Gombe State Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Dankwambo, has dismissed a speculation that the mammoth crowd that received Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, at the Gombe Stadium,
recently, was rented.
The 12, 000-capacity stadium was filled to the brim, with many people climbing on walls and other unconventional places to catch a glimpse of the former
Vice President.
Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant on Press Affairs, Alhaji Junaid Usman Abubakar, Dankwambo said he was too busy with many activities to think of renting a crowd.
“Look, the governor is the coordinator of Atiku Campaign Organisation in the North-East, and he is a senatorial candidate in Gombe. So what time would he have to be renting crowd to receive Atiku?
“Besides, we learnt that those who thronged the stadium and its environs to receive Atiku were over 14,000, and Gombe is the second least paid state in Nigeria in terms of federal allocations. So where is he going to get the resources to rent a crowd?”,
the aide asked.
Instead, Abubakar said the people of the state, on their accord, trooped out to receive the ex-VP, “because they are tired of a federal administration and its party that have not made meaningful impact in their lives. They wanted to bear their destiny in their own hands by being physically present to assure Atiku of their unflinching support.”
Abubakar said virtually everyone that came to attend the PDP campaign rally for Atiku in Gombe was armed with their Permanent Voter’s Card (PVC) as evidence of their commitment to
voting in Atiku.
He said the same thing played out in the other North-East states so far visited by the Atiku Campaign Organisation, in its
campaign drives.
He added that his principal wielded so much influence in the entire North-East, describing Dankwambo as a stable PDP leader and a great achiever in his eight-year rule as governor.
“At least you could see this in the unprecedented crowd that was recorded when Atiku came to Gombe. We are not joking here.
