Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, Sunday dismissed a report claiming that he was not seeking re-election in 2023 as half-truth conceived by the opposition.
The report had said the governor planned to relocate to Saudi Arabia or the United States at the end of his tenure in three years’ time.
The governor, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant on Media, Ali Abare, added that the sensational report was aimed at distracting him from his desire to deliver democracy dividends to the people of the state.
The statement read:
“Recently, His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi Sule, the Executive Governor of Nasarawa State, held a media chat where he interacted with journalists in a no-holds-barred session as part of activities marking his one year in office.
“Engr. Sule spoke on wide-ranging issues as he responded to journalists, who for the first time since his inauguration, were presented with the opportunity to ask questions regarding his stewardship.
“In the course of the interaction, a journalist brought up the issue of whether the governor was disturbed about insinuations suggesting that he is a ‘one term governor, mostly as pranks by members of the opposition.
“In his characteristic frankness and openness, Engr. Sule seized upon the opportunity to clear the air on the matter.
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“What His Excellency said in response to that particular question was not a slip of tongue to be retracted, it was a cohesive, well-articulated response from a leader who is in tune with the realities of the enormous responsibilities attached to his office, a leader who will not hesitate to put things in their right perspective.
“The media report trending indicating that Engr. Sule is not interested in a second term is as sensational as it is misrepresentative. The news report published in a national daily titled, ‘I don’t need second term’ credited to His Excellency, was a half-truth coined merely to attract readership and to sell the paper.
“Engr. Sule spoke from the heart, in a lengthy, emotion-filled narration which in a nutshell translates to not being bothered about being called a ‘one term governor‘, when his major preoccupation at the moment, barely a year into his first four-year term is to deliver dividends of democracy to the people of the state.
“The truth of the matter is that at a time His Excellency is effectively and efficiently steering the affairs of the state, navigating through turbulent storms occasioned by dwindling revenues and the challenges posed by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, it amounts to outright distraction to want to draw the governor into a needless controversy on a second term bid barely a year into his first tenure.
“In fact, now the people of Nasarawa State have the opportunity to actually appreciate the beauty of democracy in terms of delivering good governance and quality service.”
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