”Justice too long delayed is justice denied.” Martin Luther King Jr.
In the twenty-seven years since Gombe State returned to democratic rule, one arithmetic has remained stubbornly, almost embarrassingly constant: whenever Gombe South produces the Deputy Governor, that honour has gone to only two of its four local government areas, Balanga and Billiri. Kaltungo tasted it once, decades ago, under a different party entirely. Shongom has never tasted it at all.
This is not an accusation. It is a record. And records, unlike sentiment, cannot be argued away.
The Pattern, By The Numbers
Since Gombe’s creation, the Deputy Governor’s seat has rotated as follows:
1. Sen. Joshua Lidani (Kaltungo) – 1999–2003, under Gov. Habu Hashidu (APP)
2. Dr. John Lazarus Yoriyo (Balanga) – 2003–2011, under Gov. Danjuma Goje (PDP)
3. David Albashi (Balanga) – briefly in 2011, until his death in a road crash months into the term
4. Tha’anda Jason Rubainu (Balanga) – 2011–2015, under Gov. Ibrahim Dankwambo (PDP)
5. Dr. Charles Iliya (Billiri) – 2015–2019, under Dankwambo (PDP)
6. Dr. Manasseh Jatau (Balanga) – 2019 to date, under Gov. Inuwa Yahaya (APC)
Strip away the party colours and one thing jumps out immediately: under the PDP specifically the party that has governed Gombe South’s political heartbeat for most of this democratic era, the Deputy Governor’s seat has never left Balanga and Billiri. Not once. Kaltungo’s turn came under the ANPP, a different party altogether, in a different political era. Shongom’s turn has simply never come.
This is not a coincidence. It is a pattern. And patterns, when left unexamined, harden into entitlement. It Was Never Meant to Be This Way
Gombe South itself has an informal but long-understood arrangement, one deputy governor, one senator, and two House of Representatives seats shared fairly across Billiri, Balanga, Kaltungo, and Shongom, so that no single LGA felt boxed out. Even political elders from Balanga have publicly admitted that this understanding broke down in 2023, when “selfish interests prevailed,” in the words of one former Deputy Governor from Balanga himself, leaving Billiri without any significant political office and igniting exactly the kind of grievance politics we are now seeing play out ahead of 2027.
If Balanga’s elders can openly admit the formula was abandoned to their own advantage, then Shongom’s marginalization is not a grievance dreamed up by outsiders. It is a documented failure of an arrangement everyone in Gombe South once agreed to honour.
Shongom Is Not a Small Player Being Sentimental.
Let’s deal with the population question directly, because it is often the first thing raised to wave away zoning arguments: Shongom’s population in the 2006 census stood at 151,520, spread across ten electoral wards. That is not a token figure, it sits comfortably in the range of LGAs that have already produced a Deputy Governor. Shongom is also home to Filiya, a community whose challenges including a serious girl-child school dropout crisis deserve the kind of policy attention that only a seat at the executive table can guarantee. It hosts the Lalaipido international cattle market, one of the zone’s most active trade hubs, and its farmers sustain the beans, rice, sorghum, and millet economy that feeds much of Gombe South. Shongom is not invisible. It has simply not been given the microphone.
Perhaps the strongest rebuttal to anyone who argues Shongom lacks the political weight or capacity for the Deputy Governor slot is this: Shongom has already produced a national-level power player, on the very platform now being asked to zone the seat correctly.
Rt. Hon. Fatima Binta Bello, a Shongom-born public servant who began as a class teacher, rose to Deputy Chairman of Shongom Local Government, then Commissioner under Governor Danjuma Goje went on to represent the Kaltungo/Shongom Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives on the PDP platform for two full terms (2011–2019). She rose to become Deputy Minority Whip of the House, the only woman in that assembly’s principal leadership at the time. In an era when the entire North-East lost nearly every PDP seat to the APC wave of 2015, Rt. Hon. Binta alone survived and was re-elected, a distinction that speaks for itself.
If a daughter of Shongom could hold her ground in the National Assembly’s leadership under the harshest political headwinds Nigeria’s North-East has seen in this democracy, the argument that Shongom “lacks the calibre” for a state executive seat collapses under its own weight.
Look at where PDP has already placed its 2027 tickets across Gombe South, and the imbalance becomes visible without any need for exaggeration:
1. Sen. Anthony Siyako Yaro – Balanga, Gombe South Senatorial District (incumbent, cleared to return)
2. Dr. Obed Paul Shehu – Kaltungo, House of Representatives, Kaltungo/Shongom Federal Constituency (incumbent, cleared to return)
3. Barr. Rambi Ibrahim Ayala- Billiri, House of Representatives, Balanga/Billiri Federal Constituency (newly affirmed candidate).
Balanga sits at the senate. Kaltungo holds a House seat that nominally covers Shongom too, but the officeholder is Kaltungo-born. Billiri now holds the other House seat. Every major legislative ticket currently in PDP’s hands across Gombe South belongs to Balanga, Kaltungo, or Billiri. Shongom holds none of them, and has never held the executive seat either.
If PDP zoning is meant to reflect fairness across the four LGAs of Gombe South, then the Deputy Governor slot is the one remaining lever left to correct an imbalance that is already visible on paper, before a single vote is cast in 2027.
Making the case for zoning is only half the argument, the other half is showing that Shongom will not waste the opportunity if it is given. This is where Benjamin Sati, ESQ. comes in.
Benjamin Sati ESQ, is a trainer and well-regarded legal professional, a son of Gwandum ward in Shongom, who has served as Chairman of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Gombe State chapter, a position that placed him at the head of the state’s legal community and gave him a public platform beyond his home LGA. He currently serves as Legal Adviser to the PDP in Gombe State, a role in which his standing has already been tested in the open: he is presently part of the legal team defending the emergence of the party’s own 2027 governorship candidate, Prof. Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, before the Federal High Court in Gombe, direct, active proof that the party already trusts him to protect its most consequential decisions in court.
Beyond the courtroom, Sati has built a reputation as a mentor in the fullest sense: he has personally sponsored and trained young people through school, and he is known for quietly supporting youth programmes and community causes without seeking the spotlight for it, humility, colleagues say, is one of his defining traits. He was also instrumental behind the scenes in the emergence and eventual victory of PDP candidates in the 2023 general elections, work that speaks to organisational skill as much as loyalty. What sets him apart from many aspirants, though, is reach: his influence and following are not confined to Shongom alone but extend across all four Gombe South LGAs including Billiri, Balanga, Kaltungo, and Shongom and into neighbouring Akko (Kumo to be precise), cutting across religious and party lines in a zone where such crossover support is rare and hard-earned.
At a time when Gombe South’s political blocs are hardening along old LGA lines, Balanga guarding its gains, Billiri nursing its grievance, Kaltungo holding its ground, Shongom has the rare chance to present a candidate whose appeal cuts across those very fault lines. That is not a small thing in a zone where “whose turn is it” often matters more than “who can actually unite us.”
Part of what makes Shongom’s case difficult to dismiss is that Sati is not a lone figure being pushed forward out of desperation, he sits atop a genuine depth of credible options, which only reinforces that Shongom’s exclusion has never been about a shortage of capable hands.
Hon. Fabulous Amos Mela, from Boh ward, is a retired principal who represented Shongom State Constituency in the Gombe State House of Assembly from 2011 to 2019, rising to become Leader of the House during his tenure. Constituents remember him for empowering residents with bikes for economic activity, sponsoring an uncounted number of indigent students to sit for WAEC free of charge, and facilitating state government employment for a number of Shongom youths.
Hon. Ezekiel Amin Boryo, from Kulishin ward, is a retired Director from the Gombe State Ministry of Establishment who moved into politics after retirement and rose to serve as a Commissioner in the Gombe State Executive Council in 2018. Like Fabulous, he is remembered for securing employment for a good number of Shongom indigenes, work that has earned him respect across the LGA.
Both men, notably, also contributed to the emergence of Gombe South’s current senator, the member representing Kaltungo/Shongom Federal Constituency, and a state assembly member who later defected to the ruling APC, proof that Shongom’s political class has long been a kingmaker for others, even while never being handed the crown itself.
Taken together, Sati, Fabulous, and Ezekiel show a Shongom that is not short of tested, respected, cross-cutting leadership, only short of a fair turn.
Shongom is not asking PDP for a favour. It has the numbers, the history, the proof of capacity through a bench of proven public servants in Fabulous and Ezekiel, and now a leading candidate in Benjamin Sati, already trusted with defending the party’s own governorship candidate in court, ready to carry that legacy into the Government House. The only thing left is for the party to do the fair thing.
Iliya Samuel Laro
Polical Enthusiast
Writes from FCT, Abuja
Larosamuel01@gmail.com
08141200283
