BY RAYYANU BALA

At a rally organized to unveil his 385-member campaign council in Lafia last week, Engr. Abdullahi Sule was quoted as saying all sorts of things to reassure the citizens of Nasarawa state of his resolve to deliver Nasarawa state to the APC. Among other things, Engr. Sule was quoted as indicating his willingness to crush the opposition in Nasarawan state ahead of the 2023 election. Hear him: “The victory you saw in 2019 will be a child’s play.” I am actually a student of Dangote. And we don’t take competition lightly at Dangote. We crush the competition. “We make certain that it does not exist.” “We don’t want to see one of the 24 house members who isn’t an APC member.”

Indeed, from what Engr. Sule said above, no one is now left in doubt about his determination to retain his seat at the Shendam Road government house. When Engr. Sule stands in front of the entire media to reveal a closely guarded Dangote aphorism, you know he meant business .And his statement that Dangote ensures there is no competition is yet another indication that no stone will be left unturned in ensuring an APC victory in Nasarawa state in the upcoming election.

Although Engr. Sule did not state that the 2023 election would be a life-or-death battle, based on what he said in Lafia Squire, your guess is as good as mine .In the next coming general election, certainly a combination of “might and money” will come into play based on the general atmosphere across the country.

To be honest, we in Nasarawa State must not wait and allow Engr. Sule to deploy all of his arsenals in this election, as doing so would be a great injustice to him given what the APC has done to the state in terms of providing a democracy dividend over the last 11 years. As residents of Nasarawa State, we must all work together to deliver the state to the APC. This is a responsibility shared by all of us, not just Engineer Sule, or Senator Tanko Al-makura or Senator Abdullahi Adamu.

Yes, there are indeed many good reasons why we must all work to deliver Nasarawa to the APC in the 2023 elections, from top to bottom.

The All Progressives Congress (APC) as a party has come a long way in Nasarawa State. Since the CPC merged with other political parties to form the APC, the then-incumbent governor, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura, has been on top, running from pillar to post, attempting to provide infrastructure that would allow the state to compete with others in terms of development and modern amenities.

We witnessed in Nasarawa State, for the first time, asphalt roads constructed by the state government, and these happened during the tenure of former governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. From 2011 to 2019, as of the last count, the Umaru Tanko Al-Makura administration constructed close to 3000 kilometers of asphalt roads scattered across the length and breadth of the state. Yes, as the saying goes, “Development follows the roads.” The Umaru Tanko Al-makura administration, in its determination to develop the state, focused much attention on road construction, believing that by constructing roads, other forms of development would naturally follow, which is exactly what happened.

Apart from road construction, Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura also made considerable impacts on virtually all aspects of the economy of the state, i.e., education, health, youth empowerment, agriculture, sport development, etc. It wasn’t for nothing that Senator Al-Makura received numerous awards during his eight-year tenure for his tenacity in developing the state. Even the Akurba 330 KVA line, which made the people of the state enjoy enhanced electricity supply, was attributable to the efforts of Senator Al-Makura.

Engr. Abdullahi Sule’s administration, which is an offshoot of Senator Al-Makura’s administration, has made significant efforts in the last three years to build on the legacy left by Senator Al-Makura’s government. Many projects that have not been completed by Senator Al-Makura have been completed by Engr. Sule.

In his inaugural address in May 2019, Engr. Abdullahi Sule made it abundantly clear that he will not embark on new projects until after he completes the ones initiated by the Al-Makura administration. As a man of his words, Engr. Sule, soon after taking over the mantle of leadership, swung into action by completing inherited projects one after the other. Today, almost all the projects initiated by Al-Makura’s administration have been completed and commissioned by Engr. Sule.

The projects completed by Engr Sule are too numerous to list, but the Lafia cargo airport, completed and commissioned markets and motor parks, completed and commissioned school buildings, and health facilities throughout the state would suffice. One interesting thing about it all was that Engr. Sule completed and commissioned all these projects within a span of two years.

Soon after the completion and commissioning of these inherited projects, Engr. Sule then began to unfold his new projects, which witnessed the construction of some roads within the Lafia metropolis as well as the ongoing dualization of Shendam Road and many township roads across the 3 senatorial districts.

Rural roads also received tremendous attention from Engr. Abdullahi Sule’s administration, as no fewer than 2000 kilometers of rural roads were constructed or rehabilitated in the last 3 years. Again, within this short span of time, Engr. Abdullahi Sule was able to touch the lives of thousands of rural dwellers through the coordinated efforts of some agencies established by the present administration.

On bringing investors to Nasarawa state, Engr. Abdullahi Sule has done a lot, such that today Nasarawa state is gradually becoming an investor’s destination, as local and foreign investors are now scrabbling for government attention. Nothing speaks more to this than the investments submit organized a few months ago in Lafia, where prospective investors are looking to invest in the state’s abundant solid mineral deposits. The Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu town hall meeting held in Lafia Thursday provided another opportunity for Engr Sule and indeed, the good people of Nasarawa state to leverage Tinubu’s template to explore the more solid minerals deposits abounding in the state.  

Without fear of being immodest, Engr. Abdullahi Sule has achieved much within his first tenure. In view of these, it has indeed become incumbent on us to support all the APC candidates from the top to the bottom in this forthcoming general election; anything short of this will amount to churlishness on the part of the people of the state.

We must all work together to ensure that the APC returns to power in the state irrespective of our differences.