Political miscalculation, religion almost ruined APC chances in Nasarawa -Gov Sule
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, survived the hurricane of the Peter Obi movement that manifested itself during the February 25 election. In this interview on Channels TV Politics Today monitored by David Lawani, the governor attributed the loss of the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the presidential and National Assembly polls to party internal wrangling and religious politics
What is the lesson from the outcome of the election?
Religion played a great factor in this election. I have never expected that our people would descend this low allowing religion to so divide us as a people. You cannot use religion as a basis for choosing leaders in elections. It is the wrong barometer to use. I think that is one of the biggest lessons I have learnt in this election. I think we shall take it upon ourselves in Nasarawa state to educate the people that religion is a relationship between you and your God. But people should not use it during elections. I know religion was a dominant factor all over the country in these just concluded elections but in our state, it was used and abused to the point that it affected the outcome of the elections, especially in the State House of Assembly. So, we are hoping that next time our people will learn from what happened now. I have learnt that it is not the right way to go. I think candidates should be judged by their competence and capacity. Their track records and what they have done in the past should be the yardstick and not the kind of religion or ethnicity a candidate belongs to. But for us in Nasarawa state, Labour Party used religion to the detriment of the ruling party; where churches asked their members to vote for a particular person. It is a dangerous precedent. I pray Nigeria will not see this kind of election again.
Will you say these past elections give you the feeling that the people now have the power to hire and fire?
Certainly, I have that feeling. We have seen that within our party and other political parties. During the last primaries, we have seen situations where popular candidates could not get their party’s tickets. Some powerful elements in these parties stopped these popular candidates from getting their party’s tickets. This scenario played out in many states before the elections. We had this experience in Nasarawa state too. But surprisingly this popular candidate left their parties to pick the tickets of other parties and won the elections in their respective states. So, for us in Nasarawa state, we have always known that power belongs to the people. Because if you remember, we were the only state that used to be CPC. Even Mr President couldn’t deliver Katsina State, but during the 2011 election, Nasarawa was the only state in the federation where we had 20 out of the 24 members of PDP as members of the State House of Assembly and a CPC candidate won the election as a governor. Probably, from that point, we realise that yes, the power belongs to the people. It is in this election that a powerful governor lost his senatorial election, and the people say no to his senatorial ambition. We have seen about five to six governors that lost their senatorial ambition while still in government today. So, I do agree with you that people still have the power to decide who rules them at every given time.
What is the nature of the relationship that exists amongst the ethnic groups in Nasarawa State?
When people come from other places to Nasarawa state to settle down, we graciously welcome them. They bring their wealth and investments, and we appreciate them and even want them to continue. But most of them do not understand the local politics of the state therefore, in most cases, they go the other way during the election. It is understandable. So, if we lost the election to the Labour Party at the presidential level, we believed strongly that it was more or less a movement rather than a political party. It is similar to what I have told you in the past. Again, I will say that Labour Party is not going to replicate what we saw at the presidential level. Did you see anywhere that Labour Party is being mentioned? It was strictly between the APC and the PDP. That is a traditional opposition party to each other in Nasarawa State. We are glad we succeeded and we won the election.
Can you tell the level of investment by other groups in the state? How is it affecting the growth of the state?
I think they will be expecting the completion of some of the things that we have started. We have most of these investors that have come in and they have acquired lands for agriculture. They are just beginning to mobilise to site various equipment and farming tools. Saro and Agricultural Energy including Dangote are on the ground, it is also for the continuation of other projects in the oil and gas industry. In the next seven to eight days, we are going to commence operations here in Nasarawa State.
The Eggon-speaking people of Nasarawa have a lot of numbers. How was it that you lost a lot of ground in the presidential election?
This is one of the unusual things that happened in this recently concluded election. I remember that the national chairman of the party, Senator Abdullahi Adamu lost his polling booth. It is the first time it has ever happened in the history of democracy here in Nigeria. The presence of the national chairman also gives a few people an advantage to do one or two things. The national chairman being a leader and a gentleman did everything humanly possible towards the end of the election especially immediately after the presidential election to unite everybody. It was the same national chairman who came in and gave everybody encouragement for the gubernatorial election. On the day the results were declared he was the one who came in to give everybody encouragement to appreciate everyone. He abandoned everything and returned to his local home. Now he has been able to reunite our people. That help a lot in making sure that we won the election at the Governorship level.
How much effect were the Eggon-speaking people have on the election? This is not the first time that they commanded such a huge number of votes. Have you been able to appeal to those groups that have a huge population in the state?
It is not necessarily the Eggon people that we are talking about. The Igbo people have a sizeable population in the state. Yes, they do. There are a couple of other big local government councils including Lafia and Akwanga which is my local government and a few others. Eggon is just one local government council. It is the same thing with the Alago nation. It is the same thing with the Hausa-Fulani. They are a huge number in the state. It is the same thing if you go from one tribe to the other. Any tribe that believes only that tribe can constitute a government in Nasarawa state, I think that tribe is making a mistake. Because no one tribe can do it alone. The trouble we had in the last election was not necessarily from the Eggon people. It was religious politics that brought another dimension to the election. You will remember there were four Muslims and one Christian running. That also was used. But unfortunately since after the election, I have been doing everything possible as the number one citizen student to unite the people. We are one state in the same house, you will find Muslims, Christians, and others who do not care about any of the two religions. So, the moment we begin to introduce religion, and ethnicity into politics, it will only draw us backward. I have done everything possible. I even addressed the people this evening and I told them to come back and let us unite so that we can build our state.
What is happening to the oil well discovered in the state?
In the next week, we are going to do what has been done in Bauchi and Gombe where the first oil well is going to be drilled. Nasarawa is a state with great potential and we are working toward that direction. So, we cannot allow the interest of any particular ethnic group or any religious group whatsoever to affect our state. That has been my call. It has been what I have been doing. Some individuals take advantage of either religion or ethnicity when they believed it will work for them. But this time, it didn’t work. This is not the first time that had been used. The issue of Eggon and Christians has been used since 2007. But we understand our elections. It was used very badly but it has not worked. My brothers from the other side will now understand that religion or ethnicity will not help you. You should come in and carry everybody along so that there will be a platform for you to be able to build a state. That is what we are using and it has brought us to where we are.
