Foremost stakeholders of the ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP) in Guyuk local government area of Adamawa State have distanced themselves to a statement credited to the member representing Guyuk/Shelleng federal constituency, Gibeon Goroki saying that the lawmaker did not represent their yearnings, wishes and aspirations in the recent interview he granted some news outlets.
The federal legislator has in the interview accused Fintiri of betraying Christians by reneging an agreement to make a Christian the speaker of the state house of assembly.
Goroki similarly alleged that the governor had secretly moved against electronic transmission of results just as he levelled the governor as arrogant and autocratic who take relish in imposing candidates while always working against the interest of former vice president Atiku Abubakar amongst other accusations.
Rising from a stakeholders meeting, the member representing Guyuk constituency in Adamawa State House of assembly Adwawa Donglock, the caretaker chairman of Guyuk Local Government, Solomon Abafras and the DG campaign organization of Gibeon Goroki in 2019, Joshua Buba all distanced themselves from the statement as they said it lacks courtesy, decorum, finesse and substance.
In an interview with our reporter the member representing Guyuk state constituency in Adamawa State House of assembly Adwawa Donglock dismissed the position of the reps member as inconsequential, unwieldy and ignorant.
“To say the least, the statement Goroki made is careless and unfortunate. It is least expected from any leader worth his onions. Governor Fintiri is the leader of our party and unfortunately the lawmaker himself is a member of our great party.
“How Goroki throws decorum and decency to dance naked in a public square is still baffling to every member of our great party in Guyuk local government.
“For goodness sake those weighty accusations are not supposed to be made public as there are official protocols through which the lawmaker can reach out to the governor for moderation and reconciliation of interests. So in the face of the strange accusations against our governor, silence may be misconstrued as support for him. That is why we the stakeholders met and take this position,” he said.
Reacting to the issue of insecurity in the area, the lawmaker who applauded the governor for his numerous interventions, said accusing the governor of preventing lawmakers from presenting issues concerning the plight of their people in the house of representatives is childish.
“He made mention of insecurity and said he presented the plight of the people and the governor was not happy about that. Our governor can’t stoop so low to do that. The governor has been assisting the people whenever we witness attack and most of the times he personally pay visit to the affected areas.
“The governor usually ensures that security personnel are drafted on time. There was a time I compliant to the governor over fears of impending attack and the governor promptly drafted Nigeria Air force Jets to carryout surveillance around the mountainous areas of the local government.
“It means the governor has us in his heart. During one attack in Nyiwar village of Balanga local government of Gombe, I personally called the governor and told him that a village in Gombe is under attack. The governor didn’t hesitate to inform his Gombe state colleague and immediately soldiers were drafted to the scene.
“Leadership is all about providing security and attending to the welfare needs of the people and I can without hedging say the governor has done excellently well in this regard. I’m a living witness to that.
“After all the attacks the governor usually send relief items. So the accusations of Goroki are baseless and lack substance. He also brought religious issues. I want to say religious and politics can not be conflated as they are mutually exclusive. Only selfish individuals merged the two together.
“All of us the christians and Muslims swore by our holy books to be just to all manner of people. So I want to reiterate that what Goroki said was his personal views. He has also depicted that he is in full support of Atiku but what he said were against the political interest of Atiku because it is on record that the governor and the former vice president are supportive of one another. It is not right for people to bring issues that will pit the two leaders of the party against each other.
“When I read the news of Goroki’s interview, the first thing I did was to call the lawmaker to confirm whether he made those statements and he said yes he made the statements. But those statements are his personal views and did not in anyway reflect the choices, sentiments or preferences of our good people.
“We are not in support of what he said and we are solidly behind the governor. We are also grateful to the governor for what he did to our people and for the solid developmental strides he is bringing to our people. What he is saying does not reflect our yearnings but maybe the yearnings of Abuja people. He knows he did not talk on behalf of us,” Donglock said.
Also commenting, Solomon Abafras, the transition committee chairman of Guyuk Local Government who doubles as the flagbearer of PDP in the next coming local government election said, “I listened to what Goroki said with exasperation and disbelief.
“On behalf of myself as the leader of PDP in Guyuk and the good people of the local government, we condemn the assertion of the lawmaker in absolute terms. I want to say categorically that the statement reflects Goroki’s personal views and in no way the position of PDP in Guyuk local government.
“He did not consult us before going to the press and I distance the people of Guyuk from the unwarranted mudslinging and outright lies against our amiable governor. Because of the weighty allegations made by Goroki, we convened a meeting of PDP stakeholders in Guyuk and unanimously and vociferously condemn the lawmaker’s outrageous action.
” As responsible party men and women, our loyalty to the governor as the leader of the party is unquestionable and if there is anything which the governor didn’t do right as a human being, we expected that the lawmaker will reach out to him for amicable resolution. We believed in the fairness and leadership qualities of Fintiri and also noted that there are procedures of airing grievances of very sensitive issues but not through the media,” he said.
Also reacting to what he described as primitive display of arrogance, Joshua Buba, the Director General campaign organization of Gibeon Goroki in 2019 said I was surprised by the lawmaker’s unguarded vituperation and to say the least I’m not happy.
“The Goroki we went round to sell to the people is not the Goroki that spews hatred and lies against anybody let alone the governor. We never thought he will resort to this shameful conduct. We didn’t support him to challenge the governor or fight with the establishment but to bring dividends of democracy. The Governor has done marvellously well. I regretted supporting Goroki in the first place and felt ashamed of what he did. I will not support him again. We will replace him come 2023,” Buba noted.
