By Correspondent in Lafia.
The Nasarawa State Governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, has called on the people of the State to reject former Information Minister, Labaran Maku in the forthcoming 2023 Governorship election , describing his ambition as selfish.
Speaking through his Senior Special Assistant (SSA) on project monitoring and Evaluation, Governnent House Lafia, Dr Kassim Muh’d Kassim, Governor Sule expressed disappoinment over comment made by Mr Maku, that he (the governor) took over N300 million monthly as security votes without any justification for it.
Speaking on personal note with Journalists on Tuesday in Lafia, Dr Kassim, who is the immediate past state House of Assembly member, expressed disappoinment that Maku who served as commissioner, Deputy Governor in the state, Information Minister and Minister for Defence, remained ignorant about how security votes of a governor was being collected and spent.
Maku had accused Governor Sule of collecting N300m as monthly security votes, about 3.6 billion a year, yet people were being killed , farmers could not go to their farms in Nasarawa State.
Dr Kassim explained that Maku’s allegations had exposed his emptiness before the public and People of the State, adding that his only reasons for seeking to govern the state was to collect security votes and nothing more.
The SSA said: “I was the State House of Assembly committee chairman on security matters, and I know how security votes is shared. People like Maku are still living in the era when security vote was the property of a governor, and he is still living in that era, it is unfortunate that he is ignorance
“In Nasarawa State, security vote doesn’t even get to the Governor in bulk, the SSG’s office collects and shares the money to all the security agencies. It is disappointing that Maku wants to be a governor for security votes but he will be shocked, if he will ever be a governor because the system has been sanitised.”
He described Maku as a serial Governorship aspirant who is seeking blind attention and has not seen anything good in any administration in the state,except the first one he served as Commissioner and Deputy Governor
“Records have shown that Maku has criticised almost all the administrations in Nasarawa State apart from that of Abdullahi Adamu, where he served as commissioner and later Deputy Governor
“He did not oppose the late Aliyu Akwe Doma’s administration because the then President Good luck Jonathan promised to support him become governor after the 2nd tenure of Governor Doma, but unfortunately, both Doma and Jonathan lost re-election which truncated Maku’s Governorship ambition”
“It is on records that prior to the coming into office by the Sule administration, there had been security challenges between herders/farmers mostly in the southern zone, the Egbira/Bassa communal Crisis in the western zone which claimed several lives and destroy properties
“But the coming of Governor Sule has brought permanent peace in the areas and the worrying groups have embraced the peace initiative of Governor Sule.
“Banditry and other criminal activities which used to be the order of the day in the state is now a thing of the past, courtesy of Governor Sule and massive investment have been attracted into the state which has taken alot of youths off the street”
He urged the people of the State to disregard Maku’s allegations and be careful with him, noting that his quest to govern the state was for selfish reasons and should be rejected in 2023 same way he was rejected in 2015 and 2019 respectively.
