By Rayyanu Bala

The article titled “Nasarawa: When You Have a Noisemaker as Governor” does not make for interesting reading because it mistakes communication for incompetence and publicity for failure. For the avoidance of doubt, Governor Abdullahi A. Sule has every right to speak about his administration’s achievements, particularly in an era when governments are expected to communicate their policies, projects, and accomplishments to the people.
The real question should not be, “Why is the governor talking so much?” The more important question is, “Is there anything to show for the talking?”
For the people of Nasarawa State, the answer is clearly yes.
In the last seven years, the administration of Governor Abdullahi Sule has undertaken numerous projects and initiatives across infrastructure, education, healthcare, agriculture, industrialisation, road construction, urban renewal, and human capital development. Whether one agrees with every policy of the administration or not, it is difficult to honestly argue that nothing has been achieved.
If a government executes projects, attracts investments, improves infrastructure, and introduces programmes intended to improve the lives of citizens, why should it be forbidden from telling the people about those achievements?
There is an old wisdom attributed to the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the Sardauna of Sokoto. At the commissioning of the New Nigerian Newspapers in Kaduna in 1965, he observed that the world had become so complex that if a person did not blow his own trumpet, nobody would blow it for him because everybody would be busy blowing his or her own.
The essence of that wisdom remains relevant today.
If you achieve something, tell the people. If you build something, show the people. If your administration attracts investment, let the public know. If your policies produce results, communicate those results.
That is precisely what Governor Sule is doing.
In today’s Nigeria, political communication is not a noise. It is part of governance. A government may construct roads, schools, hospitals, or industrial facilities, but if citizens do not know about them, those achievements can easily be drowned out by political propaganda from opponents.
The governor, therefore, has every reason to communicate his administration’s achievements. He is not “making noise”; he is simply blowing the trumpet of his administration’s accomplishments, exactly as the Sardauna’s famous counsel suggests.
Muazu Abari also takes exception to Governor Sule’s frequent appearances on television. But television appearances, in themselves, are not evidence of bad governance. In fact, a governor who is willing to subject himself to public questioning and explain his policies on national platforms can be said to be making himself available to the public.
The standard should be the substance of what he says and whether his claims can be tested against reality.
And that is where the argument against Governor Sule becomes weak.
Nasarawa State, under the Sule administration, has witnessed developments that deserve public discussion. The administration has pursued road construction and rehabilitation, educational interventions, healthcare projects, urban development, and industrial initiatives. It has also aggressively promoted Nasarawa as an investment destination.
The administration’s industrialisation agenda, including its efforts around the Nasarawa industrial ecosystem and the attraction of private investment, represents a deliberate attempt to move the state away from dependence on federal allocations.
Instead of dismissing every public statement by the governor as “noise,” critics should ask whether the projects exist, whether they are useful, and whether the people are benefiting from them.
That is how governance should be assessed.
The comparison with previous administrations should also be made fairly. Every governor inherits a different economic environment, different federal policies, different revenue circumstances, and different challenges. The fact that one administration faced particular difficulties does not automatically mean another administration must face exactly the same circumstances.
Governor Sule inherited a state with its own challenges and has attempted to respond to them according to his own vision.
Muazu Abari is also entitled to criticise the governor’s political decisions, including his statements concerning a second term or his decision to seek another political office. But changing political circumstances and changing personal decisions do not automatically invalidate an administration’s achievements.
Politicians, like other human beings, can reconsider their decisions. What matters is the legacy they leave behind.
And that legacy should be determined by evidence, not by Muazu Abari’s antics or the antics of his sponsors.
If Governor Sule talks about a road, let us inspect the road. If he talks about a school, let us visit the school. If he talks about an investment, let us examine the investment. If he talks about healthcare, let us assess the facilities. If he talks about industrialisation, let us ask how many businesses have been attracted, how many jobs have been created, and what economic value has been generated.
It is, therefore, unfair to portray every television appearance as evidence that the governor has abandoned governance for publicity. In modern democratic governance, communication is itself part of governance. Citizens have a right to know what their government is doing, and governments have a responsibility to communicate with them.
Indeed, the absence of communication can be just as damaging as poor governance because achievements that are not properly communicated can easily be misrepresented, ignored, or appropriated by others.
So rather than asking Governor Sule to stop talking, Muazu Abari’s sponsors should commend him for taking Nasarawa State to the next level and exceeding expectations. Recognising and appreciating his achievements is not a sign of weakness; rather, it is a sign of patriotism.
But calling a governor a “noisemaker” simply because he frequently tells Nasarawa citizens about what his administration is doing does not make him a noisemaker.
The Sardauna’s lesson remains instructive here: in a competitive world, an achiever must not be afraid to tell people that he has achieved.
Governor Abdullahi Sule is doing exactly that. He is telling the citizens of Nasarawa State, “I am an achiever.”
Whether one likes his style of communication or not, the people of Nasarawa State deserve to hear about the projects, policies, and investments being undertaken in their name.
Let the governor blow his trumpet.
Let the opposition blow theirs.
And let the people of Nasarawa State be the judges of which trumpet is producing music and which one is producing noise.