Linking Dankwambo with 2019 is cheap political blackmail

Ordinarily, linking a performing Governor to the ambition of one day occupying the exalted office of the President of the country could have called for a celebration. However, when such insinuation is laced with virtual mischief or dressed in the robes of cheap political propaganda, then the real truth should be unmasked. In the Daily […]

Ordinarily, linking a performing Governor to the ambition of one day occupying the exalted office of the President of the country could have called for a celebration. However, when such insinuation is laced with virtual mischief or dressed in the robes of cheap political propaganda, then the real truth should be unmasked.
In the Daily Trust edition of Tuesday February 9, 2016, a seemingly simple headline authored by its reporter, Saawua Terzungwe, was buried in its page 13 under the general title: Inside Politics. The title of the report is: 2019 Presidency: Dankwambo Begins Move to Get PDP Ticket. However, reading through the piece, one does not need a soothsayer to decipher the true agenda of its masked contents.
In summary, Terzungwe, quoting an unnamed source which he claims to be “a top party official”, alluded that Gombe State Governor, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo has reportedly commenced moves to secure the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential ticket for the 2019 general elections.
Although nobody doubts the pedigree or competence of Governor Dankwambo to aspire to, or even fill this challenging but esteemed office of the President of the country at the right time; yet it is obvious that this Report is either doctored to serve some veil interests; or simply a figment of the imagination of its authors or possible sponsors.
In several fora, Governor Dankwambo has made it very clear that his attention now, rightly, is to focus on building Gombe State to greater heights which is consistent with the mandate the State citizens have given him by electing him for a second term; and not get involved in needless diversionary politics.
More importantly, however, the insinuation that he is already scheming for a PDP Presidential umbrella at this very premature time, when party politicking for electoral tickets is a very distant future away, is either to unfairly project him as a culpably ambitious politician or a disoriented leader with misguided priorities. It might even be that someone is trying to use the media to needlessly put him at loggerheads with some hidden powers or distract him from the onerous task of giving Gombe State the desired leadership for phenomenal dividends of democracy by fanning the embers of adversary politics when all hands should now be really on deck to tackle the multitude of challenges those at the helm of affairs in the country are facing.
Governor Dankwambo’s position has always been very clear and consistent: that only when the time is ripe and right, then will he decide on a political future but not now when his energy and attention are only focused on serving those that have given him a developmental mandate to accomplish.
If therefore this Reporter has, before going to press, reached out to the Governor to hear his own side of the coin for balance, we will have no issue with it at all.
No doubt, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo’s exceptional performance during his first term earned him the record of being the only PDP Governor to get re-elected in the entire North of the country; and his continued performance during his second coming is still a standard many are aspiring to match; and this has attracted many admirers that truly want him elevated on the political ladder, and who have the constitutional right and freedom to so express themselves.
Bashir Bello Akko writes this piece from Gombe, Gombe State