By Chima Azubuike
Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, on Saturday apologised to Christian faithful in the state.
The governor, who didn’t state what he was apologising for exactly, said as human beings who are capable of erring he thought it imperative to apologise and seek a fresh start.
He made the plea during an interactive meeting organised by Christian Association of Nigeria, Gombe state chapter, and held at the banquet hall Government House.
Our correspondent reports that there are audio-visuals, letters circulated in public space suggesting that the governor is a hater of the faith, urging faithful to abandon him on March 11 2023.
However, some of the grouses against the administration include selection of Mai Tangle stool, confirmation of Beatrice Iliya as Chief Judge amongst others.
The governor reiterated that elections should be devoid of sentiments rather, “it should be achievements based and infrastructural development that has direct impact to the people as a guiding consideration.”
He equally apologised to Christian community for any wrong doing done to them and promised not to repeat it at the second tenure of his administration if elected into office.
While appreciating the people for giving him their mandate in 2019 enumerated some of his administration’s achievements to include; provision of quality healthcare facilities, educational upliftment, road infrastructure and above all peace and security that are prevalent in the state and others.
The governor noted that at the assumption of office in 2019, he inherited accumulated huge debt and decayed infrastructure across all sectors which necessitated his administration to take drastic measures towards addressing them within the first term.
He also called on the Christian community to vote him again for sustainability of development of the state.
He used the occasion to encourage the electorate to come out en masse to vote for APC’s candidates in the forthcoming elections to align the state with the government at the centre in view of the inherent advantages contained therein.
Earlier, the Director- General APC Campaign Organisation, Zubair Umar, said the interactive meeting was informed by the need to offer clarifications on certain misconceptions and perceptions about the State Governor and the administration and appealed to the gathering to be honest in their contributions.
On his part, the Secretary to the State Government, Professor Ibrahim Njodi, appreciated the Christian community for turning out in numbers for the meeting and admonished them to disregard all forms of negative audio-visual messages driven by sentiments going round media space.
Also speaking, the North East CAN Chairman, Rev. Abare Kalla, commended the foresight of the governor for convening the meeting as well as his frankness while addressing perceived misconceptions and also asking for forgiveness of the Christian community for any wrong doing either by him or his administration’s policies and programmes.
The Christian community at the end of the interactive meeting unanimously agreed to forgive the governor and pledged to work assiduously towards the re-election bid of the Governor for a second term.
