ViewPointNigeria has taken it as a challenge to reel out the profiles of Plateau state law makers at the state and Federal level. In the coming weeks, months and years, ViewPoint promises to update the good people of Plateau state on who their representatives are, their antecedents and achievements generally. The first pendulum swung towards Hon. Gideon Dashe the member representing Pankshin South Constituency in the Plateau state House of Assembly. Keep faith with us.

THE MAN GIDEON DASHE

Hon. Gideon Yilpiring Godfrey Dashe was born on the 29th March, 1974, 42 years ago in the cosmopolitan city of Kano, Nigeria to the family of Retired ASP & Mrs. Godfrey Dashe. Humble but daring, intelligent and passionate to issues. He was from the start of life a child visibly created with a purpose, and destiny which held his hand for greatness.
His parents were apparently mindful of the streak of uniqueness of trait in their child and thought it needful to train him in both ways of western education and the cherished values of African (Mhiship) culture to prepare him for life skills and leadership. This perhaps explains why though he started his primary education at L.G.E.A Natsugune, Konan Jabba, Kano from 1983 to 1986, he was sent home to continue and complete it at L.G.E.D Primary School, Pyabor in Chip, Pankshin LGA between 1987 and 1988. His excellent performance resulted in gaining admission to the prestigious Boys’ High School, Gindiri.
His days in B.S.S from 1989 to 1994 formed the moral and academic foundation that truly showed the light and truth his life reflects till today. It saw him graduating as one of the best students among his peers and was offered admission, first, for remedial studies at the University of Jos before gaining full admission to the Department of Pharmaceutical Science in 1996, to obtain a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree in 2002. One would have thought beginning a career in Pharmacy would have halted his pursuit for more knowledge but that was not the case as he is currently rounding up a programme with the Delta International University, USA for a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He is also a trained and Certified Sales Professional and has attended many leadership trainings, notably in the renowned Lagos Business School.
Hon. Dashe’s career history however began as an Intern Pharmacist at JUTH, then the Abuja University Teaching Hospital, Gwagwalada in 2004 and he proceeded for his mandatory NYSC programme also at the Usman DanFodio University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto in 2005 where he served as a Corps Pharmacist. Great companies with an eye for great potentials in young graduates could not miss the energy of a future organizational driver in Pharmacist Dashe and so, Pfizer Global Ltd, a multinational pharmaceutical firm from New York offered him the job of a Medical Sales Representative in 2006. With a craving to carve a niche for himself in the industry, he gladly accepted Fidson Healthcare Plc’s offer, still as a Medical Representative in 2007 but rose to the rank of a Brand Manager with the company in 2010 to 2014. There was no Northerner that had attained that height before him in the company. His articulate and cutting edge presentations at the company shocked and surpassed his southern Nigerian colleagues who had derogatorily felt the ‘Hausa’ boy they called Ribadu was not their match. He stood out, tall and earned respect in the entire industry in far away Lagos, Nigeria’s business nerve centre.
Not surprisingly, another Pharmaceutical firm, Grace Drugs and Healthcare Ltd took major interest in Pharm. Gideon G. Dashe and offered him the exalted position of a Company Consultant and National Sales and Marketing Manager, where he worked between July and September, 2014. This was another great milestone.
It was at that point he decided to delve into the unknown and often highly dreaded murky waters of politics. Meanwhile, before taking such a critical decision, he had come in contact with an aspirant for the Governorship of Plateau State, Dr. Daniel Yakubu Kutchin who bought his book online and read Hon. Gideon’s Weeping Palm Tree and was amazed at the Pharmacist turned novelist’s dexterity and intelligence. DYK, as he became popularly called, reached out to Pharmacist Dashe and made him his National Campaign Director. Dr. Kutchin, a nuclear physicist, was in the Diaspora in Germany but became a household name among the gubernatorial aspirants on the Plateau by the sheer ingenuity and unmatched strategies of Hon. Gideon Dashe through the use of the social media where he got trained in Lagos to do. This was the impetus for Hon. Dashe as he was encouraged by DYK, his community and other leaders of thought to venture into politics, which he did. The coinage of the name DYK from the longer Daniel Yakubu Kutchin eventually became a brand; interesting enough, DYK is GOSA set 78.
His story in politics has been predictable by the intrigues and trials of the game but certainly historic and heroic too by its outcome. After a faulty and tricky process in PDP that denied him the ticket for the Pankshin South House of Assembly constituency position, seven (7) former candidates in the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) unanimously opted out of the race and adopted Hon. Pharm. Gideon Dashe to contest election on the platform of the party. They believed he alone had the capacity to face a three-term sitting member of the constituency and yes, indeed, he did, he has! He ran, he won, was robbed but has regained his grand mandate, with God on his side.
GIDASH, as he is now politically and popularly referred to, has written and redefined the political history of his constituency through undaunting faith, purpose and tenacity that are mostly heard about in fictions or likened to Abraham Lincoln’s audacity of perseverance. He has gained tremendous trust and support from his people and politically, especially, he makes bold to call Hon. Letep Dabang his political mentor. Ladies and gentleman, we are celebrating a young man whose story personifies the GOSA essence of being the shining light that the dark world craves for!
It will be far from the truth to narrow the place of this great young man to merely his political encounter. Indeed, he has become a ground-breaking author like Chinua Achebe, who himself was also a Pharmacist-turned international novelist/author of repute. Hon. Dashe’s first novel, The Weeping Palm Tree published in 2012 in the USA has recently (just some few weeks back) been listed by the New York Times Magazine a bestseller. The story was inspired by Myles Munroe’s sermon in Lagos. I am sure this is one of the first of its kind in this part of the world and a pride to GOSA. He has also authored Spine of Peace (2013), a novel that caused his editor, a retired 65 years old American lady to cry three times and finally confessed she wants to visit Nigeria and Plateau State to see and experience the beauty he has described about his place which is a truer picture of the Jos crisis; and Fears Behind the Tears (2013), both also published in the USA. Interestingly, all the novels have not only met international recognition and acceptance but have been launched on the global digital platform, the internet (on Amazon.com). These novels have also caught the eyes of both local and international movie directors and it may just be a matter of time for more history to be made by Hon. Gideon G. Dashe. Borlong, drawn from his first novel is under way for production as a movie. In fact, his love for the arts in this line was evident by his being not just a major financier, but the Associate Producer of Zanga Hills, produced in Jos and premiered in the Silver Bird Galleria Cinema in Abuja in 2014.
Hon. Dashe is a man of many feats and time may not permit the luxury of telling you a fraction of his story here. His philanthropy is celebral: For almost ten years he had lived in Lagos, his modest home was an abode for many Plateau people and/or GOSA members. He would accommodate many young people for months and years until they could find their footing in the no-man’s-land. He supported the humanitarian efforts of Myalshak Alliance in 2012 with drugs worth almost a million naira during their medical outreach that saw thousands benefitting from such, including free surgeries that they enjoyed. Similarly, since 2009, through the Gideon and Bether Foundation, co-founded by himself and his wife, they have supported an annual gospel outreach in his constituency. In 2013, the foundation touched the lives of ninety one (91) indigent families with assorted gifts in their community and they are sustaining this and more for posterity. In 2014, the Yeshua Foundation in the United Kingdom awarded Hon. Pharmacist Gideon G. Dashe the prestigious award of Change Ambassador for Peace and Humanity. He was just a candle light losing nothing in lighting the candles of others and the world saw him. His 1994 GOSA mates have also recognized him with a plaque for his historic victories over the travails of life he has surmounted.
Hon. Gidoen G. Dashe is married to a beautiful woman, Mrs. Bether Gideon Dashe, who has stood strong beside him; and who, you would agree with me, has more place beyond the living room, kitchen and the other room: she has been a pillar of his spiritual strength. They are blessed with three adorable children.

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Know Your Legislators: Profile of Hon. Gideon Dashe