From Ali Abare, Gombe

A stalwart of the opposition All Progressives Congress (APC), Alhaji Abubakar Muazu has accused Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo of abandoning his responsibility and leaving Gombe State “on auto pilot.”
Muazu, who, until recently, was a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) made the accusation last Saturday, and alleged that “there is no visible leadership in the state and, as such, the state is drifting on auto pilot.”
The former PDP state youth leader further accused governor Dankwambo of running “an autocratic regime with nobody knowing what is happening in the state.
“The state government is autocratic, not democratic. You must talk to people, you must be responsible to people, it is not a matter of locking yourself up in your house and leaving the people in the dark. It is the people who voted you into that office, so, you must be responsible to them; you must attend to them, listen to them,” he reiterated.
On why he defected to the APC, Muazu said as a politician, he found it imperative to leave the PDP.
“If you see people leaving a ruling party to pitch tent with the opposition, it tells you something is wrong.
“In politics, there is no permanent interest. Party politics is a platform that can be used to capture power as well as contest election.
“In 2015, I was in PDP but, we voted for Buhari, not APC, because, that time, we needed change as a result of insecurity in the North East, in particular. We needed someone who could tackle the threat of Boko Haram.
“Now that Buhari is in power and the PDP is in serious crisis at the national level and at the state level, the party is not doing well because there is no functional leadership. Anybody who wants to contribute his quota must first belong to a political party.
“The only platform one can use to give meaningful contribution is the APC. We want to assist the APC government, at the centre, to accelerate development in our region.
“We want to capture power from the PDP because we realise that, if we remain in opposition with the Federal Government, we may miss out on some needed incentives to move the state forward” he explained.
On the crisis rocking the APC in Gombe, Muazu, who is believed to be warming up to contest the governorship in 2019, said it is normal to have crisis within a political party.
“Members will certainly have their differences, but, they will eventually find ways to resolve issues.
“However, the crisis in PDP is far deep-rooted, unlike that of the APC, even at state level.
“By the PDP constitution, the governor is the leader of the party. Before I left the party, if you ask me who is the chairman of PDP?
“I don’t know. Party officials don’t operate in their offices because they don’t meet; it is only the governor and some few people who take decisions.
“There is no visible party activity in the state. If you remain in the PDP, there is no assurance of a level-playing ground.”
“For the APC, it’s to be expected that once a party loses an election, there is bound to be reorganisation.
“But, definitely, people on the ground are in APC and the national headquarters has resolved to address the issue by wading into the crisis in Gombe.
Reacting to Muazu’s allegations, Gombe State PDP Chairman, Barrister Joel Jagafa dismissed it as the ranting of a loser.
“ Muazu has no right to speak on behalf of the PDP. He lacks the forum; let him talk only about his new party” Joel said.
On the gale of defections hitting Gombe PDP, he said those leaving the party lack the relevance to affect PDP chances in the 2019 general elections.
“Check out those leaving the party, what were they previously contributing to the party? Nothing!” he stated.