By Ali Abare

There is nowhere in Nigeria where the Change Mantra became more visible than in Nasarawa State, in terms of real development strides.

Since the coming of the Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura administration in 2011, the people of Nasarawa State agreed to follow a new path with the state growing from strength to strength.

With Governor Al-makura about to leave office, having spent a fruitful second term, the people are now set to elect another governor come Saturday, March 9.

As the state gears toward electing a new governor, there is the need therefor to harp on the necessity of sustaining the laudable development strides of the outgoing administration.

Nasarawa State cannot afford to retrogress but should rather sustain and even surpass the unprecedented level of development witnessed in the past eight years.

This can only be achieved by voting massively for the Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Engineer Abdullahi Alhaji Sule, a tested and proven technocrat, who is coming to build on the successes already recorded.

Engr. Sule is well suited in every aspect to succeed Governor Al-makura. He’s a trail blazer in his chosen field, Mechanical/Industrial Engineering. He rose in his professional carrier to resign as the Group Managing Director of the Dangote Sugar Company.

In line with the trend in our growing democracy, particularly regarding progressive states like Lagos and Kaduna, technocrats are elected as governors because they come into office with a clear blueprint of action and are less likely to be distracted by perks associated with governance.

The people of Nasarawa State must therefore shun attempts by desperate politicians who do not mean well for the state, whose stock in trade is fuelling divisive tendencies.

God in his infinite mercies, inhibited Nasarawa State with people from diverse tribes and ethnic groups who belong to and profess different religious believes.

As it is, it’s practically impossible for a single ethnic group, no matter its spread, to seek to govern Nasarawa State based on its numerical strength.

Still, there are desperate politicians, who lacking in required basic leadership qualities to govern a state like Nasarawa, are hell bent on pursuing the dictates of their puppet masters, pitching the people against each other.

These obviously unpatriotic, self-centred politicians, approach the people with messages deeply couched in ethno-religious intolerance, preaching hate towards an imaginary enemy.

The frantic quest for power by such politicians have driven them to inculcate hatred and intolerance in the minds of the younger generation, who bubbling with misplaced patriotism, elevate negative aspects of ethnic revivalism.

An incidence depicting this worrisome trend, where politicians in their desperation for power, instil simmering loathing in the hearts of the youths came to fore when a young man of Eggon ethnic extraction refused to do voice over in a campaign jingle to be aired on radio for Engineer Sule. His reason being that Eggon people would misconstrue his action as tacit support for the APC Governorship candidate.

Unconfirmed reports indicate that senator-elect for Nasarawa North and Deputy Speaker, Nasarawa State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Godiya Akwashiki was allegedly assaulted and maltreated recently in Abuja. Even though information on the incidence is still scanty, the assault on the lawmaker may not be unconnected with perceived ethnic animosity.

Senator-elect, Rt. Hon. Akwashiki may have been assaulted as payback for the political loss the Eggon may have suffered after going into an alliance to clinch the Nasarawa North senatorial seat. There were Eggons who backed former deputy governor Michael Abdul but who lost to the younger Akwashiki.

The Eggon cannot claim to get it politically correct by spearheading a self-seeking campaign to govern Nasarawa State based on ethno-religious sentiments, regardless of the necessary support from others.

They will only succeed in spreading hatred and animosity among the people, especially since their motivation is not at all altruistic but an attempt to foster ethnic domination.

For this reason and more, the people of Nasarawa State must wake up to the antics of some few disgruntled politicians, who because they fail to get what they desired, are willing to throw away the baby with the bath water.

Come next Saturday, citizens of Nasarawa State must therefore ensure the sustenance of the unprecedented development strides of the outgoing administration by massively voting for Engineer A. A Sule.

Abare wrote in from Jos Road, Lafia, Nasarawa State

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