The Gombe State Governor, Muhammadu Yahaya, has explained that he modelled his policies after that of his Kaduna State counterpart, Nasir el-Rufai, to ensure development in Gombe.
The governor stated this on Saturday at the commissioning ceremony of the Gombe Geographic Information Systems service centre.
The event was the groundbreaking ceremony of 550 units of Shongo homes and gardens under the family homes fund in Gombe State.
According to Yahaya, his relationship of 32 years with El-Rufai transcended politics and political ties, describing it as father and son.
He said, “A brother, friend, colleague, but above all an inlaw. I have been married to his niece, Asma’u, for 32 years now and all this while there is nothing else than a brotherly and fatherly relationship that has come to the fore. Little wonder, a lot of people here used to say El-Rufai is my model, that I copied a lot from El-Rufai.
“It’s not bad for any son to copy from his uncle (father), especially the good deeds of his uncle. I’m very proud of you, your Excellency and no matter what, nobody will doubt and history will tell you that you are among those leaders that transformed this country, saved and built a foundation on which proper development will be laid for generations yet unborn to come and live happily.”
He noted that replicating El-Rufai’s strides would encourage development across board, adding, “I’m sure copying from you, not only in Gombe State but elsewhere, will be able to uplift humanity and move forward together with the rest of the developed world.”
Yahaya assured GOGIS of his continued support towards achieving its set objectives.
“I’m happy to say that the successes recorded in GOGIS will continue because we have the political will to sustain and support GOGIS and take it forward,” he said.
On his part, El-Rufai commended Yahaya for inviting him for the commissioning, expressing hope that in the next two years, the ideals of the organisation would have been achieved in reorganising land acquisition in the state.
“It’s important to know how much land you have, to allow development and increase revenue”, he observed.
Source: The Punch
