From Ikenna Ogenna
Public Forum
That Gombe State is often described as the Jewel in the Savannah flows from the harmony of its beautiful people, serene weather, lush green flora and fauna, as well as arable land.
The state boasts of quality fruits, particularly Pawpaw, Guava, Orange and Mango. Vegetables from Gombe stand out in both quality and distinctness of taste. For instance, the Pumpkin, Tomatoes, Onions, Pepper and Okra from Gombe remain of highest quality and much sought-after by even foreigners.
But, aside these blends of tantalising nature’s gifts, it is the nature of its people that mark the state out as a unique place of interest. The ethnic and religious harmony in the state is worthy of commendation.
The state is blessed politically, because just barely three years after it was carved out from Bauchi State, Nigeria re-joined the path of presidential democracy. Alhaji Abubakar Hashidu happened to be the state’s first democratically-elected governor in 1999.
However, either on account of the euphoria of the creation of Gombe as a separate political entity or the overwhelming challenges confronting the state, Hashidu could not cope with the enormous historic burden of carving out a specific socio-political developmental pattern for the state.
As a result, or either in search of alternative ideas, Governor Hashidu could not return for a second term by delivering the state to the All Peoples Party (APP), on which platform he was elected.
With enormous bloc of votes, the people of Gombe elected a young charismatic leader in the person of Alhaji Danjuma Mohammed Goje in the 2003 general elections. By the time Goje was elected as governor he did not manifest any sign of confusion as to how to pilot the affairs of the young state.
Of course, before his election as governor, Goje was armed with rich political and private sector experience. Having served in the Bauchi State House of Assembly as well as, in the Federal Ministry of Power and Steel as the Minister of State, he was clear-headed about what direction the executive should take to address the plights of the people.
But, most importantly, being a graduate of Political Science from the prestigious Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, the governor went down to churn out impactful policies and programmes. In a short space of time, Gombe State started hugging national headlines on account of the prodigious developmental strides of Governor Goje.
Elected precisely three years after the United Nations declared the Millennium Development Goals, Goje, whose initials also spell MDG (Mohammed Danjuma Goje), embarked on aggressive expansion of access to quality healthcare and education, even as he moved to ensure the maximisation of Gombe State’s agricultural potentials.
As governor, Goje pursued very ambitious programmes and projects that lifted Gombe State from obscurity to star-status in the comity of Nigeria’s 36 states. Through these life changing projects in Healthcare, Agriculture, Infrastructure, Education, Poverty Reduction and Environmental protection, not many remembered that Gombe State was among the latest six states created by the military regime of General Sani Abacha in 1996.
Today, the Gombe State University, Pantami International Stadium, and Gombe State Airport stand prominently as part of the Lionhearted courage of Goje’s administration. Apart from the state university, the Goje administration expanded the access of women and the girl-child to formal education, just as the government gave fillip to the cause of adult education, which led to the leap-frogging of literacy in the state. He passionately influenced the setting up of the College of Horticulture at Dadin Kowa in Yamaltu Deba Local Government.
It’s obvious Gombe State is heterogeneous society with predominantly native Muslim and Christian faithful and a sprinkling of traditionalists in Southern parts of the state.
As such, to strike a sort of religious balance, the Gombe Central Mosque and Christian Association of Nigeria, (CAN) Centre were built. Indeed, throughout Goje’s tenure as governor, there wasn’t any religious crisis or protest of discrimination unlike what has become the order of the day currently. In recognition of his drive for peaceful coexistence among different religions in the state, Goje was the only Muslim governor decorated with a ‘Peace Award’ by CAN youth wing in Abuja at an event attended by prominent Christian leaders including; Gen. Yakubu Gowon rtd, late Solomon Lar, Pastor William Kumuyi, Bishop John Onaiyekan among many others.
Although this piece was not motivated by the need to enumerate the achievements of the Goje administration in Gombe State, it is important to note that the state witnessed improvement in security and urban sanitation. That the state enjoyed relative peace and experienced improved access to safe drinking water could be traced to Goje’s background as one-time Secretary of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR), Yaba, Lagos.
This author was challenged to reflect on the political evolution of Gombe State up until this present moment of petty recriminations. Coming over from Bauchi State, where persons from the present area that constitute Gombe State played in the background, Goje’s efforts at grooming a pool of emergent leaders was superlative.
A significant feature of that policy of raising future leaders could be seen in the emergence of the current governor, Inuwa Yahaya as the Gombe State chief executive. Upon Goje’s electoral triumph against Hashidu in 2003, Inuwa was among the crop of inexperienced young hands the governor recruited into the state cabinet.
And, being intentional in his determination to provide an assemblage of experienced politicians from which Gombe people could tap for various leadership positions, Governor Goje retained Inuwa as his Finance Commissioner for the two-terms he served the state as governor.
However, perhaps eager to migrate to the high office of governor, Inuwa abridged his years of tutelage to contest the governorship ticket of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2011. As a journalist, this writer could recall that based on the towering popularity of Governor Goje in the state, many contestants had lined up for the PDP ticket.
Of course, being Goje’s Finance Commissioner, Inuwa had jumped into the bandwagon, believing that the sound financial management and superb project conception and implementation of the Goje administration would redound to his electoral advantage.
However, just as wishes are not horses, that vaulting ambition to take the place of his principal crashed, as the former Accountant General of the Federation (AGF), Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, dusted all the contenders to clinch the PDP governorship ticket. Dankwambo eventually won the main election.
Inuwa Yahaya could not benefit from that masterstroke of continuity, because of all the plethora of contestants for the PDP governorship ticket, it was only him and Usman Bayero Nafada that approached the court to challenge what was evidently a transparent primary.
Until today, most of the losers at the primaries against Dankwambo are angry with Goje in the mistaken belief that he favoured him to clinched the ticket. But, miserably and despite shepherding him along in the mucky waters of politics, and ensuring that he won the 2011 governorship election, Dankwambo left a dagger at the back of his benefactor through his promulgated anti-Goje’s actions and inaction. What a payback!
However, as a father who is committed to a better future for his children, Goje overlooked Inuwa’s tantrums against him after the loss of the PDP ticket in 2011. That was why as the 2015 general elections approached, the former governor carried Inuwa on his back again to join the newly-minted All Progressives Congress (APC).
Tapping on Goje’s experience and rich fund of political goodwill, APC leaders had mounted pressures on the former governor to join them in the arduous task of confronting the ruling PDP to deliver the party.
However, APC won at the Presidential election, but lost the governorship. The reason is not farfetched.
At the home front, Goje charitably acceded to Inuwa’s desperation to become governor. Pushing aside the strong reservations of well-meaning leaders and influential traditional rulers, Goje forgot Inuwa’s rebellious tantrums in 2011 and supported him for the APC governorship ticket at the expense of the then House of Representatives’ Deputy Speaker, Rt. Hon. Bayero Nafada. But, Senator Goje was severely cautioned against supporting Inuwa, because according to them supporting Inuwa would not earn him any reciprocal regard.
Nonetheless, what Goje could not do, the Gombe voters did: They turned their backs on Inuwa and re-elected Dankwambo for a second term. That Dankwambo survived what was later known as Buhari Tsunami in the North could be traced to a combination of factors, chiefly, because he was paired against a very unpopular candidate on the APC platform. Incredibly, Inuwa lost in the same state that Buhari’s got massive votes.
Yet, seeing Inuwa’s repeated failures as a dent on his political clout, in 2019, Goje again supported his governorship aspiration. The former governor took Inuwa around the 11 Local Government Areas of the state, pleading with the people to elect him as governor.
Happily, at the end of polls on March 16, 2019 the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), returned Inuwa as winner. Inuwa defeated Senator Nafada of PDP convincingly to the relief of Goje.
Posting another shocking betrayal, not long after he mounted the saddle as governor, Inuwa entered the trenches to begin a political war of destruction against his benefactor and former principal, Senator Goje. The culmination of the bad blood between them was the attack on Senator Goje’s convoy in Gombe by hoodlums said to be loyal to the incumbent governor.
In that regrettable attack of November 5, 2021, many vehicles on Goje’s convoy were badly damaged by the miscreants who were bearing deadly weapons. In a statement after the attack Lilian Nworie, the Senator’s Special Assistant on Media, expressed gratitude that her principal survived what was primed as an assassination attempt.
Insisting that the attackers were thugs loyal to Governor Inuwa, Okorie lamented that the police seemed helpless and failed to prevent the onslaught on Goje’s vehicles, stressing that the Senator showed remarkable restraint.
It is therefore worrisome that in the current siege to Goje, those he groomed to political limelight have turned his greatest adversaries with some wishing him dead. Like the police on the day, he was attacked along Gombe-Bauchi Expressway, the APC seems helpless.
The fortunes of APC in Gombe State would no doubt suffer from this betrayal syndrome, which PDP experienced in 2019 that made them lose virtually all elective positions to APC. Goje’s only crime seems to be, one, supporting Inuwa Yahaya to become the governor, and, secondly, requesting him to fulfil his campaign promises to Gombe people.
In the build-up to the 2023 general elections, Governor Inuwa programmed Goje for a defeat. But, the political colossus earned massive votes for a fourth term in the Senate. And, to show his pain at the Senator’s triumph, the governor orchestrated a dubious suspension and later expulsion process against Goje, Senator Bulus K. Amos (Gombe South) as well as Engr. Yunus Abubakar of the House of Representative.
But, knowing the sterling roles Goje played in birthing APC in Gombe by defeating PDP in 2015 and 2019, it is mindboggling that of all the many politicians groomed by Senator Goje, some turned against him and later sought for forgiveness. some of them was said to be seen on several occasions in Goje’s house in search of reconciliation, only to later turn recalcitrant and relapse to the trenches.
The ugly developments oozing out from Gombe State has thrown up mixed reactions among citizens and watchers of the state politics. Grooming young people for leadership has become a huge burden for benefactors. The experience is so sad and painful that those who support calls for youth inclusion in decision-making may flinch from granting them necessary guidance and tutelage.
In fact, if what Goje’s penchant for bringing up ordinary persons to political prominence could be rewarded in such ugly ways, it would be risky for any leader to willingly mentor anyone. The net effect is that Gombe State would be restrained from its forward march in leadership grooming which the Goje administration pioneered.
Inuwa was Goje’s political creation and on whose back, he jockeyed to be where he is today. Removing Goje’s association from Inuwa’s trajectory would reduce the governor to a mere cotton merchant.
If so, then, the emptiness of the current needless ego tripping, backstabbing, and loathing come to question. Put in another way, could Inuwa have amounted to anything politically without Goje? Many people have contrasted his rise with the inability of the governor’s biological brother, late Musa Yahaya, to win the chairmanship contest in Gombe Local Government Area, where he posted a humiliating defeat.
In the final analysis, these pertinent posers beg for answers: What is Inuwa Yahaya trying to achieve by antagonising his lone benefactor? Who does he have in mind as the ultimate beneficiary of this ugly trend?
The thinking among reasonable people within and outside Gombe is that whatever the perceived fault of Goje, his positive roles in the political progression of Governor Inuwa Yahaya makes him undeserving of these serial betrayals.
But, as Toba Beta noted, “betrayal is common for men with no conscience.” However, while political betrayal is commonplace among politicians, these ones from Gombe have attained a lofty height and yearns for a medal.
• Dr. Ogenna, a Media and Development analyst, writes from Abuja