Babangida Umar Gantsa
Gantsa: Who the cap fits
By Shuaibu Baba Abdulmumin
Politics is game of numbers, so a man with political clout is an asset
to the people in his constituency or state. A political party can draw from his popularity to attain its goals of winning elections. And now that the senatorial seat for Jigawa South-West in the 2023 general elections is vacant due to the sudden demise of Alh.Tijjani Ibrahim,
the APC senatorial candidate in the 2023 general elections, the youths in Jigawa want APC to give the ticket to Alh.
Ibrahim Babangida Umar Gantsa (Ma’ajin Dutse). Gantsa is the immediate past Commissioner of Finance and Economic Planning of Jigawa state. He is a professional accountant, a seasoned and successful banker. Not only that, he is a passionate golfer and a sportsman. He was at several times captain of Kano golf club and now the captain of Dutse Royal Golf Course. He is also a member of the prestigious IBB International Golf and Country Club.
He has built many mosques, donated schools and hospital equipment for his communities of Buji and Birnin-Kudu local government areas.
Annually, he puts his resources towards assisting youths, mainly students, in the payment of school fees, hostel accommodation and JAMB cards.
The choice of Babangida Umar Gantsa for the vacant senatorial seat is a welcome development to the people of the senatorial district as they believe this opportunity will encourage him to do more for the people.
He will brings into legislation the accuracy and shrewdness of a financial expert. With his usual hardwork and commitment to duty, he will continue to soar like an eagle in his chosen career.
The versatile banker voluntarily resigned his position as Regional Manager with the then FinBank Plc in 2010. The purpose of his resignation was to pursue private business ventures, and now politics, which to him, is the best avenue to serve the people.
Fortunately, Gantsa is well prepared for the task ahead of him in terms of academic background. He holds a master’s degree in Business Administration from Bayero University, Kano (BUK), obtained in 1998. Born in Gantsa, the headquarters of Buji local government area of Jigawa state, he is in-depth in the knowledge of political affairs in Jigawa state.
Gantsa, a foremost philanthropist whose works touch a lot of people’sl ives in Jigawa state and beyond, has a charismatic personality and generous nature that drives him towards touching the lives of common men.
As a widely travelled man, Gantsa knows why it is important to help the downtrodden. So the right replacement for the departed senatorial aspirant is Gantsa, as rightly acknowledged by Gov Badaru.
Gantsa’s going to the Senate will be an added advantage for APC in Jigawa state because of his vast experience in public office. The shrewd former commissioner of finance had helped to stabilise the fiscal growth of Jigawa state. His commitment to duty caught the attention of Governor Mohammed Abubakar Badaru who attributed his state’s low debt profile to fiscal discipline, transparency and accountability in utilisation of public resources under the control of a shrewd banker and fiscal responsibility expert.
Under the prudent former commissioner of finance, Jigawa was adjudged the least-indebted state in the country, according to statistics from the Debt Management Office (DMO). The commendation is a bold recognition of Gantsa’s role in enthroning a fiscally-transparent and accountable process in the polity.
He made sure the Badaru government adopted fiscal prudence as a hallmark of the APC administration. The state decided to de-emphasise borrowing while blocking leakages and boosting internally-generated revenue.
Now that Governor Badaru has thrown his weight behind Gantsa’s aspiration to go to the Senate to take the vacant seat in his constituency, the people of Jigawa should give him massive support so that their collective aspiration can be realised.
Giving the senatorial ticket to Gantsa is good because it will ease APC’s campaign in the state because of the political clout he wields. He is has been tested and trusted because he had delivered in his duties as a banker and commissioner. He will bring his vast experience in the banking sector to his new role as senator of the Federal Republic.
Undoubtedly, Gantsa’s aspiration is defined by his love for the people. He wants to provide the Jigawa people with quality representation that will draw to them the necessities of life via the provision of enduring pro-people constituency projects.
In modern politics, the youths are the prime movers of electoral processes. Therefore, we will make no mistake in voting APC in the forthcoming general election so that Gantsa will win by landslide.
Baba Abdulmumin writes from Dutse