A Day A Young Brown Skinned Dankwambo Was Born
By Abu-Ubaida Ibrahim Kuna
History has made things simple and Google made them easier for those interested in knowledge. A little research can make your way for a journey to know great men and their days. Men of great history are those living in an exemplary life style worthy to emulate.
A Story that never goes off my memory: 14th March, 2011 was a day that will never go off my memory. A day that led to one of my best treaties on the politics and politicking of Gombe State under the omnibus caption of Dankwambo: A Leader We Deserve.
In the article, I dedicated a paragraph where I quoted the greatest general that ever lived in this world, Alexander the Great where he posited that, he is always afraid of an army of sheep led by a lion than an army of lions led by a sheep.
This tells us that leadership is not a child’s play. When we say a child’s play, we are not referring to the question of age, tribe or religion of the public office holder, but the maturity of what a person can offer and the quality he exhibits as a leader when he/she is entrusted with power.
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To prove to the world that a former Accountant General of the Federation has all what it takes to lead Gombe in 2011, I have done a little ‘goggling’ about him. I was in my national service days then, in Ilorin, Kwara State, when I browsed through my Samsung Hennessy and got an overwhelming story to tell and convinced my age group and beyond to go for the former Accountant General of the Federation rather than the late Senator, Saidu Umar Kumo of the then NNPP, Late Alh. Ibrahim Hassan of the then ACN and Alhaji Abubakar Aliyu of the then CPC.
Before the 26th April, 2011, pressure from all angles forced me to place the face about the little I got about the former Accountant General of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, OON, PhD. (Talban Gombe).
Through the goggle search engine, I found out that the then young Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo had joined other worthy alumni to make ABU sound so sweet in our ears. From my searches, the April of 2023 makes it 61 years after he was born in Herwagana ward of Gombe metropolis.
That was precisely on April 4, 1962. The chubby gentle man and a leader per excellent, whose curiosity to know much about virtually everything was enrolled at the Central Primary School Gombe.
Having found schooling very interesting, he continued his education at Government Secondary School Billiri, Gombe State. Scaling through the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination for the university, he was admitted into the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU), Zaria, where he later graduated with Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting second class (honours) upper Division.
That academic feat was indeed the second best result obtained by any individual in the then Bauchi State. Buoyed that sterling performance, he sought further education and enrolled for a Master’s of Science Degree in Economics from University of Lagos (UniLag).
Inebriated with the taste of education, Dr. Dankwambo engaged in further academic pursuit by doing a Post-graduate Diploma study in Computer Science at the Delta State University Abraka, Delta State. He later topped up that with a Doctor of Philosophy Degree (PhD) from Igbinedion University, Okada, Edo State.
It was perhaps in recognition of this unquenchable thirst for knowledge that Imo State University (IMSU) conferred on Dr. Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo with a PhD. It is noteworthy that the life story of Dankwambo reflects constant intellectual quests.
His sharp intellect helped him to pass through the qualifying examinations of seven professional bodies, for which he was promptly awarded membership. For instance, it is on record that Dankwambo passed the prescribed examinations of the prestigious Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria (ICAN) and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in remarkable record time, a year after his graduation from the University, a feat most professional Chartered Accountants will agree is rare to achieve.
He became an associate of the Institute and today he is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Nigeria, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Bankers, a fellow of the Chartered Institute of Taxation, a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Management, a Fellow of Nigerian Institute of Marketers and a Fellow of the Nigerian Economic Society.
All that is in addition to the myriad of certificate courses he attended, thus acquiring not only international exposure, but expertise in various fields of human endeavour.
At least the fact that he is a renowned and seasoned accountant is evidence of his determination to reach the peak through learning.
Dankwambo was at the Harvard University, Cambridge, Boston Massachusetts where he undertook courses in Global Financial System, Crises, Prospects and Solutions. In Duke University, DCID, Durham, he took another course in Budgeting and Financial Management in the Public Sector.
He was also at Stanford University’s Business School, where he took a specialist course in Financial Management. While at Crown Agents Management Development Centre in UK he studied Financial Management and Development Projects.
This rich academic background should help to explain why he is loved and cherished by all and sundry across the nooks and crannies of not only Gombe State but Nigeria at large.
It is not as if it has all been learning and earning. Dr. Dankwambo is married to Hajia Adama Ibrahim Dankwambo. The union is blessed with five very intelligent and well-behaved children. Like their father and mother, these children are doing well in various institutions of learning and vocational pursuits.
As he turns 61 today, the entire households in Gombe State and young people must be happy that this visionary leader and champion of enlightenment came their way. Happy Birthday, leader!
Abu-Ubaida Ibrahim Kuna, a former Senior Special Assistant to Dankwambo writes from Gombe State, Nigeria.
