Gombe APC accuses Ex-Gov Goje of sabotaging reconciliation process

The Gombe State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has accused former governor and Senator representing Gombe Central, Danjuma Goje, of sabotaging the reconciliatory efforts between himself and the state governor, Inuwa Yahaya.

The party, in a statement by its spokesperson, Moses Kyari, on Sunday particularly expressed dismay over what it described as a clear volte-face by Mr Goje on the reconciliation.

The APC National Reconciliation Committee headed by Abdullahi Adamu, recently met with both Messrs Yahaya and Goje separately, to reconcile them.

The crisis has caused tension in the state as the two leaders have failed to consolidate on the reconciliation efforts.

Reacting to a recent comment by the Goje faction which said the reconciliation done was only in line with Islamic reconciliation but that the political reconciliation had not yet arrived, the party described the comment as most unfortunate.

The APC said it believed one Mr Adamu Manga, who is a personal assistant (PA) to Mr Goje, had his principal’s nod to make the comment.

Mr Manga had, in that audio message, called on Mr Goje’s supporters to disregard the planned event and asked them to await the senator’s camp on the political reconciliation.

The party challenged Mr Goje to come out and debunk the announcement made by Mr Manga, who distanced his principal from the dinner being organised, an indication that the APC reconciliation efforts amount to a waste of time and therefore undermining the leadership of the party.

“We equally call on the APC national leadership to take immediate action to call Goje to order to avoid escalation of the misunderstanding and for their efforts not to go in vain.

“The Gombe State APC is appalled that Goje could do this through one of his aides, a close one at that. This amounts to a denial of the reconciliation done in Abuja and undermining the party leadership that has been trying to mend all disagreements in the interest of Gombe State and the party. At a time, we the chieftains of APC in Gombe were happy that the two stalwarts were reconciled; we were disappointed to hear such a thing from Goje.

“How could Goje, through Manga, say that the reconciliation done was an Islamic one and not political when the misunderstanding between him and Governor Yahaya had nothing to do with religion? To us, this is a show of treachery and insincerity in the whole process. Goje should come out and clear his name on this,” the APC said.

Efforts to reach Mr Goje to comment on the development were unsuccessful as he did not respond to calls and text messages this newspaper sent to him.