Gombe Network Rises In Defence Of Transport Minister

SAN FRANCISCO, December 13, 2013, (THEWILL) - A breather came the way of Minister of Transport, Senator Idris A. Umar, who has been in the public sphere in the recent months over an allegation of profligacy by his political opponents, as a pressure group, Gombe Network for Good Governance (GNGG), has risen to his defence asking his attackers to stop 'the distraction.' Coordinator of the group, Mohammed Ahmed Yidikawu, in a statement at the weekend said his group was stunned and alarmed by a certain orchestrated and unnecessary campaign of calumny mounted by those they called Abuja-based politicians of Gombe State extraction 'against the person of the Hon. Minister of Transport, Senator Idris A. Umar, designed and sponsored by their arrow head who, over the years, has been suffering from self-inflicted physical and physiological trauma.' The GNGG, although did not give the name of the minister's leading critic in the statement, it however said that the critics is led by 'a well-known sadist enveloped by a feeling of superiority over others, the leader of this unholy alliance and his accomplices are very known to us. He takes pride in arrogating to himself the absolute monopoly of knowledge and wisdom of not only how to solve Gombe's socio-economic and political problems but for the entire country in general.' The GNGG also said it was attracted to the defence of the minister because of the need not to allow 'falsehood' told over time to assume the status of truth. 'We were compelled therefore to quickly react to some of the baseless accusations and speculations emanating from their camp mainly to stain the reputation of the Hon. Minister in order to avert the danger of having them succeed in pulling down yet another highly-placed Gombe indigene in government as was the case under the immediate past administration.' The GNGG further frowned at the media warfare against the transport minister and regretted that: 'For long, the minister's lead accuser has been finding it difficult to play a second fiddle in the political scheme of affairs of this country and always want to assume centre stage, the more reason why he constituted himself as a renegade in PDP and promoting an unsuccessful mission to look down on the person and office of Mr. President, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, For whatever reason, he neither trusts nor respects the office of Mr. President and is doing everything possible not only to recruit innocent and or willing tools to do his dirty job for him, but has also declared any loyalist of Mr. President as an open enemy to fight and destroy. It is for this reason that nowadays he beams his searchlight on the Hon. Minister in order to stain his reputation and pull him down using both the print, electronic and social media.' It also took exception to the allegation that the minister was on a spending spree to Gombe to dish out money to indigenes of the state to curry their support for the President and insisted that such a line of thought was not only warped, but a naïve way of thinking for they have failed to realise the fact that Mr. President already has a widespread support and acceptance throughout the state and therefore the people do not require any form of inducement to that effect. 'Moreover, even, the mammoth crowd that turned out recently to welcome Mr. President to Gombe during the second North-East economic summit, is enough a testimony of his popularity and acceptance. 'Not only that, they have also embarked on a smear campaign to tarnish the image of the Hon. Minister using their paid agents to pick holes in whatever the Hon. Minister is doing either at home or in the office with a view to making an issue out of it.' The GNGG, however expressed gratitude to 'the general public for their concern and positive reactions towards these mischief and false alarmists, we wish to once again alert all progressive minds in Gombe State and the nation at large to beware of the nefarious acts of politicians such as this. We also would like to appeal to both the print, electronic and social media to discountenance such bare-faced lies and falsehoods whenever they approach them for the good of our young state and the nation in general.' They assured the Gombe indigenes that 'in as much as we understand the Hon. Minister as a peace-loving and broad-minded fellow, he would at all times, be pre-occupied in concentrating on his job and to support Mr. President NOW and beyond 2015. This he has never pretended about in both his words and actions. Equally important to him was to work tirelessly to ensure that the incumbent Governor of Gombe State, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan DanKwanbo, contests and returns to office in 2015 to continue his good work. This is a project which the conspirators also abhor.'