Dankwambo, Gwamna trade tackles over performance, electoral worth

[FILE PHOTO] Ibrahim Dankwambo

The war of words between Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo and former gubernatorial aspirant of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Dr. Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, who defected to the opposition All Progressive Congress (APC) has taken a new dimension with Gwamna alleging that all that Dankwambo knows is election and power.

The governor’s media assistant, Junaidu Abubakar, had accused Gwamna of spreading falsehood to gain sympathy of Gombe people and traducing the governor despite his sterling performance and achievement in the last seven and a half years as governor of Gombe State.

Piqued by Abubakar’s scathing remarks about him and his political pedigree, Gwamna, through his Special Assistant on Media, Ibrahim Sani, said denying Dankwambo a presidential ticket was about the best decision to come out of PDP, stressing that the governor lacks competence or administrative know-how to govern.

According to Sani,: “This statement is intended to address the sheer ignorance of Junaidu Abubakar on how to draw the lines between objectivity and subjective truth, give the true picture behind the paint of lies with which the administration of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo was portrayed and to also put in right perspective the pure personality of Dr. Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, whose popularity is spreading like wild fire in the harmattan.”

Sani pointed out that Gwamna’s exit from PDP is behind the party’s journey to unprecedented defeat in next year’s election in Gombe, stressing that he was not fazed by the toxic and derogatory statements made by Dankwambo to halt the truth and exposure of the abysmally poor performance of the present administration in Gombe State.

While dismissing the so-called incontrovertible facts of Dankwambo’s achievements, Sani said the entire narrative is nothing but subjective truth that lacks verification as far as the grassroots are concerned.

“The recent media score card of governor Dankwambo as having done for the state more than what Senator Dajuma Goje did in the sphere of governance is nothing but the opinion of praise-singers of the governor and a pointer to what the objective of the present government is all about,” he stated.

Quoting Cal Thomas, an American columnist, Sani contended, “One of the reasons people hate politics is that truth is rarely a politician’s objective. Election and power are.” He said it remains clear that the unfounded statistics reeled out by Abubakar’s attempt to dismiss his assertions in the danger of Dankwambo’s deal with Nafada was done to win the sympathy of the people by spreading falsehood about Senator Danjuma Goje who many see as a man who cares for the people of the state.

He added: “The objective of Dankwambo’s new hatred for the likes of Gwamma and Senator Danjuma Goje has nothing in truth, but everything in falsehood all for the sake of election and power.

“If Goje handed over a failed state to the present administration, why wait till seven years to cry out? Perhaps, the government is trying to buy reasons to justify its failure, which must be revealed as soon as they are defeated in 2019.

“Whether Senator Goje means well for Gombe State is for the people to judge because the ultimate judge of good governance in modern democracy remains the people and not fault-finders like Junaidu. It’s a pity for Gov. Dankwambo and his partners in political deceit that the wide acceptance of Senator Danjuma Goje has refused to decline and the effect constantly quacks the hearts of PDP members in the state.”

Sani stated that the next election would be a referendum on the past eight years of Dankwambo, stressing that the needless media attacks on those who have chosen to toe the line of truth to expose the lies behind the paints of Dankwambo’s performance by his associates as witch-hunt and distraction is an evidence of the fact that the government of Dankwambo doesn’t want to take responsibility for the failures of his administration, or better still, his mal-administration.

He further noted, “It will interest the public to know if the likes of Junaidu who is impenitently committed to singing an askew song for the governor will tell us about the N30billion bonds raised by this government for infrastructural development. Who will pay the debt? Is the infrastructure claimed to have been built by this government commensurate with the massive borrowing?

Sani maintained that all the highlighted achievements as raised by Junaidu are nothing but political projects of financial recklessness that lack the link between what the people want and the meagre resources the government claimed to have been given. The debt profile of the state is alarming yet nothing is said in that regard.

“As for the claim of turning the Kalare hoodlums into worthy ambassadors of the state, it is only a platform to achieve two things: siphon the money of the state as the government claimed that youth rehabilitation gulps N170 million annually.”