The presidential aspirations of Gombe State Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo may suffer a setback following the planned defection of his younger brother, Buhari Mohammed Dankwambo popularly called (BHD), and another strong supporter of the Governor, Auwal Abdullahi Gafakan Akko to the All Progressives Congress (APC).

While confirming the development to Journalists in Gombe on Wednesday, Buhari Dankwambo said he has concluded all plans to defect to the APC saying that what is delaying the public declaration is the insistence by some APC stakeholders that the event should be colourful since he is coming to the party with a large number of supporters.

A source close to the family said that Buhari has played a major role in the course of drumming up support for his elder brother by spending a lot of resources in mobilizing people across the state during the re-election of Dankwambo in 2015 after which he alleged that the elder brother neglected him.

Meanwhile, Auwal Abdullahi Gafakan Akko a heavyweight supporter of Governor Hassan Dankwambo in Akko local government area of the state has also dumped the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the State.

While reacting to the defection of Gafakan Akko, the former Secretary of PDP in Pindiga ward of the local government, Adamu Mamman, who is also following him to the All Progressives Congress, described the defection of Auwal, and his thousands of supporters as the end of the PDP in Akko LGA of the state.

“Gafaka Akko is vibrant politician within and outside the state, his defection would not only affect PDP but will equally paralyze the activities of the PDP in the state and Dankwambo’s Presidential campaign,” Adamu said.

He added that “The PDP chieftain defection to APC has drawn the attention of hundreds of his supporters to join him, even though he is yet to receive the APC membership card but there are series of meetings to receive him into the party.”

Adamu Pindiga who did not hide his feelings said that the cordial relationship between Alhaji Auwal Abdullahi and Governor Hassan Dankwambo has failed to yield positive impact even as he said that Abdullahi did wonderfully well to ensure that Dankwambo was re-elected for a second tenure in the 2015 governorship election.

It could be recalled that Akko local government area is one of the local government areas that determine the chances of winning an election in the state and the mass defection of PDP supporters to the APC may definitely change the tide in 2019.

•Text (excluding headline) sourced from a Tribune report

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