By Muh’d El-Bonga Ibraheem.
For the past few years, Gombe State has stood out in all ramifications as one of the most promising states judging from many developmental indices. The state emerged as number one in the of ease of doing business ranking in 2021 and 2022. Additionally, Gombe emerged as the most peaceful state in Nigeria according to data plucked from the 2023 security index.
It has one of the best inter-city road networks in Nigeria. Infrastructure wise, the state is doing amazingly terrific in all facets of governance. So far, it has leapfrogged its 1996 colleagues in many dimensions.
However, regardless of the magnificent efforts of our past leaders which isn’t even questionable as a matter of fact, behind all the terrific publicity surrounding this amazing milestone which attracts deluge of encomium from many outside the state— due to the massive media attention it enjoys— is Mallam Ismaila Uba Misilli, a media professional who has positioned himself as the architech of modern digital media in Gombe.
The history of digital communications and mainstream media will not be deemed complete in Gombe without special eulogies to Mallam Misilli who came at a time new media have completely engulfed the entire machinations of the media as a complex entity. While previous Gombe leaders like Hashidu and Goje escaped massive scrutiny given that social media wasn’t active during their time— especially Hashidu’s era— Ismaila Uba Misilli, on the other hand, doesn’t enjoy that advantage.
Quite notably, the digital media landscape started growing and expanding its tentacles in Gombe under Dankwambo’s reign. Dankwambo experienced some sort of media presence particularly during the tail-end of his admin. However, he didn’t do much in terms of putting good media structure on ground.
I could recall vividly when, some years ago, I wrote an article about Dankwambo’s poor media machinations in spite of his achievements and one of his aides who— at that time was fervently lobbying to be made his Press Secretary— reached out to me for possible collaboration to rejig their activities. He tried all he could yet nothing materialised. Later on, he told me that “Whatever we do to convince Dankwambo about new media and its importance, he never sees it from our angle.” He continued, “Dankwambo prefers to remain quiet about his achievements and for everyone to judge.”
Realising the need for media publicity as a governor when he decided to contest for President in 2019, Dankwambo invested on media propaganda to showcase his good works in Gombe in order to market his candidacy at the national levels. Dankwambo would go on to import southern influencers like Deji Adeyanju et al. to Gombe in order to promote his activities.
It is worth noting that the media propaganda put in place then still places Dankwambo at a good advantage with a very good engagement especially on Twitter (X) where his handle has, so far, garnered more than 200,000 followers. Social media handles were opened for him on Facebook as well. But judging from official engagement of having MDAs online to engage people, it is the current administration in Gombe that started that move reminiscent of El-Rufai’s Kaduna.
I remember when we had a discussion with Governor Inuwa in 2020 in Maitama about expanding digital communications and outreach aikin to what Kaduna was doing under El-Rufai in the presence of Misilli and then Special Adviser, Hon. Garry. We discussed many engagement strategies and brainstormed some ideas to implement. In the end, I was asked to put it into writing which I did. Today, though not officially part of the Gombe State Government’s media team, I’m quite happy to see that some of the strategies are woking out well.
One thing I like about Mallam Ismaila is the fact that his phone lines are always open and he is very open-minded when it comes to accepting and implementing ideas. I also admire the fact that, sometimes, when people are triggered by emotions, he always lets you see things from different perspectives due to his experience and it always turns out to be the best decision.
Unlike the rest, Inuwa, on the other hand, came at a point social media is ineluctably prevalent in governance, religion, politics and social activities. It still continues to permeate almost all facets of life. He came at a time social media platforms have completely seized the entire media landscape where virtually almost everyone is online to check updates, dish out criticisms and deify their political cult-heroes. The social media awareness now is more rife than in the last fifteen years.
In light of this development, Misilli and his team don’t seem to enjoy that quietude and largely social media criticism-free moment the likes of Goje, Hashidu and, by extension, Danwkwambo enjoyed. Governance isn’t longer done in obscurity like before. This makes Misilli to work round the clock to put up digital media structures to tow the path of the inevitable rise of social media. As a proper mainstream media man himself, Misilli is a topnotch professional. But given the new realities on ground, a lot needs to be put in place. This is one of the reasons why he works with young talents with different media background to work with.
As the pioneer DG Press Gombe Government House, Misilli combines his mainstream media job with the new media revolution. The last time I was in his office at the Gombe Government House, I saw him coordinating both reporters and the new media team while they were preparing to leave for an event organised by NEDC in Bauchi. I saw him taking down notes, giving out instructions, making phone calls while also discussing with us simultaneously. There is no political flack in Gombe that releases beautiful press releases and on a timely manner like Misilli. He is always at alert to respond to issues and react when the need arises.
In terms of actual digital communications at its best where infographics, short videos as well as intelligently quality contents are concerned, no administration in Gombe comes close to this present one. Under this current dispensation, Gombe enjoys an amazing social media presence where many MDAs are very visible online to engage the public. Most of these structures have been put in place by Misilli. The next administration will just key into the structure or, better still, improve upon it. The erstwhile administration didn’t put good structures on ground. They did things haphazardly without coordination. While this same particular one isn’t perfect and is far from being smooth, nonetheless, Misilli has done a remarkable work. You have to give it to him.
