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From Abel Leonard, Lafia
With the date of the general elections fast approaching and political campaigns for the governorship race in Nasarawa State intensifies, Governor Abdullahi Sule seems to be up against another hurdle for his reelection bid on the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Political observers believe that more tension is expected to grip Governor Sule who is seeking reelection for a second term on the platform of APC should the move by NNPP to form alliance with the chief opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) become a reality.
The battle line had since been drawn on November 28 and 29, 2022 as these three major political parties had flagged off their campaigns in Toto, Karu and Keffi Local government areas of the state to test their acceptability by the people of the state.
The three political parties, APC, PDP and NNPP in the state had staged their political rallies in the three geopolitical zones of the state and had witnessed a mammoth crowed in each of the 13 local government areas of the state.
According to feelers, the internal wrangling in the APC had put the governor, Abdullahi Sule under pressure to discipline hanky panky members, considering the responses received during the campaign to the three geopolitical zones, Nasarawa West, North and South.
There are strong indications that the governor is not in charge of the party structure in the state as many party faithful had left the party as their posters are everywhere with the inscriptions of other political party’s logos and names.
The recent is the defection of the majority leader of the state House of Assembly, Tanko Tunga representing Awe North constituency to the Social Democratic Party as a result of a reported doctored delegate list during the APC primaries.
Earlier, the likes of Abubakar Dahiru, present House of Reps member, Sen. Godya Akwashiki, Muhammed Muluku, Agah, Ahmed Wadada, Gaza Gbeifi, present House of Reps member and many others had moved to join NNPP, SDP, to continue their political pursuit.
Confirming the internal wrangling, former governor of the state, senator representing Nasarawa South constituency, Sen. Tanko Almakura, had said there are issues in the party especially after the primaries as many who were aggrieved as a result of some irregularities decided to leave the party.
“Yes I will not say there are no issues in the party, it is a political party and it is normal to see this kind of things happening but we as major stakeholders are trying to keep the party together.
“We have tried to convince some to remain in the party and some had decided to move on to pursue their political career which is part of their right; you can’t stop them.
“It is their right to move on if they feel they could not stay in the party but at our level, we will try and keep the party together and ensure that we support all the candidate from bottom to top so as to come out strong in the 2023 elections in the state,” he said.
It is on this note that the governor read a riot act in Lafia on Thursday, 5th January, 2023 at a meeting with his cabinet members and the State Working Committee (SWC) of the governing party among others.
The governor had handed a warning to all his appointees on receiving information of anti party activities engaged by some party members as many of his appointees are seen romancing with the opposition parties in the state.
The governor warned that as the leader of the party in the state, he cannot fold his arms and watch while some officials throw caution to the winds and engage in anti-party activities.
“We represent this party, we are the eyes of this political party.
“We are the ones that promote this political party. None of us should be seen promoting another party outside APC,” the governor warned.
According to some political observers, opposition parties are meeting on a daily basis towards ensuring that Governor Sule does not come back; this is glaring from their various manifesto which explains how desperate they want the present administration out of power.
There are three key political parties with their candidates viewing for the number one seat of the state, David Ombugadu of the PDP, Abdullahi Yakubu Maidoya of the New Nigerian Peoples party, NNPP and Joseph Ewuga of the Labour party, LP.
The PDP is the major opposition party that had gone toe to toe with the APC in both the 2015, 2019 general election which the APC had won in those elections and the PDP has been runners up in both elections.
The PDP had kick-started their campaign in style as it witnessed a mammoth crowd on October 29, 2022 in Toto local government area as some of the policy statements made on that day were centred on the need for the people to reject APC for failure to provide basic amenities to its citizens as poverty, hunger, insecurity corruption, mismanagement of funds was topic of discussion.
Ombugadu during the party rally particularly advised the voters to reject the current APC-led administration, alleging that the APC was “a party of injustice”.
He said: “The APC is a party of injustice; that is why aspirants from the state are aggrieved, some defected to other parties and some are in court petitioning their national chairman of the change of delegates list prior to the primary election.
“The aspirants protested after discovering that people in power had substituted names of the genuine delegates with cronies that will help them rig the primaries.”
The collaboration of all PDP stakeholders in the state during the part rally of Tuesday, January 10, 2023 in Akwanga Local government area had further doused the tension of the former insinuation that the party was not united in the state.
In the voice of Labaran Maku, the Director General of the PDP campaign council in the state, stressing that it is time for the PDP to take over the state as they have resolved all grey areas that were affecting supporters and stakeholders of the party.
“we are now united, you could see all the stakeholders are here, founders of PDP in Nasarawa State, so nobody should deceive you that we are not united; we are a united and one big family”, he said
Another surprised candidate who is also making waves in the state in terms of campaigns and mobilisation from the grassroots as reported by so many sources in the rural areas of the state is the candidate of the New Nigeria Peoples party candidate, Abdullahi Maidoya who is applying community to community campaign strategy.
According to Maidoya, the only thing that is in his mind is to see the present governor vacate Government House after the governorship election as he had enumerated lack of efficient governance, poverty, hardship, insecurity, unequal distribution of appointments, lack of respect for traditional institutions in the state among other issues.
