It is not for nothing that former United States President William Jefferson Clinton popularly known as Bill Clinton is widely regarded as the greatest political strategist of his generation given the fact that he broke the Republican Party’s domination of the U.S Presidency from 1980-1992 to install his Democratic Party in the White House and also in charge of the U.S Senate and House of Representatives, a feat unprecedented since former Democratic President Lyndon Johnson’s landslide victory over Republican candidate, Senator Barry Goldwater in 1964. Candidate and later President Bill Clinton read the mood of the America people and deciphered that they were ready for decisive change and were tired of the old, outmoded and moribund manner of running government business and were ready for a radical break from the past.
Thus his record breaking policy agenda led to his landslide second term victory in 1996 which among other achievements led to the reform of the welfare system, the passage of the federal crime bill, the assault weapons ban bill and the balancing of the federal budget, a feat that had never been achieved in the past 20 years before he assumed the presidency.
Coming nearer home, another political master strategist ensconced in Gombe state succeeded in sweeping the 2019 gubernatorial elections, defeating the then incumbent Governor’s PDP candidate, while ensuring the victory of the APC candidates in all National Assembly and House of Assembly seats, a development that has never occur in the history of Gombe state.
Indeed that political colossus is no other eminent personality than His Excellency, Alhaji Muhammad Inuwa Yahaya, Executive Governor of Gombe state who engineered a political revolution of sorts transforming his beloved state from a PDP dominated enclave to a one-party state controlled by “All progressive congress, the APC, a party committed to transforming the lives and live hood of the people, particularly the downtrodden and oppressed, for the better.
Even though he was illegally rigged out and denied of his momentous victory in the 2015 gubernatorial elections, Governor Inuwa Yahaya remarkably bounced back and took over the reign of state administration by a combination of strategic thinking, masterful planning, superior co-ordination, holistic co-operation and courageous resolve to beat back the atavistic and reactionary forces stunting the growth, progress and development of the Jewel of the Savannah.
Governor Inuwa Yahaya had his sights fixed on not only delivering the Gombe Government House, but also the Senate, House of Representatives and House of Assembly seats so that the APC will have a solid and irrefutable majority that would allow for the smooth and seamless implementation of crucial policies and program of the Party and government.
As President Bill Clinton before him, an intuitive Governor Inuwa Yahaya was aware that if there was no unity or plurality, the task of governance would be difficult divisive, messy and incoherent thus leading to non-delivery of campaign promises to the people.
So Governor Inuwa Yahaya spent the entire four years between 2015-2019 to mobilize, organize and congregate a formidable mass following of men, women, youths, market unions, students, professionals, political activists and other crucial segments of society, a New Frontier movement akin to that of former U.S. President John Fitzgerald Kennedy that swept the Democratic Party into power in 1960 after years of Republican tutelage. Candidate Inuwa Yahaya continued to traverse the length and breadth, nooks and crannies of Gombe state mobilizing hundreds of thousands of grassroot voters in his determined drive to alter the course of his history and transform the destiny of the state for the better, if not the best. To cut a long story short, after the close of the 2019 general elections, Governor Inuwa Yahaya and his allies and partisans had managed to install APC candidates in all the senate, house of representatives and house of assembly seats in Gombe state and was thus poised for a historic vindication and validation of his long awaited action plan agenda.
Indeed Governor Inuwa Yahaya has not disappointed and has actually delivered tremendously and his campaign promises in the health, education, roads, rural development, water supply, housing transport, power, ICT, agriculture, manpower development and women and youth empowerment sectors. With his transformational agenda, Governor Yahaya has re-established Gombe state as the economic, industrial and Agricultural hub of the North- East region, a position that if had lost in the past years as a result of gross mismanagement and misadministration by the ancien regime.
The political leviathan has bequeathed crucial lessons to be leant by those that aspire for political office, public service or corporate power in that they have to crucially connect with those that they come in contact with, no matter their level, status or position. Governor Inuwa Yahaya has managed to pull off his 2019 political avalanche by crucially connecting with the Gombe masses, a refreshing departure from the elitist and haughty disposition of the Hassan Dankwanbo administration that seemingly looked down on the people regarding them as a burden or parasites rather than as partners in progress.
Also Govenor Inuwa Yahaya consults widely before taking a position or deciding on a policy of program, he looks before he leaps unlike the past administration that embarked on gargantuan white elephant projects that had no relevance on the people’s wellbeing. Conversely Governor Yahaya does not carry out policy decisions that have no bearing on the people’s welfare.
Trenchantly, Governor Inuwa Yahaya is firm and principled, he does not believe in cronyism or favoritism and is a fair and honest broker: he gives to whom is due, does not discriminate and also cultivates a level playing field were all and sundry can compete, contest and excel unlike the past administration were favoured acolytes, associates and cronies of the governor ruled the roost, cornering major contracts and developmental projects many of which were abandoned after the collection of huge mobilization fees. Like former U.S Presidents, Franklin Roosevelt, John Kennedy, Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama, Governor Inuwa Yahaya has come to epitomize and embody the hopes, aspirations and destinies of millions of the disadvantaged, the distressed, the disenfrachanised and the disinherited of society and like them has managed to uplift their status and position for the better notwithstanding tremendous opposition from the few privileged elite.
As Gombe state, the nation and the world marks the Holy Eid-El-Kabir festivities, Governor Inuwa Yahaya no doubt is adding more grease to his elbows for further socio-economic, infrastructural and developmental exploits for the crucial days and years ahead.
By Abdullahi Adamu Misilli
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