Nasarawa state Governor Abdulllahi A. Sule has admitted that the controversy generated by the Muslim/Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress (APC) presidential candidate, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his running mate, Senator Kashim Shettima, posed a huge challenge to his re-election bid.
He also warned against politics of religion, saying no nation survives any way instigated by religion.
Sule, who contested on the APC platform during the governorship election, spoke Thursday at a parley with select journalists in Abuja.
He said: “Our story started with some internal rancor within the APC. First, a Muslim – Muslim ticket is a huge challenge for us in Nasarawa state. That’s number one. Number two, we were having our internal fights, because you know Nasarawa state has a huge concentration of Christians, we need to understand that.
“So I knew from day one, that the Muslim Muslim ticket was going to be a huge challenge. But as a party, once a decision is made, you have to get up and just work hard towards a successful accomplishment.”
Speaking further on the danger of religious politics, he said: “I pray Nigeria does not derail into religious politics. That’s my prayer. Because this last election, as far as we are concerned, especially in our state, is purely religious politics. We had only a few of the other people who don’t care, they voted across religious lines. They said that I had a lot of people who were Muslims that came and told me they would vote for me and did it. You know, so it is not just the fault of the other side, it is also our fault.
“So the idea is, it doesn’t happen again, because if it continues like this, no nation survives a religious crisis. Lebanon did not survive. Azerbaijan did not survive it, and Bosnia did not survive it. Nigeria is more volatile than some of those countries. So, I pray Nigeria does not run into a religious crisis. There is a lot of work that we need to do, and you are part of that work that will be done to discourage this.”
Sule also said the decision to drop some notable party chieftains seeking elective office too was another challenge he had to contend with as the APC governorship candidate in the state.
He described as sellable a sitting federal lawmaker and another party chieftain dropped by APC, saying it was a decision the duo knew he had no hand in.
“Luckily for me, most of those who were kicked out did not see me as the person responsible for being kicked out. So, I knew they were going to work for me. They were going to work to win their elections, but I knew they were going to work for me. So I was not panicking, but other people who didn’t know this were panicking. But for me, I was not panicking. I didn’t also want to come out publicly to keep telling people that they will vote for me because people will say anti-party.
“So I got myself in that bracket again, but because they have told me themselves that if we wanted to challenge you we will run for governor. We’re not running for governor, but for other positions, because we still believe in you. And since we believe in you, we will work for you,” the governor said.
On the voting pattern, Governor Sule said: “A good example is Keffi. In Keffi during the national elections, APC lost Keffi woefully, but in the governorship election, APC got 16,000 votes ahead of the second in the governorship elections. APC got about 26,000, then PDP got about 10,000. So those are the kinds of things that you will see in so many other places.
“We also have a problem because of that issue of religion, predominantly. So, we had three Muslims, that were running,, myself, the one of SDP, the NNPP, there is also PRP. So, we have only one Christian candidate in a state that you can almost say is 50/50 Muslim, Christian.
“So, if not that we’re lucky, we had a lot of Christians that believe in us. If they had gone religious, like straight out, we would have lost the election. Because we(Muslims) will be splitting our own while the other candidate will have a block vote.
“So, you can see that we have some people who may not be Muslims but believed in us. And so, for that reason, when the results of Christian-dominated areas like Karu were coming out, people who didn’t understand the politics of this state were panicking. But Lafia has not come out. Lafia is predominantly Muslim and predominantly Kanuri, you know, my tribe. And Lafia was going to produce the highest number of votes in the whole state, it has been like that in history.
“So, since Lafia was not out, and so many people in the country that called me looked like we have lost this election, I said no, Lafia is not yet out. At that time, they were just leading by about 3000 votes and some of them were celebrating, and you can’t celebrate when the Lafia result is not out.
“So, the opposition up till now, does not understand what is happening. That is why they are saying they have rigged the elections. In 2019, I got 80,000 votes in Lafia, and PDP got around 39,000. This time around because of the amount of registration, I got over 100,000 votes. They are just worried that how can you get only 80,000 votes then and now over 100,000 votes?
“The bone of contention in their going to court is based on this, you are not worried about the 80,000 votes, but they are worried about the 27,000 that is addition. And you are not concerned about the huge number of this. And we went to Duma, they say, okay, I lost in my local government. Yes, I did.
“My local government that I lost is because in Akwanga, Muslims are minorities, you know, the majority are Christians. So, I am a minority, I am a minority in that local government. But in my ward, you know, we are the majority. So, we won, out of 11 wards, we won 2 wards where they are predominantly Muslims,” the governor further explained.
