Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwanbo of Gombe State, a presidential aspirant on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has vowed to declare war on poverty and injustice if elected president in 2019. The Gombe governor maintained that he has not withdrawn from the 2019 presidential race and that he has deepened consultations in the 36 states of the federation.
Dankwanbo stated that prominent Nigerians were involved in the consultations with stakeholders across the country on his contest in the 2019 presidential election. He expressed the optimism that he would pick the presidential ticket of the PDP and proceed to defeat the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), including candidates of other political parties in the February 2019 presidential election.
Dankwambo was of the view that the first priority of a leader is ensuring the happiness of citizens by removing poverty and injustices from the polity.
Dankwambo considered it unfortunate that some people were spreading the misinformation that he has withdrawn from the presidential race.
He emphasised that Nigerians needs a leader with foresight and not celebrity president.
Dankwambo had accordingly declared: “I am running. And I will win. Extensive consultations have been done and Nigerians will soon see a wind of genuine renaissance blowing all over their land.
“I have come to the realisation that what Nigeria needs at this time is a man who can take the country on a journey to its best self, a man who can re-energise a people who have been so badly led that they have accepted a certain impotence as the reality of their lives”.
Declaring that he is the best man for the job, Dankwambo said: “Nigeria needs a man who can fire its imagination, release the people from shackles and make them blossom. I am the man. I don’t want to just be President; I want to be the leader of a 180 million-strong army of achievers.
“President is just a title. What Nigeria needs is a leader, a warrior on the front line in the fight against poverty and all kinds of injustices our people are suffering today.”
The Gombe State Governor would be completing his second term in 2019 and desirous to retire from the state to the Presidential Villa, Abuja, to pick a broader national appointment.
Dankwambo hosted former Vice President Atiku Abubakar in his office at the Government House, Gombe, who was in the state in continuation of his consultations for the 2019 presidential election and the race for the PDP presidential ticket.