It has come to our attention, we the Concerned people of Gombe State, that the outgoing Governor of our dear state, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, has invited the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Professor Yemi Osinbajo to Gombe State to commission some phantom projects. The President, based on available information, is billed to visit Gombe State on Monday, May 27th while the Vice president is to visit on Friday 24th May to commission the said projects.

Available records show that the phantom projects, which the governor now wants the president to commission, in order to give him some respite and acceptance from the good people of Gombe State, were executed using billions of Naira of debts taken by the Dankwambo administration. Example of such is the international conference center which gulped billions of Naira and served as a conduit pipe for siphoning public funds and which till date has not been taken over by the state government from the contractors owing to a balance of about 2 billion Naira owed them.

There were startling revelations of the huge sums of money, amounting to over N120 billion, that Dankwambo took as loans from both internal and external sources, part of which the PDP administration now claims was used in executing the projects.

We want to make it abundantly clear that the governor’s invitation to the President and the Vice president was done in bad faith, because all this while that the Gombe State Government existed under Dankwambo, the governor did not deem it fit to invite the president to commission his projects until few days to his exit from office. There is indeed more to it than meets the eye!

Apart from the over N120 billion internal and external debts burden that the Dankwambo’s PDP administration is leaving behind for the incoming APC administration, there is also another liability of over N16 billion pension fund, being owed retirees in the state.

Dankwambo wants President Buhari to come and give credit to what is clearly a manifestation of bad governance in Gombe State, which Dankwambo himself spearheaded in the last eight years in the state.

Besides, these projects do not in any way have direct bearing or impact on the good people of Gombe State. Why then should Dankwambo involve our dear President in this shenanigans? Of all the so-called projects that Dankwambo executed in the last eight years, none has benefited the rural people of Gombe, who form the overwhelming majority of the population in the state. Even the Dadin Kowa Gombe Water Project that would have been of benefit to both rural and urban dwellers has been abandoned long ago.

At this point, it is pertinent to ask some critical questions: where is the billions of naira Paris Club exit refund money that Gombe State got? Apart from the Paris Club refund, where is the bailout money that the Federal Government under the able leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari graciously gave to states, including Gombe? Where has the billions of naira monthly Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC’s) money for Gombe State been going to? What happened to all these monies that Dankwambo got as governor of Gombe State that he had to take loans of over N120 billion? It will be good if the governor provides answers to these questions and many more before inviting President Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo to Gombe State.

Aside the trap that the Dankwambo administration has set for the incoming administration through his last minute bank withdrawals and spending spree which has depleted the state’s accounts, unlawful recruitments and promotions, he also established four higher institutions, including a state University of technology all of which he deliberately delayed their take off until later this year, thereby cunningly transferring the burden to the incoming administration of Alhaji Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya. True to his character, the outgoing Governor wants to use the visit to create an impression that President Buhari is in support of him and his actions and to also use it to further deplete the coffers with outrageous amount as cost of hosting the visitors. But we want to use this medium to call on the president to stay away from this attempt to rubbish his hard-earned reputation, which he has built over the decades.

We have it on good authority that the intention of the Dankwambo administration to invite the president for the commissioning of the projects is to score a cheap political point as he leaves office. But we say no to this kind of politics.

To us, as concerned people, the commissioning of these phantom projects is nothing but a jamboree, which President Muhammadu Buhari and Vice President Osinbajo should never be associated with let alone be the ones to carry out the commissioning. Once again, we, the Concerned people of Gombe State, call on the President and the Vice president not to waste their precious time to sully their names with this counter productive visit.

Signed:

Comrade Ayuba Hassan 08053811963
Aliyu Usman Chokalin Waja 0810 332 4797

Hon. Markus Gwandum
08032476614

For Concerned people of Gombe State.