Tread with caution, Gov Al-makura
Your Excellency Sir, it is with the greatest sense of respect that I write to you today through this channel, to plead with you, being the current leader of the entire citizens of Nasarawa State, to sheath your sword in this unfortunate public recriminations between you and the Senator representing Nasarawa West in the National Assembly, Alhaji Abdullahi Adamu, also an eminent citizen of your state. Although I’m a native of Plateau State, and therefore, only a distant observer of happenings within Nasarawa State, I still feel obliged to make this plea, not only to you Sir, but particularly to you for reasons I’ll explain later in my short open letter to you. I don’t foreclose the possibility of backdoor interventions by eminent citizens of Nasarawa State to put an end to these retorts, which, surely, have been great sources of embarrassment to countless citizens of your state. However, I chose to write to you in particular, and through an open letter because I sincerely believe that you have much more to lose in these reproaches, and that I may strike a chord.
Your Excellency, much as I’ve known and read through the media, the crux of your tit-for-tat with Senator Adamu in the past few weeks, is the choice of who to succeed you at the expiration of your two terms in Office as Governor of Nasarawa State by 29th of May, 2019. While you are said to have anointed Alhaji Abdullahi Sule, an engineer who has worked for the Dangote Industries as Managing Director at its sugar arm, I truly don’t know the actual person that Senator Adamu is sympathetic to amongst the 12 other governorship aspirants in your party, the All Progressives Congress (APC). All I care about, however, is that the seeming endless public strewing of darts between the two of you is most unfortunate, embarrassing, and must be halted immediately. My reasons are simple: One, a lot of citizens, including political jobbers have become atrophied by cynicism and mistrust of government and people in government. Among the major reasons for this development is the abysmal governance, poor representation, as well as lack of internal democracy in our nation’s political parties, most especially the major parties. Much as elections are pivotal to deepening democracy, the process of identifying party candidates for elective positions is also central to the success of democratic governance. And from my reading of Senator Adamu’s position, he simply wants you to allow for level playing field amongst the 13 governorship aspirants. I think that is not too much to ask for from you. In fact, the senator, for me, is only helping to ensure that you leave behind a good name after your exit in a few months to come.
Secondly, you were recently reported to have denied allegations that you received N10 billion from Aliko Dangote to impose Abdullahi Sule as the sole gubernatorial candidate of the APC. Besides, you also reportedly assured all APC aspirants of level playing field in the process of selecting those to fly your party’s tickets for various elective positions in your state. “Government (by implication you as Governor) is going to be a father to all aspirants. Government will allow a level playing field to all contestants at the poll”, you said at a stakeholders’ forum in Lafia. Then, why the feud? Remember, what destroys a political party is imposition of candidates on the people. That was what dealt a deathly blow at the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), which is now finding it difficult to recover. Again, remember that you faced a similar challenge that Senator Adamu is against in your race under the PDP against Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma (now late), before you joined the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) to defeat him (Doma). Sir, history has a very funny way of repeating itself, often deriding people who fail to learn from the bitter experiences of their predecessors.
Lastly Your Excellency, you will be doing greater disservice to the people of Nasarawa State if you deprive them of the possibility of producing a President of the Senate, should the APC form a majority in the Senate in 2019 and decide to zone the Senate Presidency to the North Central. Adamu, being a ranking senator, can be chosen as Senate President. The young man serving as Commissioner of Education in your cabinet, Alhaji Tijani Aliyu Mohammed, whom you allegedly tapped at the last minute to contest against Senator Adamu, will only be a novice in the Legislature, if elected. Then why discountenance the eight years’ experience of Senator Adamu, besides his political sagacity, gait and panache for a rookie, simply because of a disagreement over a governorship candidate? Please Sir, reconsider your stance. Don’t let posterity judge you harshly for depriving one of the best from your state an opportunity to ascend to such high position of Senate President, just on the altar of ego.
Your Excellency, I thought it’s necessary for me to pen this to you, hoping that it strikes a chord, as I said earlier.
Dunhu wrote this piece from Abuja.