Honourable Charles Ilya had served meritoriously in the civil service from the time Bauchi and Gombe were one State and had his service transferred to Gombe State when the State was created in 1996. A graduate of Political Science from the Ahmadu Bello University. Born in 1952, he started his education in his hometown Biliri and went to Numan for his secondary school education before again moved to Ganye in Adamawa State for his Higher School Certificate before gaining admission to Ahmadu Bello University where he graduated in 1977. After his youth service in the then Cross River State, now in Akwa Ibom State. He started his working career in the then Bauchi State Water Board where he served for 18years before the creation of Gombe. He recently granted National WAVES’ Contributing Editor, Adeleke Olagbami, an interview in his Gombe office where he talked on a number of issues about his years as a civil servant, foray into politics, his relationship with his boss and his job as Deputy Governor. Excerpts:
With the creation of Gombe State out of the old Bauchi State, what became of your job as a civil servant?
While in Bauchi, I had served at the Water Board for 18 years and I rose to the position of Assistant General Manager, which was the highest position I could go in the board. I was automatically switched to the main service, still in Bauchi. When I joined the main service in 1996, Gombe state was created out of Bauchi, so together with other employees whose origin fell into the new Gombe State, we were deployed to form the nucleus of Gombe State civil service. I had then become a Director of Personnel and was automatically retained as a Director of Personnel in the new Gombe State. I was moved from one ministry to the other, and after staying for about two years in that position, I was appointed as the Sole Administrator. You know it was during the military years. I became the Sole Administrator of Balanga Local Government. I served in that position and we were the ones that handed over to civilians after the military tenure. After that service, I came back to the service and was again moved from ministry to ministry. It was while at the Ministry of Agriculture as Director of Admin and Finance, that I again got appointed then as Chairman Transition Committee of another Local Government, which happened to be my own local government of origin, Biliri. It was while in Biliri that I got my job as a civil servant terminated, and afterwards, I went into the field of politics.
You had a wonderful career in the civil service. Since you studied Political Science, why didn’t you think of going into the academic world as a lecturer? What actually prompted you to go into the field as a politician?
There were so many choices for me. Going into the civil service was one of those choices which I decided to choose then. I didn’t go into politics right away. My entry into politics was actually inspired when I first served as Sole Administrator and later when I served as Chairman of Transition Committee of my home local government at Biliri Local Government. It was there that the idea of going into politics must have been nurtured. Perhaps because of my antecedents at Balanga Local Government and Biliri Local Government, in those two places, in neither of the two did I serve up to one year. I spent brief periods of between six and eight months but the surprising thing however was that my people especially when I served in my home local government must have seen some things in me. In the year 2002, my people gathered and invited me to come and vie for the Chairmanship of my local government, but because of certain unpalatable experiences in Balanga and Biliri Local Governments, I was very hesitant about going for any elective office at the local government level. So I was using all available opportunity to turn down that offer to be Local Government Chairman. And in order to ease their pressure on me, I thought I would distract them by saying, if at all I am going to serve them in any elective office, I will rather want to go to the National Assembly as their Representative. It was more of a joke to dissuade them. But immediately, my people said, Ok. And that was it and my people wasted no time in setting the machinery in motion and the rest was history as I won a seat to represent my people at the House of Representatives. That marked my entry into partisan politics.
Between the actual study of Political Science which you did in the university, what are the differences between actually being a politician?
I will just sum it up this way, politics is not really a profession, and people are only trying to make it look like a profession. So, politics is not something you study at the university to practice. Political Science as studied in the university is completely different from the actual practice of politics or what you will find out on the field as a politician. The correlation is there but it is not so strong. There is a whole lot of difference in the study of political science and what obtains in the actual practice of politics.
Having been drafted into the field of politics by the pressure from your people and your eventual rise to the position of Deputy Governor of your State, Are you completely satisfied with your political journey?
I am satisfied. In one sense I am satisfied about my entry into politics and my political service, but I am not satisfied except for one thing. And that is the fact that as a civil servant, either at the State or Federal level, the expectation of every civil servant is to attain the position of a Permanent Secretary but in my case, my service got terminated at the Director level That is the only regret I may say is there about my transition from a civil servant into the field of politics. Beyond that regret, I am completely satisfied because I had been able to meet the yearnings and aspirations of my people since coming into politics. Though there are many ways of measuring satisfaction. One does not have to think of satisfaction based on what one gets as a person but one should look at how happy the people around you and representing are, and how well you have impacted their lives positively. One major area of measurement of my satisfaction is the kind of relationship one has been able to build with one’s people for them to be confident in one at all times. Some people part ways with their people after two or three years or after a little time, but in my case, up till now, from the time I went into politics, I have continued to be together with my people, and I think that is the most important of all. I also think, that was what had helped me up to this time. When I first went into politics, I was opportuned to serve my people for four years at the National Assembly as a Representative. After the four years, and having entrenched myself in the field politics, I had got various political appointments. I had been appointed as Senior Special Assistant, Adviser and eventually as Deputy Governor. All these appointments had truly come about because; I had over the years maintained a good relationship with my people and had earned their trust. Am sure that relationship also played out when the time for the Deputy Governor position came about and my people whole-heartedly endorsed my selection.
Can you let us in on how you became the Deputy Governor?
My choice was due to the implicit confidence my Governor, His Excellency, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, the elders of the party, the elders of the State and my people had in me based on my antecedents. After the first term of four years, and when my Governor was preparing for his second term, he decided to call upon me to come and serve with him as his Deputy. And as I was telling you earlier, if I had had a very bad relationship with my people, it would have worked against me particularly on the issue of appointment, it will always depend on what your people in your area say or think about you because the people always have a way of rejecting you even if somebody wants to appoint you.
Looking at Gombe State today and what it was before you became Deputy Governor, will you say Gombe State people are having a very good share of dividends of democracy?
I had been asked this same question quite a number of times. My answer has always been Yes. One particular fact I always point out is that Gombe State had been lucky in the sense that all those who had been opportune to be the Chief Executive of Gombe State had always been people who had the competitive spirit. And I think this had helped Gombe State a lot. The military pioneered the running of Gombe State from Group Captain Orji and Colonel Bawa and beginning from the civilian administration of Alhaji Abubakar Habu Hashidu, who was the 1stcivilian Executive Governor. These three people laid the foundation of Gombe State which was a regional headquarter, and Gombe had of course always been a commercial headquarter, even when we were together with Bauchi State, Gombe was more known for commerce than anything else. So from the beginning of the rule of Governor Danjuma Goje, the competitive spirit was evolved. And he did a lot. He built on what he met and when his Excellency, Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo came in, he built solidly on all these by following the trend of that competitive spirit. And I think, all through, it had been very good journey for the people of Gombe State. You can ask me how do we justify that assertion. And I can confidently give you this fact, that during the 2015 general elections, Gombe State, and if I may add, Taraba State, remained the only two States in the North of Nigeria that were not politically lost to the APC. If our government had nothing to concrete to show, we would have been swept like many other northern States which were won by the APC. What actually prevented that from happening in Gombe State in particular was the fact that the present government under the able leadership of our Governor, His Excellency Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo had continued to provide able leadership and delivering good governance in terms of quality service and dividends to the entire people of Gombe State. And I think the entire people of Gombe are very mindful of these facts. In Gombe State, it had always been a success story of modest achievements for the good of the people. We used to think we are being flattered when people come and praise Gombe State and our Governor for the strides, more particularly those who knew Gombe before the last 10years, when they come back here; they are always very surprised at the turn around in the entire State in terms of infrastructural development being witnessed.
Having been working with Governor Dankwambo in the last two years as his Deputy, and you are asked to describe him, what will you say or how will you describe him?
I will say my Governor, His Excellency, Dr Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo is a visionary young man, a promising Youngman who first of all got himself educated in order to live a fulfilling life ahead of him and that really prepared him for the present life he is living for himself and for the service of the people and the transformation of our dear State
He is a very humble man, a man who the lives of his people and State were imbued with love of the people at heart. You can better understand this when you realize the fact that before he became the Accountant General of the Federation, he was known only by quite a few people; when you also consider even his age at the time he became the Accountant General of the Federation, then you can realize that there is something about the gentleman that those people who are really watching him saw in him and that is the fact that he had really prepared himself for the future. He had educated himself and he deserved to serve the nation. And that was why when he was even appointed as the Accountant General of the Federation, nobody was really surprised, and while he served in that position, he did marvelously well and to the people of Gombe State, he is our pride. So he is a humble man who prepared himself well for the future and the more reason why he had done well and he is still doing well as Governor of Gombe for the second term running and was able to withstand the APC challenge in 2015 came with the Buhari personality, the people of Gombe were resolute and our Governor survived the Buhari phenomenon that swept across the whole North especially and Nigeria at large.
You had continued to have a very harmonious and cordial relationship with your boss. What will you say is responsible for this rancour free relationship?
The bottom-line is the high level of sincerity between us. In any relationship, once there is sincerity, the relationship will continue to blossom. If you are able to speak sincerely to each other; If you are able to open up fully to each other; above all, if you are able to do all those things associated with your office, the calling of your office, and do it to the best of your ability, I think all these factors will promote cordiality. I make sure I listen to him; I do things the way he wanted things to be done. And in areas where there are challenges, or difficulties, I don’t hide it. I go to him and I pour out my mind to him what those difficulties and challenges are. That kind of attitude had continued to help in ensuring our cordial and harmonious relationship.
Considering the economic down turn facing the country, how is Gombe State still managing to meet its obligations and continue to serve the people?
Let me point this out, Gombe State, I think, receive the second least amount from the federation account. Even before the economic down turn, and that is why like I told you before people who know this fact, whenever they come into Gombe state and they look around and see what we have continued to do in terms of infrastructural development, both human and physical development, they are always surprised and wonder how and where we keep getting money from. There had always been that question, ‘ Ok, you get the 2nd lowest amount from the federation account, how have you been able to achieve and do all these projects”. My answer when such questions come is to tell them how lucky we are in Gombe to have Governor Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo as our Governor at this time. Sometimes it’s not the size or the amount of money you have or you are getting, but rather how you are able to utilize the little resources or money that you are even getting. And that is what I wish to emphasize here about how lucky we are in Gombe State with Governor Dankwambo in charge. Probably because of his education, training and profession and perhaps because of his humane disposition, Governor Dankwambo had shown and proven to be a very prudent manager of the little resources that come into Gombe State. He seemed to have a very deep knowledge and mastery of how to manage our little amount of money we get from the federation account and he uses it maximally to produce the greatest results that we see in our happy people and across the nooks and crannies of Gombe State. To also complement that amount from the federation, we had also evolved other ways of making money for the State and that had also greatly been of immense help to Gombe State.
There is always this talk about godfathers in politics. If I may ask, do you have a political godfather, and who is the person you can ascribe to be your political godfather?
Well at a point, the moment I became the Deputy Governor, I think then there is no gainsaying who my political godfather is. And if I can say it here and now, I will say, my political godfather is and can be no one else but His Excellency, the Executive Governor of Gombe State, Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo. Before then, I was also a political godfather to some other people and probably I still am a political godfather to some till now. But as at this point in time, my Governor is my political godfather because the moment he called me on board to be part of Gombe State government under his watch, he had become my political godfather. My interpretation of political godfather is slightly different from how people see or describe it. If somebody sees something good in you and he decided to help you actualize that good, such a person like a mentor can be likened to being a godfather, and like I said, I had also been in this position for yet some other people. And I most sincerely wish to thank my Governor for this priviledge he had given me to serve and work with him
