From: Linus Oota, Lafia
Some aggrieved stakeholders and elders from Nasarawa south senatorial districts have allegedly ganged up against the senatorial ambition of Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura come 2019.
It is already public knowledge that Governor Al-makura intends to move from the Government House Lafia to the upper chamber of the national assembly when he completes his tenure on May 29, 2019.
Speaking exclusively to our correspondent, on Wednesday, in Lafia, a senior stakeholder and chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC) from the southern senatorial district, Alhaji Haruna Adamu, accused Al-makura of running a one-man show as governor, arguing that retiring to the senate is far from the nudge of the people for qualitative representation based on antecedent and the believe that his candidature can deliver democracy dividend.
According to him: “the governor has failed the people with his poor leadership style, the state has collapsed, Almakura’s administration has brought poverty and hunger in the state, there is a disconnection between his leadership and the followership
“Hunger and poverty have no political party, hunger and poverty have no religion, as they go to the same market, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people but what we have in Nasarawa State is government of the greedy, by the greedy and for the greedy, we are tired of this poverty government, so let him forget about senate because the people are ready to disgrace him” he said
The party chieftain said that all the projects the governor claimed to have executed are done by him through his companies “that is corruption, how can you award contracts to companies you have interest in, he thinks we are fools but we are waiting for him at the bus stop “
Alhaji Adamu said that the governor thinks there might be no politician in the district that can match his political and financial clout is unfortunate, noting that the people will put party sentiments aside to vote massively against him at the polls.
He describe recent appointments by the governor which favours southern zone just to get their support as a charade, adding that his ambition to go to the senate is not born out of a genuine desire to serve the people of the south.
“If he likes, let him appoints all the commissioners, head of agencies, special advisers and assistants to the southern zone for his selfish interest, it won’t work, the Alago people can’t afford to lose the senate seat, all the people he is appointing cannot deliver their own polling units to him, the man has not empowered anybody, none of his commissioners can afford to dash out N10,000 so how can they influence electorates to vote for him, they poor as church rats
“We recently held a meeting of the Alago and Tiv people who constitutes the majority in the zone where the plot to stop the governor’s senatorial ambition in 2019 was conceived, the meeting was across party lines and most of the elders who attended express regret for supporting Almakura’s emergence as governor” he said
He said that members of the APC in the zone have agreed to pull out and vote for any opposition party at the poll, stressing that many of the disgruntled elders express dismay that even some political appointees who should have reach out to APC members at the grass roots have kept complaining of cash crunch.
Efforts to reach the new chief press secretary to the governor Musa Elayo fails as his phone number were not going through but when contacted, the state APC secretary Mr Aliyu Bello said the same fellows said the governor was not going to win the second term but he won
He said that the governor will not be distracted by the antics of detractors, adding that when the time comes, the governor will defeats all his opponent on the first ballot to secure the southern senatorial seat “already we are strategizing on how to defeat them at the poll, the governor has provided all the state working committee of the party with official vehicles and the party is deeply involved in the running of the state” he said