A seeming crisis is looming in the fold of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Gombe state as some aggrieved supporters of the party are planning to stage a protest at the APC Presidential and gubernatorial campaign secretariat, popularly known as APC Square unless their entitlement is settled.
According to a reliable source among the aggrieved supporters, the action is to draw the attention of the leadership of the party to the alleged refusal of the party campaign organization to pay them their rally allowances during the state gubernatorial flagging off held in Kaltungo last week.
The source who pleaded anonymity reliably told newsmen in Gombe that the aggrieved supporters, who are mostly women and youths are angry over alleged poor treatment that was meted to them by the officials of the party and campaign counsel during the campaign flagging off in Kaltungo alleging that they were not paid their allowances for the trip and feeding to Kaltungo last week Thursday.
The source claimed that “We mobilised and went to the rally hoping we will be paid, but the officials have told us that they converted the allowances to feeding, something they didn’t discuss with us beforehand. We deserved to be paid in Kaltungo considering the risk we took”.
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According to him some of the supporters at the rally were “contract supporters” not genuinely APC supporters as such they deserve their N2000 agreed allowance because according to him, “They promised they will pay us as soon as we reach Kaltungo, but until now we haven’t seen one Naira”.
He further said that they are planning to stage the protest to draw the attention of Alhaji Mohammed Inuwa Yahaya the party’s Gubernatorial candidate, with the hope that he will quickly intervene and correct the abnormalities saying, “We hope that the gubernatorial candidate can come to our rescue. We are responsible family men and women”.
All efforts made to have any of the party officials to speak about the matter proved abortive as during a visit to the APC state secretariat none of the officials was on seat while the staff met declined to comment.
Meanwhile the Director, Media and Publicity Committee of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Campaign Organization in Gombe state, Dahiru Hassan Kera, declared that the PDP will retain power in the state and also regain the Presidential seat because according to him, “Nigerians have now discovered that the APC is a political party founded on deceit”.
Hassan Kera also said that: “What happened in Kaltungo last week has opened the eyes of the people of Gombe. They have lost faith in the APC. They clearly saw the deceit of the APC and they are regretting.”
While calling on Nigerians not to be further deceived by the ‘security and anti-corruption’ slogan of the APC he said, “we are equally extending our invitation to all those in the APC who are frustrated by the party’s failure to deliver the goods. Anyone who is desirous of a return to the era of abundance and freedom under the PDP administration is welcome. The umbrella is big enough to accommodate all,” he said.
He also mocked the flagging off of the gubernatorial campaign of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC) in Gombe State as “the gathering of armature actors and a charade that will not yield any positive result” saying that the gathering was an action in futility as the people of Gombe state know who truly have them at heart.
Dahiru Kera added that the people of the State are good students of history and would not allow themselves to be bamboozled or intimidated by the power of the APC led Federal Government.
According to him, “Our people know those who are truly theirs and their political adversaries, they know Wolves in sheep’s clothing, as such they cannot be cowed or deceived by anybody”.
Hassan Kera further said that the people of Gombe State are a lot wiser and enlightened now than before adding that they know and will not allow politicians with questionable characters, who have ruined the State and entrenched the dreaded Kalare political thugs in the past to deceive them again.
He said, “We weren’t surprised to see the tiny attendance at the APC Gubernatorial flagged-off, people from other States as well as little known faces from Kannywood were the set of people at the Kaltungo event”.
He alerted the people of the State not to allow what he described as “elements with no scruples to come close to power”, stressing that they would definitely abuse it as they did before.
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“I’m calling on our people to be mindful of those who bred Kalare political thugs that wreaked havoc on the good people of Gombe State. It took concerted efforts by Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo to neutralize them. What the State needs now is the sustenance of this good gesture”, he emphasized.
Hassan Kera concluded that the people of Gombe will never forget the Kalare thugs that held sway in the State, killing, maiming and robbing innocent people in broad daylight until the coming on board of Governor Dankwambo who liberated the State from their grip.
It would be recalled that the APC recently launched its Governorship campaign in Kaltungo town, Southern zone of the State where the PDP is said to have its strongest base with the Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Boss Mustapha, Governors of Adamawa and Bauchi States, Jibrila Bindow and Mohammed Abubakar respectively among many other APC stalwarts within and outside the North-East in attendance.