On that Sunday night, at Miyetti cinema, venue of the gubernatorial primaries, Dankwambo scored 400 votes to become the candidate of his party, dusting Alhaji Dahiru Biri, who came second with 32 votes, Alhaji Abdulkadir Hamma Sale who polled 19 votes and the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Prof. Rufai Ahmed Alkali, who scored 13 votes .
But an election of this worth only begets a critical review of its own challenges and prospects. It is a fact that the challenges of Gombe State, as a young state with a big dream, are rather enormous, intimidating and urgent. The people’s expectations are similarly very high and definitely not one to be assuaged by an average performance or an average leadership.
Much as it is not in dispute that the current administration of Governor Danjuma Goje has performed creditably in the area of water supply where it constructed a gigantic water works; in the area of education where it built several schools and a state university as well as attracted the recently approved federal university to the state; in the area of road construction where it constructed of road networks, more still could be done in so many areas of the state as governance, it is all agreed, is a continuous cycle.
For a state like Gombe State, the start off point to its dream, therefore, is the emergence of the right recipe for growth and development, which is embedded in the quality of leadership. This right leadership must be somebody who shares the deep- seated vision of the state and who is empowered by a solid and distinctive personal content and character to tackle the assignement. Here, Alhaji Dankwambo fits in perfectly well like a garment solely made for the state.
Trained and tested, he graduated from the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria , in 1985 with a degree in Accounting. He holds a Masters of Science degree in Economics from the University of Lagos and started his career with Cooper and Lybrand, from where he moved to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) between 1998 -1999, before he was appointed as the Accountant General of Gombe State, a position he held till 2005 when he moved to the post of Accountant General of the Federation.
The highpoints on his background is echoed by the fact that the state needs a man of exceptionally strong financial discipline to grasp and pilot its vision to the next level. That is why the emphasis has since shifted to his program of action. His vision on the education sector, his agricultural plans, his micro and macro market projections as well as his resolve in the management of state resources shall soon become a subject of critical discussions. But it is given that whatever the stakes and whenever it is slated, Dankwambo will not disappoint.
In deed, for the people of Gombe State, the interpretations of the emergence of Dankwambo , at this stage, have a greater meaning and purpose. Here is a man whose candidacy will invariably settle the cycle of power distribution in the state.
In the democratic history of the state, power has moved from the North to the Central and is on the move, again, to the Northern part of the state in an articulate power sharing format that underlines the foresight of the PDP stakeholders in the state. His victory will, therefore, strengthen the pillars on which the state is standing today.
But equally noteworthy is that Dankwambo, represents a unique brand in the affairs of the state, if peace and brotherhood, instead of war and confrontation, is the object of the next democratic enterprise; and in this case, many have argued that he has the capability to unite the counteracting forces within the stock of the PDP, including those who are opposed to his election.
The ranks of the party are solidly behind him. The government is not too far away from him. Even those aspirants who had misgivings, his emergence do not attribute their concerns to him as a person. Interestingly, in the last few days, there are efforts to gather the folks of the party, once again, by endeavouring to reconcile their cracks.
One additional prospectus of Dankwambo candidacy is that he is equally admired by the ranks of the closet rivals. Being the former Accountant General of the state under the Abubakar Hashidu administration, his antecedent has never been in doubt as his face is already familiar in the crowd. Indeed, he acquitted himself, during the course of that responsibility, as one who can make good things happen and it is already projected that many members of the opposition party will, in the general elections, vote in his direction.
But again, this is not of the greatest value to the people of the state. In fact, what is uppermost in their scale of preferences is that the state is about to pick a man of boundless goodwill, a man of all parties and people, one drawn from the genuine choices of people of the different religions, different tribes and different geographies in the state. This unparallelled impetus underbellies an easy victory for the PDP at the polls in April 2011 and only time will attest its gains to policy making, policy implementation as well as to the overall wellbeing, healthiness and husbandry of the next administration in the state.
Alhaji Salisu Yau writes from No. 75 Kumbia Kumbia Quarters, Gombe, Gombe State.
