Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule is a pious and very prayerful man of honesty and impeccable integrity, which has guided the way he conducts himself. In Nigeria’s political history, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule is the only sitting Governor who has often proclaimed that in everything he does, “he fears the day that he will stand before God Almighty and give an account of his stewardship!” Such a statement is rare to come by from an average politician in Nigeria, but A. A. Sule is so serious about it.
When he became Governor on May 29 2019, Sule declared that he had conceived a living document called “NEDS”, (The Nasarawa Economic Development Strategy), that will serve as his economic blueprint with which he can unlock the inflow of investments and propel Nasarawa State to become “one of the top three most competitive states in Nigeria by 2023, which will mark the end of his first tenure in office.
Because of his commitment and dedication, Engr A. A. Sule was able to achieve the target set for his first term in office because under his watch, the World Bank rated Nasarawa State four times as the most transparent State in Nigeria and the most improved in Internally Generated Revenue IGR.
Clearly, in his words and actions, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule has proven that piety is a way of life, and he is at peace with everybody being a man of God who accepts all religions and ethnic groups of Nasarawa State.
He exhibits moral etiquette by being humble and committed to living a Godly life, which epitomizes “the politics of hope” that he anchored his policies of peacebuilding, inclusion and institutionalizing, open governance and prudent management of scarce resources on as against the politics of bitterness championed by some opposition parties which fuels primordial sentiments.
Flipping through his political travails, one cannot help but liken Engr. Abdullahi Sule to the Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, Galileo Galilei, who discovered projectile, thermoscope, telescope and even microscope. It is said that Galileo was the first person to observe how the stars appeared at night, and he made astonishing discoveries about the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Venus, but only because of the audacity of his vision.
The catholic church opposed Galileo, and he was tried for inquisition and found “guilty of heresy” Galileo spent the rest of his life under house arrest, discredited and forbidden to speak of his ideas.
The history books have it that it took the coming of Isaac Newton, born in 1860, who developed the calculus force of gravity and invented the very first practical telescope to prove the merit of Galileo’s works and Ideas eventually.
The same can be said of His Excellency Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule appears to be a combination of both Galileo and Isaac Newton because for so many years, Nigeria had a solid idea for explore oil in the Chad Basin, Dahomey Basin, Anambra Platform, the Calabar Embankment, Sokoto Basin, Bida Basin, and the Benue Trough, but the courage to start the exploration was lacking.
Many governments have been in power, but none have taken the practical step to explore the Benue oil. When Engineer Sule came on board, he gave the exploration of the oil a boast. Being a practical man, which was part of the training he acquired, having been opportune to have studied at Government Technical College Bukuru before for his University education, where he obtained a Bachelor of Science BSc in Mechanical Engineering and later furthered his studies to acquire a Master’s degree MSc in Industrial Technology from Indiana State University, USA, and after that became an “Oil Man” drilling for oil from Texas to most of Europe Countries, and finally returning Nigeria to help set up Sadiq Petroleum after which he served as Managing Director/CEO of African Petroleum; he therefore brought to bear his multilayered experiences and tenaciously.
Determined to get results in the exploration of oil in his State, he pushed, prodded, lobbied and convinced Former President Muhammadu Buhari and Mele Kolo Kyari, CEO of NNPCL (who was his schoolmate in the University in America), to fast-track the drilling of oil in Nasarawa State.
Today, as the saying goes, “the rest is history because Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule never gave up on pushing for oil in Nasarawa State, and the spud-in of Ebenyi-A oil well saw the light of day and has been in operation for over a year, as oil is being drilled in Keana, Obi and Assakio.
Because of this feat accomplished, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule has become the beautiful bride everybody wants to woo; he is being celebrated as a visionary leader and seen as an inspiration to what a worthy political leader is supposed to be in Nigeria.
Like Galileo Galilei, during the buildup to the 2019 governorship campaign, Sule was labelled a ‘foreigner’ (a statement strange to be heard in this 21st century) by some of his political adversaries, while others said he was fronting for and working in concert with Aliko Dangote, Chairman of Dangote Group, in a ‘secret’ to take over Nasarawa state.
Despite the hurdles and the conspiracy theories against him, Sule won the 2019 elections as a first-term governor. Though he suffered some setbacks, he did not allow that to hinder him from delivering his promise to the electorate. In the process, Engr. A.A. Sule lost his childhood friend, political confidant, son and daughter.
When preparing to contest for a second term in 2023, his adversaries played up ethnic and religious sentiment to discredit him and discourage the electorate from voting for him.
However, through dick of hard work, dedication and commitment, he was able to defeat his opponents at the poll. Engr. A.A. Sule scored 347,209 to beat his closest opponent, David Ombugadu, of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), who polled 283,016. The outcome of the 2023 election made it the second time he would trounced him at the poll. Ombugadu also contested against him in 2019, and he lost.
The Supreme Court verdict delivered on January 19 2024, which confirmed the victory of Engineer Sule, heightened tension in the State, and there was a bizarre demonstration by some women who had camped at the PDP headquarters in Lafia; the ruling of the Apex Court was received with a lot of joy and relief for all men of goodwill and Engr. Sule. The Governor thanked the people of the State for their patience, tolerance and outpouring of love and support given to him, just as he assured them that he would remain focused on the work ahead of him.
Prior to the Supreme Court verdict and while the legal proceedings lasted from the Tribunal to the Supreme Court; the sensibilities of Nasarawa people were assaulted by women who protested naked against the electoral victory of Engr. Sule, but the Governor, because of his compassion, intervened in the case being instituted against the women because of their bizarre conduct and facilitated the release of the women and other protesters from prison custody.
They were to be arranged for violent protest and destruction of public facilities following the apex court ruling on the 2023 gubernatorial election legal tussle, which confirmed Engr Abdullahi A. Sule as dully elected as the Governor of the State.
Engineer Sule cannot claim that his decision to join partisan politics was rosy, as he also had challenges. When his party, All Progressives Congress APC was to elect National Chairman of the party, two of his predecessors in office, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura were interested in the position.
Because of their ambitions, the state chapter of the party was polarized across board, which led to the state House of Assembly being factionalized, leading to the emergence of two factional speakers and Governor Sule was accused of wanting to impose the former Speaker Alhaji Ibrahim Balarabe, as the National Chairman.
Being a man of peace, Engineer Sule took it as a necessity to be at peace with others, he has been engaged in reconciliation after reconciliation; diplomatic resolution of issues, which has yielded results which is experienced in calm, peaceful experience in the State.
The peace that pervades the State makes it easier for him to steer the ship of State and ensure that Nasarawa State remains focused on growth and inclusive government. Some members of the APC that left the party in the buildup to the 2023 general elections, such as Senator Solomon Ewuga have returned to the party.
In the victory speech delivered by the Governor after his victory at the Supreme Court, he said; “Your Governor has the patience to withstand all kinds of intimidation, Your Governor has the patience to understand all kinds of insult that will come from people who do not understand what it is, and this Governor (Your Governor) will continue to tolerate in order for us to move forward”
Governor Sule therefore, appealed for peacebuilding and reconciliation and he ended his speech by saying: “These two things in particular, ethnicity and religion have no place in a civilization, and if we want to be civilized, we must keep them to the side and look at merit, and look at honesty, and look at sincerity, so we can take our state to the next level!”.
In 2021, Arewa House, the Center for research and Historical Documentation which is affiliated with the Department of History at the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria, recognized the Nasarawa State Governor, Engr Abdullahi Sule as “the face of integrity!”
Dr. Salmon Salami who led the Arewa House delegation to the government house Lafia stated that; “Arewa House recognized Engineer Sule because of his striking resemblance in character to President Muhammadu Buhari, who is generally perceived to be a man of integrity”, stressing that Buhari won his election in 2015, not through the use of money, but because ordinary Nigerians believed in Buhari to be a sincere and God-fearing individual.
Today, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule is one of the few Nigerian governors who gets to office as early as 8.30 am every morning and just like Nigeria’s first and only Prime Minister Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, who was an incorruptible politician of unblemished integrity whose significant assets as at the time of his death were his house in Bauchi and 50-acre farmland located at the outskirts of Tafawa Balewa village, about nine miles outside Bauchi town.
In the same vein, when Engr Sule contested to become the Governor of Nasarawa State in 2019, he did not have a house in Lafia the state capital. He was the Group Managing Director of Dangote Sugar, living in Lagos. Sule only owned a home at his village in Gudi in the Akwanga local government area of the State and having another personal house in Lagos.
The moment he was declared the winner of the 2019 general elections and pronounced governor-elect of Nasarawa State in March 2019, his next line of action was to sell his shares at Dangote and build a house in Lafia, even before he was sworn in as Governor on May 29 2019.
Engr Abdullahi Sule took that initiative to avoid a situation whereby the people of Nasarawa State would accuse him of using government money to build house for himself. After three years in office as governor, he sold his second personal house in Lagos and used the funds to build another home in Asokoro, Abuja. The Governor took practical steps to prove his honesty and, more so to convince the public that, he is not interested in stealing or dipping his hands into the public tilt.
His honesty was demonstrated when he returned what was left unpent in the money allocated to the presidential media committee that he chaired. On August 26 2022, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule again stood out for his honesty by being the only Governor ever and the only committee chairman appointed by APC or any other political party in Nigeria to return unspent funds back into the coffers of his political party, as he refunded N20 million from the total of N140 million allocated to the Media & Publicity Subcommittee of the APC Special Presidential Conventions, where Engr Sule served as Chairman.
Also in 2022, the Advisory Board of Public Policy Research & Analysis Centre, PPRAC which is domiciled in Isheri-North, Ogun State and chaired by Senator (Prof) Jubril Aminu (CON) called a World Press Conference in Lagos, where Prof. Pat Utomi of the elite Lagos Business School announced that Engr Abdullahi A. Sule had been selected as “CO-WINNER” of the ZIK PRIZE FOR LEADERSHIP 2021 to be jointly shared with Governor of Lagos State Babajide Sanwo-Olu whilst the PPRAC confirmed that they recognized and applauded Engr Sule’s “creative and all-inclusive approach to governance, people-oriented reform program and his rapid transformation of Nasarawa State from an agrarian state with vast untapped potentials into one of Nigeria’ leading Investors’ Haven!”
Engr Abdullahi A. Sule received the ZIK PRIZE FOR LEADERSHIP 2021 on November 7, 2021at Eko Convention Center, Lagos, and after that, he was invited, five months later, to deliver THE 18TH HERBERT MACAULAY MEMORIAL LECTURE at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka (UNN), which took place on March 19 2022, where Engr Sule challenged Nigerians to emulate Herbert Macaulay who co-founded the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) together with Nnamdi Azikiwe in 1944, and inspired the birth of nationalism in Nigeria.
In 2022, the World Institute for Peace (WIP) held its International Peace Conference on December 15, 2022, at the Army Resource Center Abuja where WIP Executive Director Lamina Omotoyosi revealed that a seven days’ poll was conducted on the internet to select the governors who have promoted peace. Engr Abdullahi A. Sule of Nasarawa State got the highest online ahead of Governor Babagana Zulum of Borno and Nyesom Wike of Rivers State for being “an exemplary governor who promotes peace, Godly virtue, continuity in governance and community well-being, as well as accountability” and after that, Engr Sule was honored as a “Knight of World Peace!”.
As a governor who exemplifies inclusion and peacebuilding, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule has accorded respect to the dignity of all citizens in Nasarawa State, no matter their social status and where they come from, even those from the most remote far-flung villages are not exempted. It is a hallmark of Governor Sule’s compassion that he established the Disability Rights Commission, which has ensured that the government pays the school fees of all persons living with disability in Nasarawa State, just as the government has maintained a comprehensive healthcare policy to give Free Medical Treatment not just to the children in the school; but also, to all and anyone who is a disabled person in Nasarawa State.
According to the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), six out of 10 children experience some form of violence. In contrast, 13.2m children are left to roam the streets, out of school and out of touch with parental love or the care and guidance of teachers and over 9 million of these children, mostly Almajiri, are found in the Northern Nigeria. These children are the ones usually conscripted as insurgents and used as political thugs during elections.
It is to curb this dangerous trend that Nigeria adopted The Child Rights Act in 2003 in order to domesticate the Convention on the Rights of the Child, but only 16 out of the 36 states in the country were able to enact the Act as of 2019, and in Nasarawa State, the executive Order for the Protection of Children and Implementation of the Nasarawa State Child’s Right Law was enacted in 2005, however, nothing else was done about it to make the law effective until Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule became the Governor in 2019,i.e. 14 years after the Executive Order for the Protection of Children and Implementation of the Nasarawa State Child’s Right Law was passed.
Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule signed into law the Nasarawa State Child Rights Law after 14 years, which prohibited street begging and provided legal punishment for parents who out of sheer irresponsibility, throw away their children to beg on the streets and be conscripted by insurgents to become terrorists.
It is also noteworthy that as Governor, Engr. Sule has ensured that the government of Nasarawa State has made it a matter of policy to protect the rights of all other political parties to freely and openly hold and organize their campaigns and rallies without any hindrance or encumbrances.
In the buildup to the 2023 general elections, Sule’s ruling party, the APC used Lafia Square to hold its political party campaigns, and equally allowed other political parties to also use the same venue for their parties campaigns, no party was discriminated against.
Since assumption of office in 2019, the Governor has always extended an invitation to most of the distinguished citizens of Nasarawa to grace major state functions without regard to their political affiliation, and the evidence is there for all to see.
The state-owned broadcast organizations like Nasarawa Broadcasting Service NBS never prevent other political parties from using the medium to air their views nor prevent them from venting their dissenting voices against how the State is running the government.
The philosophy of Engr. A.A. Sule and his brand of politics is not the “do or die approach” popularized by a former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, but his focus is to practice, preach and promote the politics of inclusion and diversity by accommodating and encouraging divergent political views, doors are never shut against members of the opposition parties to express their view, saying it is their civic right as well as political rights and freedoms.
Practical examples suffice like when Governor Sule suspended the Managing Director of Nasarawa Urban Development Board (NUDB) for denying a governorship candidate from an opposition party from placing his campaign billboard on the road, and also the Governor’s retainership and support to private media organizations like BREEZE FM whose station was formerly destroyed by the immediate past government, as well as governor Sule’s strict insistence and refusal to use government funds for his political campaigns but his idea is to raise a Fund to sponsor his own governorship campaigns, which he did in 2023.
In the five years of his stewardship, Engr. A.A. Sule has refused to engage in battle of words and bitter quarrels with political opposition so as not to heat the polity and has evenly spread government projects across the entire State without regard to political persuasion, and he has adequately empowered women by positioning them for an important post, and position of authority.
Some of the critical positions he facilitated for women in the State include appointing a 1st every Female Head of Service, a female provost for the State-owned Isa Mustapha Agwai Polytechnic and the first-ever indigenous female vice chancellor for Nasarawa State University.
As a concerned and committed person interested in the development and advancement of education in his State, Engr Abdullahi A, Sule began his administration in 2019 by engaging the Faculty of Social Sciences in the Federal University Lafia to conduct a baseline survey that will reveal the real status of schools in Nasarawa State from December 2019 to March, 2020 and 1,350 Primary schools and 413 Secondary Schools located in urban and rural areas throughout Nasarawa State were covered. The governor took that step to rescue education without considering political visibility or party allegiance.
Other hallmarks of the Abdullahi Sule signature in governance in Nasarawa State include his adherence to open and transparent governance and the steady payment of monthly salary and the payment of arrears and promotion to civil servants after a ten-year hiatus, as well as an apparent revolution in pension and gratuity as well as teachers’ welfare, which earned the Governor an unprecedented open declaration of unalloyed and undiluted support by the State NLC Nigeria Labour Congress during the governorship elections of 2023.
A lot can be said about Engr’s character, person, and political legacy. Abdullahi A. Sule from the way he has opened a sovereign wealth fund to save a percentage of financial earnings for future generations, also is a perfect example in enthroning a system of prudence, fiscal responsibility and public procurement regime in Nasarawa State which has gained SFTAS and World Bank Awards, and remarkably how under Sule’s stewardship; Nasarawa State has joined 79 other countries who are working with the World Bank to transform human capital development.
Indeed, and without doubt, a lot can be said and a lot will be written about how Engr. A.A. Sule has conducted over 4 Employability Conferences and Workshops in three years to scale up human capital and leverage on technology and accelerate innovation in Nasarawa State.
His focus on building the human capital of Nasarawa State and improve the skills, education, capacity and attributes of the people has greatly influenced productivity and earning potential of the citizens.
The antecedents of Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule of Nasarawa State speak volumes as a worthy politician whose life lessons and impact in office should be recapitulated and integrated into the civic education of our citizenry.
YAKUBU LAMAI is Director General: Strategic Communication 7 Events
Management to H.E. Engr Abdullahi A. Sule, Governor of Nasarawa State.
