By Kabiru Usman Hassan, PhD
When the 16th-century president of the United States, Abraham Lincoln gave democracy the famous, widely accepted, and glorified definition of democracy as a government “of the people, by the people, and for the people.”, I literarily suspect he had my Gombe State Governor in mind.
Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahya’s venture into politics and his subsequent victory at the polls which culminated in him becoming our current governor is defined by an avalanche of down-to-earth admiration and readiness to bring government and dividends of democracy to those who are meant to be its recipients – the masses.
People may try to jettison the truth, and they may likewise try to distort facts to achieve some political points in their desperation to get access to the coffers of our State’s treasury for their overtly selfish reasons, but facts do not lie. Facts are realities that are always there beckoning the people to come and see them, and we will always be there to expose their inanities and reaffirm the governor’s stand as people-oriented.
Saying this and reaffirming this is imperative, as we are now in the season of political maneuvering and manipulation, and such hollow and brazen-faced exhibition of desperation through mischiefs by agents of destabilization and retrogression should be expected.
The growth and development of any society are tied directly to the society’s investment in the health, educational and economic stability sectors, and most importantly the state of security. Looking at the mentioned indices, it is easily discernible to all and sundry that these are the eminent areas of focus of the incumbent governor of the State. Without a doubt, these too are the primary needs of the common people, people who are the bedrock of democracy, people who give democracy its evergreen credence as it was aptly defined by the greatest advocate of democracy himself, Abraham Lincoln.
In the health sector, Inuwa has not only renovated and equipped with state-of-the-art facilities all the general hospitals in the state, but he has also likewise constructed standard health care centers in all the 114 wards of the Gombe state, including strengthening the delivery capacity of other bigger hospitals in each of the zones.
This is equally replicated in the educational sector with over 300 ( three hundred) schools either constructed or renovated. These are not all, to make easy access to these facilities possible for people who are their primary targets and beneficiaries, roads are being constructed in every nook and cranny of the state, including very remote places, which are hitherto considered difficult to access.
In the security, economy, and social empowerment sectors, the story is not different; it is success upon success as always, and the evidence and testimonies abound everywhere. My governor is true, the people’s governor. The people at the grassroots, who are the greatest determinants of victory at the polls, know, see and benefit from these facts, and I know for sure that as we face the 2023 general elections, the masses have a clear picture of voting Inuwa again over the Merchant ( Merchants ) of fake news, social media, and TV propagandists.
Dr. Kabiru Usman Hassan is the Director General of the Gombe Geographic Information Systems (GOGIS)
