The Association of Non-Governmental Organisations in Gombe State has announced its newly elected officials, marking a significant milestone for the organisation. The new leadership is poised to drive positive change and promote development in the state.
Announcing the result, Chairman of the election committee Najib Sani, said most of the positions were unopposed, noting that the committee decided to organise the poll to validate the offices.
“So that members can express their choices through the ballot papers, many showed their support through the ballot even though the positions were unopposed,” he said.
Explaining further Sani noted that 36 ballot papers were printed, saying it was printed due to the number of financial members of ANGO, “So we printed only 36 out of which 23 cast their votes representing 63.89 per cent of the total registered voters,” Sani added.
The newly elected officials are led by Bachama Yusuf as Chairman, with Idris Maigari Lawanti serving as Vice Chairman. Yahaya Mohammed takes on the role of Secretary, supported by Farida Mohammed Dunama as Assistant Secretary. Joshua Stephen Kenan will oversee finance and administration as Director Finance and Admin.
Ishaku Adamu has been elected as Director PWDs, while Martha Daniel will serve as Director Legal. Ishaku Yadda Garba will lead youth engagement initiatives as Director Youth Engagement. Alfred Tugan has been elected as Internal Auditor, and Ibrahim Manga was elected to oversee monitoring and evaluation as Director M&E.
Jika Wunako will serve as Director Information, with Danjuma S. Ibrahim responsible for organising and coordinating events as Director Organising. Yelwa Abdullahi was elected as Director Health, Halima A. Mahdi as Director Education, and Gloria Usman as Director Gender.
Yusuf, the Chairman-elect, in his address described the poll as the first election ever conducted in the history of the Civil Society umbrella in Gombe State.
“And so today, history is made, and a statement made. This is a testament of resilience, determination, purpose and focus, sacrifice, and most importantly, unity and collective drive for the good of all. And we give God Almighty all the glory and the honour, He who owns all, and gives to all at will, by His mercy, and power,” he said.
He lauded the outing acting Chairman for his efforts towards protecting the interest of the association, saying “Let me use this juncture to appreciate and thank most sincerely, the members of the Executive Council, under the able and loving leadership of the acting Chairman – Idris Maigari Lawanti, for staying firm and united especially since April 2024 when the journey of transformation and consolidation of ANGO began. In-spite the challenges, the turbulence, and sudden uncertainties, we all agreed in totality to remain focused and forge ahead, and by this difficult decision God helping us, today we are here, opening a new chapter for our collective platform ANGO, thank you, thank you for all the sacrifice.”
He acknowledged and appreciated the support, prayers and wise counsel of senior citizens in the association “our mothers here with us. Your encouragement, commitment, sacrifice and patience with us sure brought us this far, and we shall forever remain grateful, loyal, and sincerely submissive to your kind and wise counsel at all times and all the way. At this point, I will like to affirm my profound gratitude to the leadership of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities (JONAPWD) for nominating my candidature, and even purchasing my nomination form for the post of the Chairman, I will forever remain grateful, and i assure you that this solidarity has just begun.
“To all of us in the Civil Society In Gombe State, this is a time to remind ourselves that we all have responsibility to consolidate more, strategise better to face our ever increasing socio-economic and development challenges confronting our people and communities, especially the vulnerable. We must together harness all our strengths, expertise, resources, and goodwill in unity to deliver on our strategic mandate as the fourth Arm of our governance structure (after the Executive, the Legislature, and the Judiciary), and as the fourth tier (after the Federal, the State, and the Local Government) to ensure better and effective service delivery to our citizens,” he added.
Yusuf added, “In this new chapter of our collective efforts, we extend our hands of friendship, and in solidarity call on all our CSOs, CBOS, NGOS, CBAs, and citizens’ formations across our communities in all our 114 Wards in our 11 LGAS, and across the North-east, and beyond to work together as one big family and rise up to the very occasion of putting people first in all our endeavours the very essence of our legitimacy.
“Going forward, we shall continue with our wider consultations within the Civil Society, and other critical stakeholders including the MDAs, Development Partners, Security Agencies, and Communities’ structures with the view to further reinforce strategic collaborations and partnerships so as to consolidate on our gains so far, and foster a more inclusive and accountable Civil Society In Gombe State.”
