By Gara Gombe Ahmad Shuaibu
Published by Alphapressmedia
Let me begin by putting one thing on record: I have my differences with Senator Danjuma Goje. He knows it, I know it, and many people know it.
But political differences should never prevent us from acknowledging reality.
And the reality today is that I take serious exception to the manner in which Senator Goje is being treated, particularly by some of the very people whose political and economic journeys he helped to shape.
Many of those working so hard today to diminish his political influence are themselves beneficiaries of the political structure he built.
That is where the problem begins.
WRONG DIAGNOSIS, BAD PRESCRIPTION
Senator Danjuma Goje is not a politician you simply wake up one morning and decide to destroy.
Whether one likes him or not, Goje has spent decades building political relationships, cultivating loyalty and developing a formidable network across Gombe State and beyond.
Therefore, any strategy designed to politically neutralise him requires serious political intelligence, careful analysis and an understanding of the forces that sustain his influence.
Unfortunately, what we are witnessing appears to be the opposite.
The diagnosis is wrong.
And when the diagnosis is wrong, the prescription will inevitably be bad.
Even worse, the treatment may strengthen the very political force it was intended to weaken.
YOU CANNOT ERASE POLITICAL HISTORY
In politics, ingratitude can sometimes be more dangerous than opposition.
The endless pursuit of money, power, influence and material possessions can make people forget where they came from and those who once opened doors for them.
Whatever disagreements anyone may have with Senator Goje, one fact is difficult to erase: he helped create political opportunities for many people.
Once Goje identified potential, he had a reputation for developing it. When he recognised loyalty, he rewarded it.
In simple terms:
GOJE REWARDS LOYALTY.
That philosophy helped him build a political family whose members eventually occupied important positions in Gombe State and at the national level.
Among personalities associated at different times with Goje’s political structure and influence are Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali, former Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, Hon. Usman Bello Kumo, Tanko Isyaku Gwamna, Dasuki Jalo Waziri, Hajiya Fatima Bello, Senator Haruna Garba, the late Yaya Bauchi, Hajiya Aisha Jibir Dukku, Hon. Inuwa Garba JJ, Rt. Hon. Sadik Kurba, Senator Abdullahi Idris, Ahmed Yayari and Dattuwa Hamma Adama.
And that list is far from exhaustive.
So the question is simple:
How do you casually destroy a politician whose political footprints are scattered across generations of leaders?
THE CONTRADICTION
I once came across a video in which Moses Kyari, a former APC Public Relations Officer and now Commissioner for Information, was quoted as saying:
“Mun kores hi a jam’iyya.”
“We have expelled him from the party.”
If that was indeed the position, then another question naturally arises:
Why send a reconciliation committee to Senator Goje?
Reconciliation over what?
If someone has supposedly been expelled, what exactly are you reconciling?
These contradictions expose the weakness of the strategy.
You cannot publicly declare someone politically irrelevant and simultaneously behave as though his continued participation is essential to the survival of your political structure.
HISTORY HAS A LONG MEMORY
There are also personalities whose political journeys cannot easily be separated from the Goje era.
Tanko Isyaku Gwamna, younger brother of Jamilu Isyaku Gwamna, is one example. His political rise included serving as PDP Treasurer and later Commissioner for Works during the Goje administration.
Today, political alignments have changed, loyalties have shifted and yesterday’s allies may find themselves standing on opposite sides.
That is politics.
But history should not be rewritten simply because political interests have changed.
I also remember the late Governor Abubakar Habu Hashidu with deep emotion. I was privileged to see him shed tears.
Hashidu was the first person in my life who gave me an opportunity to enter public service.
That experience taught me something important: political power is temporary, but political history has a very long memory.
GOJE IS MORE THAN A SENATE SEAT
This is why I find it interesting that some people appear to be losing sleep over speculation that the PDP could offer Senator Goje a Senate ticket.
Why the anxiety?
If you have already dismissed him politically, why should his next political destination matter?
If he has no electoral value, why the reconciliation efforts?
If his political structure has collapsed, why does every movement he makes generate political calculations?
The answer may be uncomfortable:
GOJE REMAINS A FACTOR.
His influence cannot simply be wished away.
Senator Goje has become more than an individual politician in the political history of Gombe State.
GOJE IS AN INSTITUTION.
GOJE IS A FORMIDABLE FORCE.
That does not mean he is politically invincible. No politician is.
But defeating a politician with decades of accumulated goodwill requires much more than insults, emotional reactions, propaganda or the mobilisation of political opportunists.
It requires strategy.
It requires patience.
It requires political intelligence.
Above all, it requires understanding exactly what makes that politician strong in the first place.
Otherwise, every attack intended to weaken him could end up increasing public sympathy for him and consolidating his political relevance.
That is why the current approach risks becoming a classic political miscalculation.
Wrong diagnosis.
Wrong prescription.
And potentially, the wrong outcome.
LAST LINE
To politically confront someone with the accumulated goodwill and network of Senator Danjuma Goje, you need BRAINS, NOT EMOTIONS.
Use your HEAD, NOT YOUR HEART.
And certainly, do not build your strategy around people whose political history could become the strongest evidence against the very campaign they are trying to prosecute.
TO BE CONTINUED.
