BY RAYYANU BALA
The All Progressive Congress governorship candidate in Nasarawa state in the forthcoming general elections Engr. Abdullahi Alhaji Sule needs no further introduction to the good people of Nasarawa state. He is a man who sacrificed his plum job at Dangote for the sake of Nasarawa state. His passion to serve the people of the state was borne out of his patriotism as well as the love for the people of Nasarawa state. When Nasarawa state was created in 1996 Engr Sule was abroad thus he had not contributed anything in the struggle for the creation of the state. It was this defect in his life so to speak that spurred him to come and contest for the governorship of the state, to at least contribute his quota to the development of Nasarawa state.
Engr Sule’s former office at Dangote group was bigger than that of office of governor of Nasarawa state in terms of inflow of revenue and in terms of workforce. The workforce under him at Dangote was equally bigger than the entire Nasarawa workforce. But despite the enormous resources he controlled and super advantages he enjoyed at Dangote as managing director of Dangote Sugar, Engr Sule still treasures service to his state more than service to Dangote group. When he ventured into politics what was uppermost then and still uppermost now in his life is how he can assist in moving the Nasarawa state to the next level.
His sojourn into partisan politics in Nasarawa state was misconstrued by many. Many believed that Engr Sule’s foray into politics was because he has enormous money to throw around not knowing that the man Engr Sule did not imbibe, right from childhood, the character of spending lavishly on unjustifiable cause.
In an interview with Nasarawa Eye last Tuesday, Engr Sule for example, debunked the widely held notion that he is stingy, saying, ‘I am not stingy, I am only being careful on throwing money around carelessly and without just cause’.
Engr Sule stressed further that he has never worked in government, thus his money is hard earned, adding that anybody that earns his money through hard work would never throw it around without any justifiable reason. He explained that his philosophy in life is to assist those that have genuine cases.
While describing himself as philanthropist of repute, Engr Sule revealed that he has passion for assisting people with genuine cases especially in areas on of education of the needy, taking care of the sick and provision of employment and empowerment of the less privileged.
While giving kudos to Governor Al-makura for provision of infrastructures in the state, Engr Sule described the governor’s efforts in the state as unparallel. Engr Sule who described as myopic, insinuations making the rounds that if elected as governor he will dance to no other tune than that of Al-makura. He said dancing to the tune of individuals ought not to have arisen, as he put it “it is outlandish for one to begin to think that way” explaining that from what he knows about Al-makura, he is one person that would not like to see Nasarawa state moves backwards after leaving office. “I know Al-makura would be too happy if I add to what he has achieved”, Engr Sule added.
Engr Sule who re-echoed the call for the people of the state to stand against pettiness also dismissed as childish the claim that ‘Dangote has bought Nasarawa state’ stressing that it is Nasarawa state that need Dangote not the other way round. Engr Sule who is the Baraya of Lafia, pointed out that many African leaders are pressurising Dangote to invest in their country, adding that Nasarawa State should count itself lucky to have such big investment from Dangote. He said many African leaders called him to lobby Dangote to site the sugar factory in their country but preferred to have it in Nasarawa state.
Engr Sule believes that in politics no matter your commitment, integrity and sincerity of purpose people must find fault in you, adding that such dispositions are what differentiate our politics with that of advanced democracies. He blamed our ‘pull down syndrome’ politics on the nascent nature of our democracy and expressed the confidence that with time, our politics will grow to such a level that political party campaigns would be issue based, devoid of character assassinations, deceptions and rancour.
Engr Sule insisted that he would run an issue based campaigns; a campaign that hinges on what he intends to achieve when given the mandate and the achievements already recorded by the APC government led by Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura.
Engr Sule who said if eventually elected as governor of Nasarawa state he wants to be remembered, at the end of his tenure, as somebody who impacted positively on the lives of the people in respective of tribe, religion and political party affiliations.