SIR: The desperate tone of an article with the above headline by one Hassan Gimba Ahmed clearly shows that Ahmed was given a script to act. It was bereft of substance and confuses opinion journalism with the journalism of reportage. There is no advantage in dignifying that solitary holler with a response.

There is no question that an APC wind is blowing across the country. Given the failure of the PDP-led federal government, this new alliance will surely make the greatest impact as major opposition forces join hands together to provide a credible alternative for millions of hapless Nigerians.

It is clear that in this attempt to bring change to Nigeria in 2015, the All Nigeria People’s Party (ANPP), one of the parties in the opposition merger called APC, has played a very active role. And because Yobe State is an ANPP state, its governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Gaidam continues to play a very prominent role in ensuring that the APC got the kick-start it needs to launch on a successful note.

Contrary to Gimba’s laughable claims, Governor Gaidam enjoys a groundswell of support across Yobe State. Gimba’s own reference to PDP stalwarts moving into Gaidam’s ANPP and being personally received and welcomed by him is pointer to the governor’s popularity. Where he got it wrong was his claim that the decampees to the ANPP were all former members of the ANPP who went to the PDP and then returned.

But more remarkable is the fact that some of the decampees were actually in the ANPP but left for the PDP before they returned to the ANPP under Gaidam. As many of them said, they left the ANPP first because of issues relative to their constituencies. While in the PDP, they saw confusion, ego and a run-away, egregious ambition, which has power, and not integrity, as the be-all and end-all of its focus. So, they fled back home now that the house is reorganised under a caring and humble leader. Poet Hafeez Shirazi said in one of his oft-quoted lines, ‘I went in search of heaven, did roam, return and find my heaven is here at home’.

Across Yobe State, from Dapchi to Dokshi and Jakusko to Dakasko, ordinary people know that Governor Gaidam is a leader they can trust. It really doesn’t matter that a lone voice in the media has tried repeatedly, albeit unsuccessfully, to show that Governor Gaidam is not who the people knew him to be.

Regardless of the boundless frustration of those bent on historical revisionism, Governor Gaidam will continue to forge ahead with the mandate that the people of Yobe State have entrusted him with. Gaidam and the Yobe ANPP are valuable assets to the APC. Those who know the underpinnings of the APC and those working to ensure its success know this much.

•Yaya Jajere

Yobe State University, Damaturu