…says reconciliation move jettisoned
Son Daniel, Abuja

Former Governor of Gombe State, Senator Danjuma Goje, has that the All Progressives Congress in the state is still in disarray because of the jettisoning of the peace move to reconcile warring factions.

Goje, a serving Senator who is suspected to be planning to defecting to the opposition People’s Democratic Party, bemoaned that the APC in the state would not make the required political impact if the different factions were not appeased and brought under one fold for the next election.

Senator Goje noted with concern the non-implementation of the decisions reached when the Abdullahi Adamu reconciliation committee met with stakeholders in Gombe in January this year.

The former governor in a statement signed by Ahmed Isa, said the jettisoning of the reconstruction move was capable of stifling the party’s success in next year’s elections.
The former governor said he was worried that more than three months after the peace meeting, no further steps had been taken to  advance the peace efforts, contrary to the resolutions reached during the peace parley.

The statement by Goje’s Media office made available to Vanguard on Sunday said: “As loyal and peace-loving party stalwarts of the party that contributed immensely to laying the foundation, building it, and leading it to victory in 2019, we want to state that jettisoning of the idea initiated to cement the cracks in the party will lead APC to nowhere but defeat come 2023.

“If this happens, no one should blame our leader and father, Senator Goje, who despite the ill-treatment meted out on him by those he brought to power, embraced the peace moves in line with Islamic Injunctions.

“Let no one be deceived, as it is, our beloved party is in disarray in Gombe State and this must be addressed for us to be able to maintain our leading role in the state. The party is grumbling and this explains the gale of defection and resignation being witnessed daily,” the statement signed by Ahmed Isa said.

It will be recalled that the National Reconciliation Committee of the party, chaired by Senator Abdullahi Adamu, had on the order of the Chairman of the party’s Carretaker Extraordinary Convention Committee, Mai Mala Buni, hosted Governor Inuwa Yahaya of Gombe State and the leader of the party in the state, Senator Danjuma Goje to a meeting on January 5, 2022.

At the meeting held at the residence of Senator Adamu in Abuja, it was unanimously agreed that the warring camps should bury their differences and the congresses conducted at wards, local government and state levels be looked into with a view of addressing the lop-sidedness in the exercise.

In attendance at the meeting included; the chairman of the National Chairman of the APC Caretaker/Extraordinary Convention Planning Committee and Governor of Yobe State, Hon. Mai Mala Buni, former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Yakubu Dogara, Senator Kashim Shettima, former governors and senators.

The apparent abandonment of the moves to appease the contending factions has fuelled suspicion that Goje, who is described as a strong political force in the party, is planning to defect to the PDP.