Nasarawa 2027: How Gov Sule fails a simple arithmetic
By Muazu Abari
Governor Abdullahi Sule, has less than nine months to come down from his high horse as Nasarawa Governor and hand over to a destined successor to take over Shendam Road Government House Lafia. It is only natural for him to be interested in who will succeed him, just as other party stakeholders equally have the right to support a different person from the array of contestants.
But the final decision lies with the masses who reserve the ultimate power to either align with Sule’s choice or reject it based on the merit of individual candidates without recourse to even their political affiliations.
What matters most to the people of Nasarawa State is the development of the state and the collective interest of its people, as well as the leadership capacity and competence of the incoming governor to turn the fortunes of the state for good and live up to his promises and expectations of the people.
The unfortunate state of anomie and internal dislocation which Nasarawa APC found itself today making it to lose its internal cohesion is a great source of concern to all and sundry.
The party, which Sule inherited as a strong and united entity has been sharply polarised into two disparate and antagonistic camps which portends a looming catastrophe on the party’s dominance and electoral victory come 2027 general election.
Governor Sule’s failure to address little fissures, family squabbles and disagreement, may turn out to be the party’s nemesis in 2027. Out of crass lethargy or mismanagement, the governor has allowed the party to be thrown to the edge of the precipice and imminent doom.
Going by the bad blood within the contending camps, one will come to the conclusion that the election is already lost even before the first vote was cast. With the battle readiness of the opposing camps, the prospect of a deadly battle which will probe costly to the party is just a matter of time.
As a student of history, the disaster that led to the complete dismemberment of PDP leading to it’s comprehensive defeat and consignment to the dustbin of history is still fresh in my mind. And going by the perilous state of APC in Nasarawa State today, one will only be stating the obvious to predict the imminent consequences of inept leadership in what political analysts aptly described as: “A brewing political revolution in the history of Nasarawa state politics.”
I must state that history is always brutal to villains and impostors. On this premise, the governor must accept responsibility for any mishap and calamity that may visit the party in 2027. To state it bluntly, if APC lost the state in 2027, it is because of governor Sule’s woeful failure to provide leadership and direction to the party when it matters most as the party leader in the state.
As I have stated earlier, Sen. Umaru Tanko Almakura has handed over a solid, vibrant and united party into the hands of governor Sule with three senators, House of Reps members and 16 Assembly members. But unfortunately in less than four years, governor Sule has almost killed the party in the state.
This can be clearly seen from the result of the 2023 election where APC lost all the three senatorial seats of the state, two house of reps seats and many house of assembly seats making APC to witness a spectacular dwindling fortunes by losing thirteen seats to the opposition political parties in the state house of assembly alone.
Sule himself was nearly swept away by the raging tide if not for the timely intervention and magnanimity of the supreme court which came to his rescue after many months of moving from pillar to post crying for help.
The APC crisis in Nasarawa State did not start overnight, but was consciously planted over the years after Sule took over the state as a result of haughtiness, intransigence and poor leadership. The crisis stealthily waded into the party during Sule’s first term and with no effort to address the grievance of party men, the crisis escalated in a full blown war in the build up to 2023 election largely due to internal contradictions, politics of exclusion and segregation, lack of level playing field, political conspiracies, imposition and replacement of duly elected candidates among many other undemocratic tendencies which further widened the gaps of disunity and battle of wits within the party.
A good leader should have utilised such period of challenges to prove his leadership acumen and make history especially as most people expected the governor to rise up to the occasion and discharge his responsibility as the party leader by initiating peace and reconciliation efforts that would re-unite the party, heal all wounds and embrace aggrieved candidates whose tickets were snatched away and handed over to preferred candidates who were initially defeated at the primaries.
Instead, Sule decided to elope into the recess of lethargy and completely lost his voice amidst the glaring injustice and surrendered the party to some powerful goons who see themselves as mortal potentates who can chart destinies with cavalier fiat. The resultant effect of that action was that APC went into 2023 election as a divided house and opposition to itself which led to abysmal performance by the party adjudged the worst ever in the history of the party since its formation in the build up to 2015 election.
With the conclusion of the 2023 election. A strong leader worth his onions should have carried out a post mortem to examine the challenges and proffer solutions. But sadly, the governor failed to take any concrete action to bring stakeholders to speak with one voice and pacify those who deserved to be pacified. Instead, the governor allowed the sharp divisions to metamorphose into an unstoppable inferno that is threatening to burn down the party into the ashes of total extinction. What exercerbate the crisis was the governor’s unwieldy posture of hunting down real and perceived enemies without let or hindrance by clipping the wings of anyone perceived to be an enemy within.
The governorship ambition of former IGP Mohammed Adamu Abubakar introduced another dimension into the APC power interplay as he wittingly became the choice of aggrieved party members deepening the internal crisis within the party.
Consequent to this, many personalities have indicated interest to succeed Governor Abdullahi Sule within the party amids controversy over zoning. They include; Sen. Ahmed Aliyu Wadada (Sarkin Yakin Keffi), former IGP Mohammed Adamu Abubakar (Walin Lafia), former speaker Hon. Musa Ahmed Mohammed now state Accountant General (Baraden Nasarawa), Dr.Faisal Shuaibu, Rep Abubakar Hassan Nalaraba, Prof. M.S Haruna and Arch. Shehu Ahmed Tukur among others.
I must state that, most of the gladiators are shadowy figures who were just sleeping in the comfort of their houses waiting for Sule’s awuff endorsement except Sen. Ahmed Aliyu Wadada and former IGP Mohammed Adamu Abubakar who demonstrated genuine commitment to govern the people of the state, and they also, embarked on massive grassroots engagements to sell themselves to the people of the state, and other stakeholders without relying solely on Sule’s imprimatur.
Prior to Governor Sule’s formal decision to settle for Wadada, those who have the political eyes to see the political horizon of the state know that Sule would naturally endorse Wadada as his preferred successor going by his body language, actions and utterances which pointed out to that direction. His decision did not come to most watchers as surprise. It would have been shocking if the governor picked a different candidate. More so that, in the last two years Sule has used every available opportunity in public spaces and media interviews to shower encomiums on Wadada at the slightest opportunity.
This has given other aspirants and their supporters especially those in the anti government camp an inkling into the governor’s political direction which speaks louder than his final decision to choose Wadada.
This is seen by most people as a poor strategy which exacerbated the internal divisions within the party because given your opponents a hint to where you are heading to when election is still very far is synonymous with giving them a scoop to fully prepare against you by mapping out their own strategies to counter you and put in place their plan B ahead of time.
The Governor would have still pushed for Wadada’s candidature his preferred successor without a serious blow on the party’s unity as it is now, more so that, Sen. Ahmed Aliyu Wadada is not a backbencher in the political matrix of the state but a household name who has also carved a niche for himself and has the capacity, records, political clout and all it takes to become governor even with zoning and without the governor’s endorsement.
Sule should have adopted a systematic approach like his predecessors during their time in pushing for Wadada’s emergence as the party’s gubernatorial candidate in 2027 election. For instance, when ex- Governor Abdullahi Adamu, made up his mind to bring Doma of blessed memory as his successor, he left the issue close to his chest without allowing the public to know his direction until the election came nearer. Even at that, he used traditional rulers to front for Doma rather than himself, a ground he used as a cover up to prevail on Doma to defect from the ANPP to PDP at the eleventh hour which left those against him within the party without luxury of time to strategise against him.
Likewise, towards the end of Almakura’s tenure, so many astute and tested politicians most of who are his close political appointees, associates and allies wanted to succeeded him. Almakura did not single out any of them to support or ask them to wait for his endorsement and he never vilified any of his appointees who, identified with any of the aspirants. They were allowed to canvass for support from the people via what was then known as “Consultation tour” until two to three weeks to the primaries when he selected Sule the least popular among all the contenders as his preferred successor which led to his emergence as governor.
Today Sule is completing his eighth year tenure as governor. Most people expect him to be more calculative in driving forward and selling the Wadada agenda to the party and the people of Nasarawa State, as his preferred successor especially in a party that is already at war with itself inorder not to further worsen the crisis within the party but unfortunately, he failed a simple arithmetic which he should have since learnt from those before him.
Muazu Abari, a journalist and public commentator write from Lafia, Nasarawa State.
