Dankwambo Won’t Dump Atiku, Says Aide

By Kayode Fasua

A close aide of Governor Ibrahim Dankwambo has dismissed speculations that his boss is in league with a North West governor to betray Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.

The aide, Alhaji Junaid Usman Abubakar, in an interview with THISDAY, assured that the governor was solidly behind the former Vice-President, promising that Dankwambo would deliver the entire North-East to the PDP in the coming presidential election.

The Gombe governor is the chairman of Atiku Campaign Organisation in the North-East.

“Dankwambo is not being led by (the said North West governor), so everybody is on his own. But rest assured that Dankwambo is a man of principle and a loyal party member. His yes is yes and his no is no.

“Once he accepted the outcome of the PDP presidential election and promised to support Atiku, so be it; he can never change gear. He is not a man with Janus face. He looks straight ahead once he has taken a course of action. If you must know, Dankwambo is highly principled,” Abubakar said.

He added that his principal wielded so much influence in the entire North-East, having sustained a reputation of being a stable PDP leader and a great achiever in his eight-year rule as governor.

“At least you could see this in the unprecedented crowd that was recorded when Atiku came to Gombe. We are not joking here. Dankwambo will not only deliver Gombe to Atiku and Usman Nafada who is contesting for governor, he will deliver the entire North East of Gombe, Bauchi, Borno, Yobe, Adamawa and Taraba.

“We will beat the APC hands down in all the elections in the North-East and Dankwambo has set about this task, and will never join the band of anybody holding secret meetings with the opposition. Dankwambo, my boss, will never play Judas,” Abubakar assured.