No End in Sight to Gombe APC Crisis

The Peoples Democratic Party may bounce back to reckoning in Gombe State if the state chapter of the ruling All Progressives Congress is unable to put its house in order, writes Nseobong Okon-Ekong

Again, stakeholders in Gombe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) have failed to reached an agreement on how to end the crisis which is tearing the party apart, as Governor Inuwa Yahaya and the former governor, Senator Danjuma Goje refuse to yield ground and allow peace to reign.

Already the opposition, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) may be the beneficiary of the house of commotion built by the APC in Gombe. Recently, a renowned politician, Dr Jamil Isyaku Gwamna (Sardaunan Gombe) dumped the APC and joined the opposition PDP in his bid to contest Gombe State gubernatorial seat in 2023.

Gwamna announced his entry into the PDP when he met with a former governor of the State and Gombe State PDP leader, Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo.

Efforts to reconcile the warring camps in Gombe State APC have been jettisoned, thus threatening the outing of the party in the 2023 general elections.

The National Reconciliation Committee of the party, chaired by Senator Abdullahi Adamu had on the order of the chairman of the party’s caretaker committee, Mai Mala Buni, hosted governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State and the leader of the party in the state, Senator Danjuma Goje to a meeting on January 5, 2022. 

At the meeting held at the residence of Senator Adamu in Abuja, it was unanimously agreed that the warring camps should bury their differences and the congresses conducted at wards, local government and state levels would be looked into with a view of addressing the lop-sidedness in the exercise. 

In attendance at the meeting were; the chairman of the National Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Senator Kashim Shettima, former governors and senators.

The Media Office of Senator Goje, Ahmed Isa has issued a statement expressing shock that over three months after the meeting, no further moves have been advanced to consolidate on the peace efforts, contrary to the resolutions reached during the peace parley. 

Isa fuuther said, “As loyal and peace-loving party stalwarts of the party that contributed immensely to laying the foundation, building it, and leading it to victory in 2019, we want to state that jettisoning of the idea initiated to cement the cracks in the party will lead APC to nowhere but defeat come 2023. 

If this happens, no one should blame our leader and father, Senator Goje, who despite the ill-treatment meted out on him by those he brought to power, embraced the peace moves in line with Islamic Injunctions. 

“Let no one be deceived, as it is, our beloved party is in disarray in Gombe State and this must be addressed for us to be able to maintain our leading role in the state. The party is crumbling and this explains the gale of defection and resignation being witnessed daily.

Governor Yahaya and Senator Goje have been trading accusations over who the aggressor is in a spate of violent attacks that engulfed the once peaceful state, which was highlighted by an attack on Goje. This marked the beginning of open hostilities between the two camps, which barely tolerated each other previously.