Nasarawa Guber Race: One Endorsement, Many Disagreements

Tension has risen to feverish pitch within the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) in Nasarawa State following the recent endorsement of Senator Aliyu Ahmed Wadada by Governor Abdullahi as his preferred aspirant.

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The governor’s announcement during a meeting with his political appointees on Thursday, April 16, was akin to throwing a jar of petrol on burning dry leaves with the ensuing inferno now raging, which analysts believe, will be too difficult to control.

The announcement, which the governor said was the outcome of “exhaustive consultations” with “stakeholders”, has brought the seeming rift between Wadada and former Inspector General of Police, Mohammed Abubakar Adamu, the two frontline contenders to the APC governorship ticket, into  an open war that is currently stifling the political atmosphere in the state, and polarised the party into camps.

Beyond the duo, other key contenders such as former executive vice chairman of the National Agency for Science and Engineering Infrastructure (NASENI), Professor Mohammad Sani Haruna and former executive director of the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHDA), Dr. Faisal Shuaib, have also raised dust over Governor Sule’s decision to personally back an aspirant in the race for the party’s ticket. Both Haruna and Shuiab are believed to be also aspirants to beat with strong support base, until the latter withdrew from the race and picked the nomination and expression of interest forms to vie for the Nasarawa West senatorial ticket of the party.

Among the aspirants, former IGP Adamu has been more combative and forthright in his stance over the governor’s action, which he described as a calculated attempt to impose a candidate on the stakeholders ahead of the party’s primaries, vowing to resist the move.

Like the endorsement, the alleged presentation of the preferred aspirant to President Bola Tinubu at the Presidential Villa by Governor Sule further heightened the discontent within the fold with Adamu lashing out over the development.

Like Adamu, a former governor of the state, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, also faulted the endorsement and the visit to the Villa by Governor Sule and Senator Wadada, describing the development as hasty.

However, Governor Sule defended his choice, insisting that the succession process was based on broad engagement and not a unilateral endorsement.

He noted that Al-Makura’s grouse was that he took Wadada to the Villa without involving him. Sule explained that his supposed visit to the Villa with Wadada which caused so much hype in certain quarters was coincidental, stressing that he went to see the president alone.

“I actually went to the Villa on a different subject, mainly because of a by-election, and Senator Wadada also was at the Villa at the same time,” he stated.

The Calm Before The Storm

The current crisis is a tell-tale sign of  discontent that has continued to build up even before INEC released the timetable for the general elections.

Many political office seekers, especially on the governing party’s platform, have arrived on the stage early, struggling to replace Governor Sule barely two years into his second term. All was initially calm until the retired IGP entered the scene with the might that left the establishment and perceived favorites in awe.

Speculations went round that the former police boss joined the race on the instance of former governor Al-Makura in an alleged orchestrated plan to foil whatever calculation Sule may have muted in the impending power game.

Before his entry, Adamu was said to have maintained a close relationship with the governor so much so that the latter gave him the Secretary to the State Government slot which he gave his younger brother,  Aliyu Ubandoma. Beyond that, one of the former IGP’s sons also served as aide-de-camp to Governor Sule before his eventual promotion and deployment.

So, those familiar with the cordiality were shocked at the supposed frosty relationship between the duo, which started as speculation but nurtured into the public realm by their aides.

The relations further strained when at a stakeholders’ forum in January, Sule emphasised the desirably of sustaining the existing zoning arrangement which allows the governorship seat to be rotated among all the senatorial districts in the state.

He specifically favoured Nasarawa West to take the slot since the rotation which started  from the zone in 1999 has gone round.

He emphasised that zoning fosters fairness, inclusivity and enduring peace among the state’s senatorial districts. The governor, however, stressed that the arrangement  does not exclude anyone’s constitutional right to contest for office, rather, it helps ensure that all zones feel represented and have a stake in the political process.

But Adamu who hails from Nasarawa South rejected zoning, saying the arrangement negates the principle of democratic participation.

“While the governor in his wisdom wants to support somebody from Nasarawa West, and he has a right to do so, my zone, Nasarawa South, is also saying it should be left open,” he said.

According to him, Sule‘s pro-zoning disposition is because he is inclined towards having his successor emerge from Nasarawa West.

However, aspirants from the Keffi zone which make up the western senatorial zone including Dr Shuaib, Prof Haruna, Wadada, Architect Shehu Tukur, Mohammed Maikaya, Musa Ahmed Mohammed and others support the governor’s move, while contenders from both South and North are in favour of democratisation of the seat.

Sule’s action also finds support in the former national chairman of the APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and other stakeholders from the zone.

Zoning Within The Zone

Although aspirants from the western zone were unanimous about the rotation of power to the area, a split later emerged with aspirants from the Nasarawa/Toto axis advocating for micro-zoning of the slot to the area. They include Dr Shuaib, Prof Haruna, Wadada, Mohammed Maikaya, and Musa Ahmed Mohammed.

The argument of the pro-micro-zoning advocates is that the Nasarawa/Toto area has suffered maginalisation in the hands of the Keffi/Kokona axis which produced the first civilian governor and has taken the senatorial slots three times since the current political dispensation in 1999. In the same vein, the Karu axis also wants its son and former NASENI executive vice chairman to take the seat to assuage them over years of being left behind in the scheme of things in the state.

In the end, Sule settled for Wadada after what he said was a painstaking selection effort.

“After exhaustive consultations, the field was eventually narrowed to three aspirants, each of whom was considered capable of winning. Further consultations were conducted before a final decision was reached in favour of senator Wadada,” he said.

Sources close to the inner government circle gave the names of the three aspirants to include Dr. Shuaib. Prof Haruna and Wadada.

The sources said the earlier calculation had favoured Dr. Faisal before the pendulum swung at the last minute following “further consultations”.

With the development, aspirants from the zone individually withdrew from the contest in solidarity, collapsing their structures into that of Wadada, leaving only Prof Haruna in the race from the area.

However, as at Wednesday, a former accountant general of the state, Zakka Yakubu, from Kokona local area within the western zone, also throw his hat into the ring by purchasing the nomination and expression of interest forms.

He told our correspondent in a phone interview that he stands the chance of leading the state on APC platform having sacrificed a lot for the party.

No To Consensus

Both Yakubu and the former IGP have ruled out the possibility of dialogue that would lead to consensus.

“I’m not open to negotiation with anyone on this, I assure you that I’m going into the contest with the intention of winning,” Yakubu declared.

On his part, the director, contact and moblisation of the former IGP’s  campaign council , Mr. Isah Nathaniel, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that his principal would take the party’s ticket through a direct primary option earlier adopted at the stakeholders’ recent meeting in Abuja.

He said the governor’s decision to endorse Wadada was a personal one that is not binding on other card-carrying members of the APC in the state.

“During the forthcoming primary election, we will come out in large numbers to stand behind the ex-IGP Adamu in order to ensure that he succeeds,” he said.

But Wadada has assured that a consensus is possible going by the relationship he enjoys with other aspirants in the race. He vowed to continue to explore the dialogue option until the aim is achieved. He expressed optimism that he can convince the former IG to support his endorsement because “we have come a long way.”

Tough Hurdle For Ex IGP

Despite the advantage of massve grassroots moblisation efforts by the former IGP, the race will no doubt be a difficult one for him, especially with the government might behind Wadada. What this means is that the entire state government machinery will be deployed in the impending battle for the preferred aspirant.

Already, all the 13 local government chairmen in the state have thrown their weight behind Wadada. The ALGON chairman in the state, Sifiyanu Isah Andaha, publicly announced the councils’ endorsement of the governor’s preferred aspirant.

The situation is also compounded by the open allegiance by the state leadership of the party to the governor and his choice.

It’s chairman, Dr  Aliyu Bello, told LEADERSHIP Sunday that the party’s choice was not  different from that of the governor. He said Wadada emerged as the preferred aspirant after wide consultations with stakeholders.