The Jewel of the Savannah, Gombe is on the verge of joining other state capital cities as the latest abode of the game of kings, polo.
Driven by one of Nigeria’s popular and experienced polo patron and administrator, Alhaji Farouk Musa, endorsed by Gombe royalty and powered by the polo loving Governor, Alhaji Ibrahim Hassan Dankwambo, the biggest allure of Gombe polo heaven will undoubtedly have its prime location in the heart of the savanna.
Apart from the unique location of the Gombe State capital city that made it accessible by air and land from every part of the country, the latest polo ground would be nestling in the heart of the state capital, overlooking the Government House, with the international airport providing the perfect back drop.
Such unique location is guaranteed to be an instant hit among tourists around the world and polo freak, Governor Dankwambo, who also plays good golf, is sparing little resources and time, to having the Jewel of the Savanna rub shoulders with the polo playing cities across the world.
Dankwambo has not only thrown his swanky weight behind the introduction of the noble game in Gombe, there is a feverish optimism across the state that the Gombe Polo Club would host the first polo tournament before the end of 2018.
With the royal endorsement of Emir of Gombe, HRH Abubakar Shehu Abubakar (111), The Mai Tula Gombe, HRH Abubakar Atari, Alhaji Isiaku Gwano (Sardauna Gombe) and the Gombe elder statesman, Alhaji Magari Muazu (The Ubandoma Gombe), among other first class traditional title holders, the governor has allocated a prime land close to the stadium for the project.
Already, Farouk Musa (Sarkin Arewa Gombe) who heads a sterling Committee that would actualized his long heal dream of having a polo club in the state, has recruited most of the Gombe business tycoons, top politicians and all the big Boys behind the project that is guaranteed to transform the sporting and tourism potentials of the Jewel of the Savanna to the global stage.
Fawaz Wanka who functions as the scribe of the committee, listed other members to include Umar Muazu (Vice Chairman), Alhaji Ali Babamanu, Alhaji Magari Yuguda, Gombe State Commissioner of Lands, Honourable Shehu Durbi and the Assistant Secretary of the Nigeria Polo Federation (NPF) Hassan Gashash.
(NPF) President, Francis Ogboro, who has been on the vanguard of promoting the noble game since he took over the mantle three years ago, hail Governor Dankwambo’s commitment in making polo the driving force to his tourism transformation in Gombe State.
Ogboro, who pledged the support of the national polo ruling body, pointed out that it was time the jewel of the Savanna and particularly Gombe, join its contemporaries in other parts of the country, as a major polo destination.
The NPF boss is excited that more and more states are keying into the huge tourism and business potentials that excited game of polo has built over the century, since the first game was played in Lagos way back in 1904.
