The absence of former Governor Danjuma Goje at key events of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) in Gombe State has raised concerns.
On Monday, when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the ruling party, campaigned in the state, Goje was conspicuously absent.
There was anxiety among top party leaders of the APC in Abuja on Friday that Goje had allegedly pitched tent with the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar, because of his rift with the state governor, Inuwa Yahaya.
Goje, who is the lawmaker representing Gombe Central zone at the National Assembly, had earlier shunned the inauguration of the state’s APC Campaign Council and flag-off of the state governorship campaign in the state.
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Credible sources in Gombe APC confirmed to Daily Trust on Friday night that since Goje got the ticket to contest for a second term of office, he has neither made an appearance at the APC presidential campaign rally nor the governorship campaign rally in the state.
In a telephone chat yesterday, a top chieftain of the party in Gombe State said, “Goje as a person as it stands now is campaigning for Atiku, and his boys are all campaigning for Atiku. But he wants to be elected on the platform of the APC.
“He does not have a good relationship with the governor and so he doesn’t care about the party. He doesn’t care about the presidential candidate or the governorship candidate of the party; he only cares about his ambition.”
Another source said, “He has already made up his mind. Maybe if he wins the election on APC’s platform, he will finally move to the PDP.”
The APC top echelon had earlier reconciled Inuwa and Goje who were at daggers-drawn over the control of party structures in the state, and Goje had promised to work with the governor.
Our correspondent reports that the APC bigwigs, including Gombe Governor; Tinubu; his running mate, Kashim Shettima; APC National Chairman, Abdullahi Adamu; Senate President Ahmad Lawan; Senator Ali Modu Sheriff; governors of Yobe, Borno, Jigawa and Plateau States attended the APC presidential rally in Gombe on Monday.
While the Director General of Press Affairs to the governor, Ismaila Misilli, declined comments on the matter,
Goje, neither picked his phone call nor responded to a text message sent to him for comments.
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