By Ibrahim Habu Suleiman

isturbed by the upsurge of declarations by politicians, particularly from the ruling APC, of candidates against 2027 elections the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, has announced that it is illegal to start declaring candidates against forthcoming elections midway into their tenure. Speaking to BBC, the Spokesperson of INEC, Hajiya Zainab Aminu, stated that there are laws guiding electoral activities in the country, pointing out that the proper legal way is for political parties to allow those in power to fulfil all their promises before deciding on who to declare as candidates.
Quoting section 94 (1) of the electoral laws, Hajiya Zainab explained that political parties should only declare their candidates with five months left to the elections. INEC expressed dissatisfaction with the attitude of the APC state governors, national legislators and other top government functionaries for flaunting the laws when they unanimously declared President Bola Tinubu as their sole candidate for 2027 election midterm into his first term in office. The question is: what use are the electoral laws if those violating the laws are not made responsible for their actions or/and punished accordingly?
Of course, the upsurge of campaigns by politicians declaring those still serving their terms as the ruling party’s candidates for 2027 at this point in time contributes immensely in making them fail woefully in fulfilling their promises to the people. In addition those prematurely declared as sole candidates, especially for a second term, usually end up only serving their pockets so as to pay those who must have campaigned for them. In this scenario the totally forgotten masses of the population are made to suffer.
In fact, INEC needs to do something more about those APC governors, the legislators and the top functionaries in the party who wilfully violate the laws to serve as deterrent (so that such violations are not allowed to go down to the states and local government levels) to others.
The country today is witnessing a socio-economic balkanization into the haves and the have-nots. And the population of the have-nots has soared in the last few years. The vast majority of the population are facing unprecedented hardship as a result of the skyrocketing prices of food stuffs and other consumables. Those who feel it know it. Of course, this is not unconnected with the hyperinflation triggered by the removal of fuel subsidy by President Bola Tinubu on his first day of resumption of office in May, 2023.
Apart from isolated cases from time to time Nasarawa State is more or less generally peaceful compared to other neighbouring states, like Benue and Plateau, that are consistently engulfed in one violent attack or the other resulting in the loss of hundreds of innocent lives. Although the state government would prefer to take all the credit, we must, as believers, first of all really thank Almighty God for that and be more prayerful against the worst.
Indeed, Nasarawa is not immune to the happenings in the neighbouring states. The state has its own challenges. But the differences in such determining factors as tribe and/or religion are shared by most if not all the major tribes and religions that abound. However, years of living together have minimized the negative instincts responsible for tribal and religious conflicts, making the people wiser and turning their attention to their differences in class structure between the haves and the have-nots.
Governor Abdullahi A. Sule recently became a toast in the media not just over his much trumpeted transformative Leadership Qualities but for his alleged interest in vying for the Senate in his Nasarawa North senatorial district. Of course, the governor has denied that he indicated any interest in the position, while those allegedly campaigning for him have also withdrawn from the exercise. In a chat with the Director General Nasarawa State Pension Bureau, Alhaji Sule Musa Nagogo, he said he has since refrained from any further calls for the Governor to represent their senatorial district come 2027 after a meeting with him. Nevertheless such illegal declarations have become rife in the social media with many more individuals coming out to declare their own candidates, even as INEC has come out to say that such declarations are against the electoral laws.
Of course, while not categorically opposed to Governor Sule in his struggles to chart his own course of governance, it is wrong to jump to conclusions that he has been carrying the masses of the population in the state all along. In fact his policies towards improving the general welfare of the people have had little if any general impact. Unemployment among the youths is still monumental; instead of going down it is on the increase. The governor’s promises to industrialize the state have fizzled out in the face of the increasing hardship caused by fuel subsidy removal and the accompanying inflation triggering high cost of foodstuff and other consumables. Hunger and destitution are rife across the state and the entire country as well. Equally his goal of ensuring that petroleum is drilled from the state is commendable, but it should not be done at the expense of the welfare of the masses.
Engineer A. A. Sule has often thumped his chest saying that his tenure from the very beginning has not witnessed any shortfall in money as he has never taken any loans to execute his programmes, nor does he owe anybody. This should serve as a confirmation that the civil servants, said to be the engine room of government, and the retirees/pensioners have all been taken care of in terms of payments of at least their monthly salaries, pensions and accompanying arrears. But this is not exactly the case. Although civil servants have been settled with almost all their arrears of salaries and promotions, pensioners still have cases of arrears of their pension accruing over the years still not attended to.
This is among the many promises the governor made on assumption of office about six years ago that has not been fulfilled. Investigations reveal that the Governor rescinded his pledge to pay the arrears of pensioners accruing since the tenure of his immediate predecessor Umaru Tanko Almakura after seeing the humongous total amount of the arrears.
All efforts by leaders of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners, NUP in the state to convince the government to justify the Governor’s promise by paying the accumulated pension arrears even instalmentally failed, as the Governor has chosen to execute other projects with the money instead of paying the affected retirees their arrears. Many of these pensioners were forced into destitution, while scores more of them died (and still dying) while waiting for their entitlements in vain. There is no justice. So, while equally admitting that the Governor played his part as best as he could, it is only necessary to call a Spade a Spade.
In Nasarawa State today electricity is still only for a select few as the state Electricity Agency set up to oversee the state watches on while the Abuja Electricity Distribution Company, AEDC continues to exploit consumers. The vast majority of the consumers belong to the so-called Band D which provides poor supply occasioned by load shedding as well as occasional power grid failures. Nonetheless, consumers are made to pay a uniform estimated bill of N10,000 (ten thousand naira) rising progressively every month, terminating at N40,000 per month. Only customers with prepaid metres are exempted. Thus, added to high cost of fuel per litre artisans, electricians and others who depend on electricity for their businesses it becomes excruciating just to eke out a living. In other climes where the government truly and honestly serve the people, electricity, without which there can be little or no progressive economic growth and development, is made a priority for all.
A one-time Spokesperson of the old MAMSER, acronym for (Mass Mobilisation for Social justice and Economic Recovery) of yester-years, was asked by a journalist during a question-and-answer session; how far has the country fared following the agency’s mass mobilisation exercise? He replied: “Yes, we’re moving….” And the entire hall burst into laughter. That was, to me, a political answer in a diplomatic language. In fact, most of our political heavy weights from LG chairmen to governors, state and national legislators tend to offer such answers when confronted with questions on their activities, or their future plans. That’s the irony of not calling a Spade a Spade.

Ibrahim Sulaiman is a columnist with Nasarawa Eye and writes from Lafia.