https://tracereport.com.ng/2018/10/22/gombe-primaries-fall-out-sdp-woos-aggrieved-apc-chieftains/

The political terrain in Nigeria is hardly a safe place to bruise egos, exhibit rudeness or disrespect elders, for it leads only one way, and that is political decline and ruination.

That is the hard lesson Danjuma Goje, former two term PDP governor of Gombe State has found out rather too late.

Goje must have thought that he was setting up his own political dynasty as a godfather in the Jewel of the Savannah when he personally imposed through underhanded ways, his Commissioner for Finance for almost eight years, Inuwa Yahaya as the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC.

Practically all political godfathers do that in the hope that they can get away with it. Unfortunately for the All Progressives Congress, APC in Gombe State, It doesn’t really matter that Danjuma Goje, former PDP two term governor of the north eastern state is the undisputed APC chieftain. The Buhari factor helped in no small measure anyway, to encourage him to cross the carpet for the obvious advantage of being free from the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC worries.

That kind of position of strength was what led to the political arrogance of Danjuma Goje in the imposition of Inuwa Yahaya who lost the same contest in 2015.

The imposition angered the rest APC gubernatorial aspirants that lost the primaries in the just concluded Party primaries that included stalwarts like Habu Mu’azu, Mohammed Danbarde
Barr. Idris Hinna, Ibrahim Dasuki Jalo Waziri, Umaru Kwairanga (Sarkin Fulani), Faruk Bamusa
Aliyu Haidar and Khamisu Mailantarki.

Therefore as soon as Goje’s former Chief of Staff, ‘brainbox’ and political Mr. Fix-it while he (Danjuma Goje) was governor, Chikere Kumo, angrily quit the APC to pitch his tent with the Social Democratic Party, SDP, weighing of options became a serious contention for the former aspirants of the party’s ticket.

Suddenly, many of the former aspirants started to quit the APC and are on their way to joining the Social Democratic Party, SDP.

Their plan to leave the APC for the SDP is because of their firm belief that Inuwa Yahaya would simply fail to make it in 2019 because of his unpopularity in Gombe due to his failure to contribute a dime to the development of Gombe State.

Inuwa Yahaya comes from money. His father is reputed to have been a very wealthy man. That made him attractive as an asset to Danjuma Goje.

But Inuwa Yahaya’s serious drawbacks include the fact that throughout his almost eight years as Gombe State Commissioner for Finance, there’s no record of him providing at least a borehole in his Jekadafari ward in Gombe local government. Neither did he build a block of classrooms, things that would ordinarily impress, politically.

The aspirants see Inuwa Yahaya contesting again for the 2019 gubernatorial election as a reinforcement of political failure.

Perhaps Goje just doesn’t get it. Picking a candidate who has all his family investments and fortune in far away North Western State of Kano is beginning to bore the multifarious tribes of Gombe State. Sen. Goje would have to make a better decision by choosing from the most powerful ones like Alh. Habu Mu’azu, Faruq Bamusa, Muhammadu Danbarde or even Barr. Idris Hinna.

With the APC chain of events culminating in Danjuma Goje’s backing of Inuwa Yahaya said to have his origins in Jigawa State, political watchers say decline has set in for the former governor.

As Chikere Kumo’s SDP continues to wax stronger, the APC continues to empty, and Goje continues to regret his backing of Inuwa Yahaya that has led to the exit of his former backers and associates. Meanwhile the SDP has continued to woo the former APC aspirants to come over .

Political analysts in Gombe spoken to by our Correspondent say that with the departure of Chikere Kumo from the APC, Inuwa Yahaya can only win his Jekadafari ward.

This may turn out to be the worst outing for the APC in Gombe State which is now no.3, after the PDP and the SDP.