Gombe in the grip of Goje

Leon Usigbe takes a trip into Gombe State politics and posits that beyond any other consideration, Governor Danjuma Goje will be the determinant of who succeeds him in 2011. The average Gombe citizen will answer in the affirmative, if you ask whether the first four years of the present democratic dispensation were not a waste as far as the state was concerned. Why? They think that there was little to show in terms of real development in spite of the funds that accrued to the administration of Abubakar Hashidu from the federal allocation and internal sources. The people are quick to point out that the administration was characterised by massive corruption, especially in the civil service, at a time government officials thought they necessarily had to satisfy their avaricious desires rather than facilitate the implementation of developmental programmes and policies. Agencies of government were thought to award contracts to fathom construction firms that only proved to be conduit pipes for draining state funds into private bank accounts. The owners of such accounts blossomed in their palatial edifices, looking down on their poor neighbours in the shanties that lacked the most basic of infrastructure and, therefore, wallowed in abject poverty and misery. It was no surprise, therefore, that in spite of the whirlwind that was the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Hashidu’s political platform, which was blowing across parts of the North principally because of the involvement of Major General Muhammadu Buhari in it as its presidential candidate in the 2003 election, the government of Governor Hashidu in Gombe State could not be saved from the wrath of the long suffering electorate, who threw it aside for the emergence of the Danjuma Goje-led administration under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In the last seven years, that righteous indignation appears to have been fully justified by the outstanding achievements of the present administration in the areas of physical development and the provision of social amenities. From a single-road state capital in 2003, the Gombe metropolis now boasts of more than 50 township roads with almost equal number of rural roads. It has joined the exclusive club of states with their own universities and an international airport. Not only that, the city enjoys a 24-hour uninterrupted flow of pipe-borne water, a feat that has not been seen since the 1920s in the state, which is also now blessed with 10 fully functional and well-equipped General Hospitals and health centres virtually established and/or renovated by the present administration. Similarly, Gombe State now has its own School of Nursing and Midwifery, School of Health Technology, College of Administrative and Business Studies and a School of Agriculture, a modern stadium and a five- star hotel nearing completion, all provided within the last seven years. Governor Goje also says that 80 percent of the towns and villages in the state have been linked up with the national grid for their power supply. However, in spite of the visible achievements under the belt of the Sarkin Yakin Gombe, many people in the state are unhappy with him because of his manner of politics, especially his alleged intolerance of the opposition. Governor Goje, it would seem, does not brook political dissent and his word is law in a state that has seen opponents either hounded to submission or driven into political oblivion. There are citizens of the state who alleged that he has not just engaged in psychological emasculation of perceived opponents but also caused them to be physically attacked by political thugs. What worries observers now is that as the 2011 governorship election edges closer, Governor Goje, who is not eligible to contest since he is in his second and final tenure as governor, is determined to ensure that he plants his crony as the next governorship candidate of the PDP, irrespective of the thinking of the party members. They say in his desire to achieve this objective, he has apparently placed all sorts of obstacles in the ways of all those thought to be aspiring to replace him as governor. Among those who are thought to have fallen on the wrong side of the governor on this account are the former Minister of the Federal Capital Territory, Dr. Aliyu Modibbo, and Alhassan Fawu. Governor Goje and Dr. Modibbo started as good political pals and the friendship extended to their families, who enjoyed a good rapport. That was why Governor Goje appointed Lamido Chikere to the all-important position of his Chief of Staff and Abu Muazu was given the position of the Youth Leader in the state branch of the PDP. Both are Dr. Modibbo’s brothers. But once the chief executive started to see Dr. Modibbo as his political rival, due to his perceived ambition to become the next Gombe State governor, things changed quickly between the two former bosom friends. People in the state believe that the governor does not like the talk of Dr. Modibbo taking over from him in 2011, even though the ex-minister has not expressly declared his interest in the post. Observers of Gombe politics argued that it was probably in an attempt to spite Dr. Modibbo that the governor removed his brothers from their positions. Not only that, he has been accused of actually causing the physical attack by political thugs on the former Youth Leader as a revenge of an earlier attack on the governor’s late younger brother by unknown assailants. These allegations have been denied by government officials. But Dr. Modibbo’s sympathisers say he has become miserable as far as the politics of Gombe State is concerned. He has been rendered a political orphan, allegedly forbidden from attending public functions where the governor is supposed to be present. This perceived persecution has apparently won him sympathizers, judging from the reaction of some people in the state. He is obviously the front runner in the race to become the successor of Governor Goje but with their sour relationship, it is highly unlikely that Governor Goje will allow the former minister to succeed him, in spite of his enormous personal resources and the goodwill he enjoys among the people. That choice is increasingly tilting towards Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo Waziri, the governor’s son-in-law who served as Gombe local government council chairman. There are indications that the former local government boss has been anointed by the governor and the space within the PDP is therefore closed, leading to suggestions that Dr. Modibbo may explore the possibility of running on the ticket of other political parties, most probably the fast growing Congress for Political Change (CPC), the new political movement of General Buhari. On the fringe of the 2011 governor’s contest are individuals like the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Usman Bayero Nafada, whose mind appears torn between remaining in federal office or seeking the state’s top job; Alhassan Fawu, who himself is unsure of what party to turn to in view of the narrow space in the PDP and the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP; and Professor Ahmed Rufai Alkali, whose well known ambition up till now is still muted. Apart from the aforementioned Dasuki, none of these politicians is thought to feature in the reckoning of the governor at the moment. The state is firmly in the grip of Goje, who holds the key to both the PDP governorship ticket as well as the direction of the election itself. He has made enemies in the last seven years, but there are many Gombe citizens who see this as a collateral damage on his way to putting the state on a solid footing. Such people argued that the majority of the populace were quite comfortable with the actions of the governor, that those who speak ill of him are blackmailers who expect state resources to be shared among a few politicians to the detriment of the physical development of the state. The failure of Govenor Goje to throw the state purse open, they argue, is the beginning of his problem with the politicians. In the end, Governor Goje’s opponents are seriously disadvantaged by the sheer reputation his monumental transformation of a rural state to a modern one, which prides itself as “the Jewel of the Savannah,’’ has accorded him. It would therefore be foolhardy for any Gombe governorship aspirant to think that his much trumpeted knack to demolish perceived political opponents would detract from his ability to determine who takes over from him next year.