By Bola Saliu
Any time I said my governor, either at home with my family, or outside with friends, they automatically know that I am referring to no other person than the Executive Governor of Gombe State, who equally doubles as the Chairman of Northern Governors Forum, Governor Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaha, and the Dan Majen Gombe. Happy Birthday your Excellency!
Fantasy is a way of looking at life through the wrong end of the telescope, but you need a friend that will help look at life’s realities with the right binocular’s end, Inuwa Yahaya fits this kind of a friend and a big brother personality.
Let me elucidate. During the last general elections, I was in Gombe State. The kind of personal touch and warmth extended to me really straightened me up a bit. I was there for an editorial assignment, but when the chips were down, His Excellency, in a brief moment at the airport, said Bola, in two days, I have not read most of my messages and as you can see, the political dynamics has changed. And I got his message without him saying much. After the assignment and he won his election and was going back Abuja, he looked around and he didn’t see me. He immediately asked the Director Press Affairs to call me to join his flight to Abuja. Trust me; I was somewhere else in the state making a presentation to an agency of the State Government. Such is the affectionate nature of the seven times Governor of the Year award winner.
Inuwa Yahaya is a kind mentor, a gentle inspiratory shining example of excellence and a man of incredible experience. He is the only Governor in Nigeria that knows me and calls me by my first name anywhere we meet. Even though I am a public relations practitioner, I learnt a full dose more of human relations from the Gombe Governor. A couple of times, that I have had the privilege of being with him, you will learn a few things, one of such lessons is being wholesome in whatever you do.
One day at the headquarters of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, on a courtesy visit, after all the deliberations and it was photograph time, I tactically withdrew backwards. “Bola, so you don’t want to take pictures with me!” He got everybody smiling by his meekness and loving ways. And this is not to me alone. I bear witness that his staff and associates enjoy even much more.
When Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man and owner of one of the largest single train refineries in the world visited the Governor, yours truly was the first to fire Dangote the first question after the closed door meeting with the Governor, a good question though on what investment plans he has for the state. The Governor, Inuwa looked at my direction and gave a positive grin. You think he was done No! I didn’t hit the nail on the head and he quickly whispered something to his chief image maker, the next question brought laughter to his face. Such is the Governor’s attention to details and appreciation of wholesome delivery of tasks.
Whenever you’re looking for a highflyer, who doesn’t flaunt his wings pointlessly, look into the direction of Muhammadu Inuwa Yahaya. He is meek in manner, matured in discipline and grandeur in achievements. For Inuwa Yahaya, Gombe State will get full value for every kobo of it being spent. There’s no iota of profligacy in him. He is neither flamboyant nor encourage such in any of his cabinet members and mentees. You will not see a government official in Gombe state flaunting undue affluence. Inuwa as a man of figures, a chartered accountant, has with the instrumentality of automation, curb all leaking financial pipes in the state. Internally generated revenues are yearly on the higher level with the Inuwa administration.
Permit me to say that equitable distribution of the state benefits is evident in his policies, proprammes and projects. For instance, his road project 11-100 was designed in a way that all the 11 local government areas in the state each get a hundred kilometers of road each. The 1000 hectare Muhammadu Buhari Industrial Park, with all other factors of production already in place, is a magnet for any serious minded investor to be endeared to Gombe State. All the 114 wards recently got an upgrade of the primary healthcare centres. All the three senatorial seats in the state now have a specialist hospital with matching world class facilities and personnel handy.
He has steered the ship of Gombe state in a way that the next captain can operate on an auto pilot. He has laid a solid investment foundation that cannot be easily swept away by any political misadventure after him. He has cut investment collaborations from Africa to the Middle East, United Kingdom and the United States of America, all willing to come over to experience the favourable business clime of Jewel in the Savannah.
He has given Gombe state a 10-Year development plan, the first ever in the history of the State. He has led Gombe State in securing many firsts. First Gombe State investment Summit –Go-Invest, Best in the Ease of doing Business, Best in Universal Health Coverage, Best and Most Digitally Compliant State, Best efforts in returning of out of school children back to school, Safest State Northern Nigeria among many other achievements. Lest I forget, with his untiring visits to the Presidential Villa and personal resourcefulness, the Kolmani Oilfield Exploration Projects has brightened the prosperity skyline of Gombe State as it will soon join the elite club of oil rich States in Nigeria.
A man of peace and welfare, Inuwa will personally ensure that all the palliative goodies get to the less privileged in the society. He monitors distribution of such oftentimes personally. His social welfare programmes cover both genders while not neglecting the youths and the physically disadvantaged. If he does this to the general public, you can then imagine his inner circle of staff and associates.
Gombe State is the only state government house that I can come in and go out without any encumbrances of security procedures. I am well known and always most warmly accorded the status of a friend of the state. Like the DG Press will say, ‘Bola namu’ meaning our own Bola.
It will therefore be a great disservice spiced in ingratitude, not to share in the joy of Governor Inuwa Yahaya’s birthday celebrations.
I celebrate a man who came well prepared for the leadership of his state. “I did not come to become governor blind folded; I came well prepared for the task of governance, he once said. Facts and figures speak eloquently in his favour in this regard.
Governor Muhammadu inuwa Yahaya is a man of many parts. None of these parts is lacking in excellence and humaneness. There are plenty fond memories of moments with Governor Inuwa. He is meticulous to fault and finicky about finishing.
You have touched so many lives with joy. You deserve to have your wishes come through. The world is more colourful with your qualities. You have guided men and institutions through the dark places of the world into their finest moments with your contagious excellent spirit, pushing everyone to be better than you met them, causing them to reach for the stars.
You have accomplished amazing results with the meager resources, all by pushing yourself harder and harder until the podium of victory becomes glaring to all. It is this commitment that wins my admiration for you. Your commitment and devotion has not gone unnoticed. Many awards, laurels, commendations from national and international for you a are the cheers you need to soar higher than ever before.
Today I am sending you a portion of the love you gave to us all, over the years. Be stronger and more confident as you face the challenges ahead in governance and other spheres
Count the experiences you have, not your age. Count the incredible experiences you have had not the mistakes you have made.
Happy birthday to my personal governor, the one who goes before us and blazes the trail for success, go ahead and reach for the stars, because that is where your place is.
