2019: Dankwambo will not turn down PDP ticket’

AS agitations for the 2019 presidency hots up among the leading political parties in the country, it has been declared that Gombe State Governor, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, who is aspiring to get the ticket of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to run for the presidency will never turn down the party ticket for the fear that eligible Northerners will vote for President Muhammadu Buhari of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC).

The declaration was made by the Senior Special Assistant, Press, to the Governor, Junaidu Usman Abubakar in a statement signed and issued to Journalists Friday denying an alleged report that Hassan Dankwambo has said that he will turn down the PDP presidential ticket because eligible Northerners will assuredly vote for President Buhari in the 2019 general elections.

According to the statement, the assertion is “false, baseless, unfounded and it is strictly the handiwork of mischief makers who will look for any silly way to malign Governor Dankwambo in order to jeopardize his ambition to lead the country”.

The statement further contains that, “Dankwambo never made such an assertion anywhere in the world. It is an established fact that Governor Dankwambo is one of the top 10 public figures who respects President Buhari beyond measures.

President Buhari doubles as his father and his Commander-in-Chief and has enjoyed very regard from Talban Gombe long before he became the President.”

“Governor DanKwambo is a thorough-bred PDP member even as a professional and a technocrat who diligently served three different Presidents after his appointment as a card-carrying member of the party.

He is forever grateful to the party and will never do anything to bring disregard to the party”, the statement further contained.

It also explained that “Talba was appointed Accountant-General of the Federation (AGF) by President Olusegun Obasanjo and further served Late President Umar Musa Yar’adua and President Jonathan Goodluck meritoriously before he was elected as the Governor of Gombe state in a record-breaking election in 2011”.

“He has never decamped or allied with the opposition for any political reason even when the Buhari political tsunami swept across Northerner Nigeria at the 2015 polls – Dankwambo stood firm and returned as Governor of Gombe state with overwhelming votes”, the statement boasted.

Junaid Abubakar according to the statement stated that “Gombe State has been one of the fastest developing states in Nigeria with the positive and progressive governance of Dankwambo.

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No state compares to the infrastructural development of Gombe State in the last seven years. No politician in Gombe State, the North or Nigeria has the national insight of Dankwambo today as his days as Accountant-General of the Federation has proven. He brought about very laudable unique and outstanding positive reforms to that office”.

“On assumption of office, he started by innovating the single treasury account (STA) process and the completion of the Treasury House which was under construction to give all Public Accountants a pride to call theirs.

Today the Treasury House stands out in Abuja as one of the most magnificent edifice in the nation’s capital. He has brought up-to-date financial statements of the federal government which were in arrears.

As at the time he left office, the financial statements of the federal government were up-to-date. All arrears of financial statements had been prepared, audited and published”, he further explained.

The Media aide in the statement further stated that “The revolution in the public sector towards a cashless economy began with Talban Gombe, bringing about the implementation of the e-payment system which was completely a new innovation in the financial services of the government.

Talban Gombe’s achievements and contributions to the development of the state was part of the strongest points for the campaign and still is a reference by his party the PDP.

His government was prided by the PDP and many Nigerians as “the face of good governance in Nigeria.”

He concluded that “His performance won him several nicknames like ‘Talban Aiki’, ‘Super Governor’ ‘Tomorrow’s President’ and many more accolades.

It is within his right to seek for any electoral position within the confines of the constitution and therefore no amount of blackmail and falsehood will deter him from answering his peoples’ call.

He has done so well and he is generally acclaimed as the man with the magic touch in governance”.