this country”. And being an aspirant under the banner of PDP, he added “we have sent delegates to various zones so that they can have the taste of the North-East Leadership style this time”. The argument therefore is on the need by the PDP to present Dankwambo as a candidate. Yes, I agree that whoever is seeking to contest for the Presidency must show whether he has the capacity to do. In a situation where a candidate is being haunted by his past and have chains of enemies to fight could be hazardous and risky for the zone to rally around him, else we squander the opportunity that presents itself.
Also for the purposes of digging beneath the surface, the North-East is forced to continue to ask questions as to why certain vital infrastructures of national significance have been left to either rot away or grossly underutilized in the North-East. The two famous Mambila and Dadinkowa proposed Hydro Power Stations have been neglected. The Savannah Sugar, the Vegfru and Tomatoes Processing as well as the Ashaka Cement factories located in Yola, Dadinkowa and Bajoga have either been left to decay or privatized in a manner that is left much to be desired. Gombe being a largely agrarian society, crowned and recognized with its unique agricultural development projects, (aside from Funtua) has been bastardized. The rich agricultural and other economic potentialities of the sub-region are yet to be harnessed. The numerous Cotton Ginneries spread across the zone are no longer functioning to feed our textile industries. In Bauchi the Steyr Motors Assembly Plant is comatose. The famous Gongola river stretching from Dindima (in Bauchi state) to Dukku - Nafada and Dadinkowa (in Gombe state) down to Numan in the present Adamawa state has not been properly channeled and converted for the purposes of large scale irrigation and fishing purposes.
Beyond all these sad commentary, we have been inflicted with a mega virus and sectarian madness of the highest monumental order ever recorded in human history. I am referring to the Boko Haram phenomenon traceable to the 1990’s. It has defied all workable solutions. Women, children and the aged have been slaughtered, massacred and rendered homeless. Properties worth millions of naira destroyed.
We feel this is the most appropriate time to formally begin our preparation and strengthen ourselves and skills in concentration towards having a proper, constitutional and established procedure to pursue our grievance, not only if we are going to maximize in the next millennium, but if we are going to be relevant or be reckoned with in the scheme of affairs of this country. We cannot afford to be inefficient or totally dysfunctional. If yesterday is lost due to whatever cause or design and if we are not too sure of what tomorrow holds for us and our children, then we must begin and utilize whatever opportunity provides within our reach. Thus, keeping the hope alive becomes imperative for a better tomorrow.
No one is in doubt as to the capacity of Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo to confront head on the problems of this country. Nigeria needed selfless individuals like him to take us away from elites driven to a grassroots driven governance. Our problems as a nation are multifaceted, complex and inherent. As somebody who is not having a tunnel vision of Nigerian politics, Dankwambo is therefore not venturing into an unfamiliar terrain.
Where there is a will, there is always a way. He has set out an agenda and road map to charter a future direction for this country. This is Dankwambo for you. A seasoned and dogged fighter. A silent achiever. A man of humble disposition and captivating humility.
Yidikawu wrote this piece from Gombe