Since the restoration of democracy in 1999,Nasarawa state have produced so many Governors.,some achieved less with much resources, others talked less but achieved much with less resources, but others talked much and achieved less despite spendous resources at their disposal while others left much to be desired, But all of them have in one way or the other had contributed to the development of the state, and added value to the lives of Nasarawa citizens within the circumstances they found themselves.
But there is no time in the history of the state, when the people are so unlucky to,elect a lousy Governor who always talked before he thinks and whose words you cannot take to the bank like now.our Governor is not only known for talking too much but also known for inconsistencies,contradictory statements, unguarded utterances and addicted to cameras at all times but mostly ended up contradicting himself and leaving his listeners more confused than he met them.
In the last 7 years of his administration, Governor Abdullahi sule have break records in Nigera political history interms of television appearances by appearing endlessly on cameras of various television stations more than all Nigeria current Governors put together and deserved to go into Guinness book of record.infact,television appearances seems to have over the years become part his administration vision for the people of Nasarawa state at the expense of good governance and lean resources of the state,which would have been used to add value to the lives of the citizens
Sadly enough,most of his appearances are irrelevant to the needs and development of Nasarawa state, and mostly focused on party interest and defending the president at the detriment of the common man,who were force to bear the brunt of this Government that makes them beggers in their own country, All in a bid to endeared himself to the heart of president Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and other party hierarchy, the same Tinubu,he never believed in,and worked against him at the APC presidential primaries in the build up to 2023 election in favour of Osibanjo
The Governor over the years have successfully taken over the job of not only the spoke persons of the president but also that of his information commissioners and press secretaries who were neglected, abondoned and made to be redundant except for one or two media aides who were left at the mercy of Facebook and other social media platforms and if you take hem out of this Government the entire media structure of this administration will crumble and become a ghost of itself just because we have a Governor that claims to knows everything.
Unfortunately for him,despite his unnecessary appearances on cameras of every television stations in the country which have become more like his weekly routine most Nigerians and citizens of Nasarawa state, don’t take him serious or believed his words due to his penchant for talking from both side of his mouth.He has a reputation for saying one thing in the morning and before evening,,he will either contradict himself or denied making any statement earlier in the morning that is not an hallmark of a good leader .
A leader supposed to be mindful of his words and actions at all times and their implications. His words should not only be reliable but should also engandered trust, confidence and believed not the other way round but the reverse seems to be the case in Nasarawa state in the last 7 years of the present administration in the state. Governance is not about empty noise making neither is it about television appearances nor exaggerated figures and claims on National televisions but it is about how Government policies and programmes truly impacted on the lives of the ordinary citizens.
All these can be avoided if a leader learnt to talk less and only when it is necessary and focus more on governance than politics.lets your work speaks for you not rhetorics or propaganda.The Governor penchant for reckless utterances and his true colour manifested few months after he was made Governor. When asked a simple question which required careful and intelligent respond sule decided to shoot a salvo at those who helped him became Governor and the citizens who showed concerned at his Government direction daring them to go to hell saying he don’t need second term.in his words.
” it never scared me and it will never do, and I meant it from the bottom of my heart. If I do one term wallah tallahi I will leave and go and retired either in America or in Saudi Arabia or this and lived my life peacefuly and enjoyed myself.I know no EFCC,no police will call me because am not spending one of your money ,am not stealing it, so one term for what? To hell with one term yes one term” He re- echoed.
But despite this pomposity,empty noise and bragging he had not only seek for second but he was also seen running from pillar to post, in a desperate efforts to retained his seat which he almost lost to PDP in 2023 election which would have make him history by now if not for the supreme court judgement that came to his rescued.Even at that,APC which was handed over to, him in good shape lost all the 3 senetorial seats in the state, 3 out of 5 House of Reps seats and many Assembly seats the worst performanced by the party since 2015.
Similarly while speaking at a retreat organised for his newly appointed commissioners in Akwanga upon assumption to office in 2019, and when he also received speakers of the legislative councils of the 13 local Governments who visited him at Government House Lafia, Governor Abdullahi sule accussed his benefactor Distinguish Senetor Umaru Tanko Almakura,of leaving a huge debt of 18.9bn to his administration which he said is affecting the smooth running of his administration.
But when the issue was reported by various National dailies and other media platforms sule next point of call was Almakura resident where he met with him to denied making such statement and urged his predecessor to ignored the report claiming to have a greater respect for him and what he did to Nasarawa state during his time as Governor and also debunked the report when he talked to journalists and said.
” At no time have I stated that there was a debt of over 18bn taken by Almakura administration and that it had stopped the running of Government,.for the purpose of clarifications I mentioned to stakeholders during the recent retreat for public office holders that we should tightens our belts inview of the expenses ahead and reductions in revenue accruing to the state from the federation account ”
” I mentioned the need for us to all wake up and improved in our revenue based inorder to continued to prosper as a state .I mentioned that currently we are having some deductions from our allocations due to the Federal Government intervations such as bail out which is not peculiar to Nasarawa state ,As far as such debts are concerned there is none taken by Almakura and handed over to this administration.you can’t called bail out debt,you can’t called budget support debt because these are intervations given to states by the Federal Government to be deducted ”
Still on his inconsistencies and contradictictory nature, and without being force Governor sule in an interview with Channels television informed the world that he won’t contest for senete seat at the end of his 8 years tenure as Governor when he said” This I can tell you categorically today AA sule will not go to the senete after being a Governor for 8 years you can take it from me confidently not the kind f question they asked me hypothetically you can save this tape and play it one day ”
But what is the situation today? Governor sule is not only in the ballot today as APC senetorial flagbearer for Nasarawa North, but have since inagurated his campaign council and committed alot of resources into his senetorial campaign and even few days ago,he constituted his independent campaign council where he donated 5m naira to them thereby going back to his vomit.is that the kind of leader you will trust and take his words serious? The answer is no.
Leadership is all about confronting challenges and solving them that is why one is elected as a leader and without those challenges one has no business being a leader.when Almakura took over the affairs of Nasarawa state in 2011,he met virtually an empty treasury with intimidated debt profile of 40bn hanging on the neck of the state Government. AS if that was not bad enough, there was minimum wage crisis and the state Government was borrowing 850m monthly before being able to paid salaries due to banks debts incurred for wage bill not to talked of controversial Paris club refunds which created a hole in Government coffers.
Almakura also inherited a completely grounded and decayed state with absence of Basic infrastructures with most sectors of the state on a life supports.even Lafia the state capital was like a glorified local Government headquarter unbeffiting of its status as a state capital.The Education sector was in coma with gates of all tertiary institutions in the state under locks and keys with heath and other sectors in shambles,a state without a single asphalt road apart from the Federal high way that passed through Akwanga- lafia – makurdi constructed many decades ago.
But Almakura never raised alarm ,complained or blamed his predecessor or any other administration before him, knowing fully that, Government is a continuous process and that he was elected to make a difference not to apportioned blames he immediately swung into actions to fulfilled his promises to the people of Nasarawa state, and within few months of his focus and visionary leadership ,he raised the bar of governance and turned Nasarawa into a model of good governance and infrastructural development in Nigeria with his footprints scattered across all sectors to the disbelieved of most people without noise making.
To be continued .