By Shuaibu Teme
The original intention of the founding fathers of Gombe State was to have a state with a structure of twenty-four Local Government Areas as contained in the “Memorandum To The Presidential Committee On State, Local Government And Boundary Adjustment, on The Demand for the Creation of Gombe State submitted by GOMBE STATE MOVEMENT, January 1996”.
This was made very clearly after horse trading or critical negotiations between the two former Native Authorities of Gombe and Tangale-Waja, that Gombe Native Authority should have 14 LGAs and Tangale-Waja to have 10. This agreement became an article of faith until Gombe State was created.
In Tangale-Waja, for instance, the following areas were to emerge as Local Government Areas: Cham, Dadiya and Degri and Balanga from Balanga LGA making 4. Kamo-Awak, Tula, Pero-Chonge and Kaltungo making 4 from Kaltungo LGA. Billiri and Bore making 2 from Billiri LGA.
At that time there was no Shongom in the proposal. What informed the strategic reasoning of the Tangale-Waja leaders made up of Mr A.J Filiya, Malam Yakubu Musa and Malam Abubakar Gelengu to the intensive negotiations with their counterparts , Alh Abubakar Habu Hashidu, Ambassador Ali Gombe and Alhaji Lamido Chikaire from former Gombe Native Authority was the reduction in the level of margin of domination, which they have successfully done to only four (4).
The agreement had the following: Akko, Gona, Pindiga from AkkoLGA. Dukku, Duomayo, Malala from Dukku LGA. Deba, Bima, Yamaltu from Yamaltu-Deba LG. Nafada alone. Funakaye alone. Buba-Yero, Gombe from Gombe LGA. Kwami alone. Billiri and Bore from Billiri LGA. Cham, Dadiya and Degri and Balanga from Balanga Local Government Area. Kaltungo, Tula, Kamo-Awak and Pero-Chonge from Kaltungo LGA.
Expectations were high and the people were set to embrace the new structure of Gombe State. However, as people say, every politics is local. when Alh Abubakar Habu Hashidu became Governor, lacal politics took over and what our able A.J Filiya and co stood for was thrown over board. Scheming for absolute domination, rather than the marginal deliberately agreed upon started.
By 2001when Governor Hashidu created Local Area Councils, it jumped from 24 to 29 out of which Tangale-Waja had 10 only while Gombe had 19. as follows: GOMBE NA. Akko, Amada, Gona, Pindiga, Deba, Jara, Yamaltu-West, Yamaltu-East, Dukku, Duomayo, Jamari, Biwa, Funakaye, Ribadu, Nafada, Kwami-West, Kwami-East, Gombe-North and Gombe-South.
On it’s part, TANGALE-WAJA had these: Balanga, Billiri, Bore, Dadiya, Kaltungo, Kamo-Tungo Pero-Chonge, Shongom, Tula and Yamel LGAs. Thus, during Hashidu period, Tangale-Waja lost out Degri, from the original roadmap, while Gombe gained five from the original and added four from the new, creating almost absolute margin of nine.
Until the dissolutions of these Local Area Councils by Governor Goje in January 2004, development that had started taking place in these councils were arrested. The ray of hope raised by the National Assembly on the issues of States and Local Government Areas creation has once again aroused the people’s desires as indicated by the numerous memoranda submitted by the respective communities, particularly, in Tangale-Waja.
The pragmatic approach of His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Gombe State, Alh Mohammad Inuwa Yahaya on his intention to create Local Council Development Areas, has largely gone along way in assuaging the feelings of majority communities seeking for Local Councils. His Excellency has reduced the margin of domination from Hashidu’s nine to his own six.
From every indication, His Excellency has a guinuine concern for grassroots development in Gombe State. We sincerely hope that concerns raised during the public hearing last Friday will provide His Excellency, the opportunity to address left out areas in Tangale-Waja like Cham Chiefdom and Kamo-Awak as LCDAs, which would have reduced the margin to four, in tandem with what our leaders – AJ Filiya, Yakubu Musa and Abubakar Gelengu stood for, and for the general good of the entire Gombe State.
Teme, a Renowned Historian, Retired Principal and Deputy Director, writes from Dadiya, Gombe State.
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