By Muazu Abari
I read a piece with the above title written by my very good friend, Mallam Ali Abare Senior Special Assistant to (SSA) to Governor Abdullahi Sule on media, with whom I share a lot of things in common. We have also come a long way as friends and colleagues long before he found himself within the corridors of Sule’s government as media aide. It is also worthwhile to state that as friends and professional colleagues, my relationship with Abare has blossomed till today, even though in his rejoinder he described me as “one Muazu Abari” as if I’m a nonentity or a complete stranger to him.
My article entittled Nasarawa: When you have noisemaker as governor in which I raised some fundamental issues concerning Governor Abdullahi Sule and his administration especially his inconsistencies, unreliability and penchant for contradictory statements and doublespeak should have been a food for taught to any serious and discerning government.
As a professional journalist, I had expected Abare to be responsible in defence of his principal and the administration he led through his rejoinder, but unfortunately he ended up wasting the unique opportunity on the alter of frivolities, subterfuge and crass showmanship.
His dismissal of my piece calling it an exercise in political mischief rather than an honest intervention on governance based on insinuation rather than fact, portrayed a mind steeped in moral depravity and dearth of intellectual rigour. I had expected him to be better than that.
In trying to defend the indefensible, he sunk deeper into the pit of pettiness as his statement only ended up creating gaping questions as to what exactly is the insinuations about the issues I raised? Is it that governor Sule don’t always contractdict himself in his public speeches and media interviews? Is it that governor Sule is not a noisemaker who has carved a niche for himself in the art of loquacity and doublespeak?
Can Abare say in all honesty that the projects undertaken by governor Sule are commensurate with the huge revenues that accrued to the state?
Has governor Sule not raised alarm and accused his benefactor Sen. Umaru Tanko Almakura of leaving behind huge debt profile of N18.9bn to his administration which he said is affecting the smooth running of his government and later made a bizarre u- turn when the issue was reported?
It is noteworthy that Almakura himself inherited N40bn naira debt in addition to other liabilities from his predecessor but decided to maintain a dignified silence. Instead of wasting time complaining, Al-Makura through diligence and hard work was able to turn the tide and discharged his duties and responsibilities to the admiration of all and sundry and left behind everlasting legacies in the annals of Nasarawa State.
Is Abare denying that his principal once pledged not to contest for senate only to take a volte face later?
These are the issues I raised but because he knows too well that what I raised are facts known to most people in the state which he has no answers to, Abare tactically changed the conversation from issues at stake to governor Sule’s decision to endorse Wadada as his preferred successor which he said is responsible for this attack on the governor.
This is where I have problem with Abare. I would have ignored his rejoinder ab initio based on my personal relationship with him but by dragging Wadada into the fray, he took his luck too far by crossing the redline.
Before I proceed I must put a caveat. I understand Abare’ s predicament as a media aid whose job is to wash the mess of his paymaster regardless of how bad it smells and I must also state that I do not envy any job that makes one to sell out his conscience and moral precepts for the expediency of political convenience.
Be that as it may, I want to put it on record that, I don’t know former IGP Mohammed Adamu Abubakar from Adams. I also do not know or have any relationship with any of his political associates either from far or near and our path never crossed with him like other prominent figures from the state in all my years of journalism. In fact, I have never set my eyes on him in my life physically apart from seeing him on cameras.
Unlike Adamu, Distinguish Sen. Ahmed Aliyu Wadada is one politician in Nasarawa State that is well known to me and I hold him in high esteem. I had a robust relationship with the senator spanning over 15 years right from when he was in the House of Representatives and I have supported his political cause since our paths crossed till today. We quite often communicate and he has personally assisted me on different occasions. I can beat my chest to say that among all Nasarawa journalists, especially those working in various national dailies within and outside the state, none has promoted Wadada than myself.
Abare may wish to know that I have lost counts of how many promotional articles I have penned to promote Wadada and his aspirations. Right from his days in the House of Representatives, to his unaccomplished senatorial bid, to his successful senatorial bid and now his gubernatorial ambition when Sule did not even contemplate thinking of choosing him as his preferred successor, I have lost count of how many times I came to Abuja at his instance to have an exclusive interviews with him whenever I seek audience with him.
My last engagement with him was when he clocks one year in office as senator where I met him in Abuja for an interview which we finally held in his Keffi resident despite his tight engagements with various groups of people and scheduled journey to Jos that evening. That interview was one of my best if not my best interview since I found myself in journalism profession. The video clips of that memorable interview are still in my archive.
I wish to refer Abare to some of the promotional articles I penned down in support of Wadada’s gubernatorial ambition even before he defected to APC to prove him wrong.
Some of the publications include: Nasarawa 2027: Wadada’s detractors and politics of golgotha published by Blueprint Newspapers of Tuesday, May 13 2025 and many online platforms; Nasarawa 2027: Wadada and jittery of ghost opposition published by Blueprint Newspapers of Saturday – Sunday 28th -29th September 2024; 2027: The Nasarawa Governorship hopefuls published on Saturday 21 – Sunday 22nd September 2024.
Others are Magajin Dangi: When Nasarawa, Lafia Emirate honoured Senator Wadada published in Blueprint Newspapers of August 28th 2025; Wadada’s Heart Agenda and vision for new Nasarawa published in Blueprint Newspapers of February 20, 2025; Wadada horse ride to the senate published by Blueprint Newspapers of Wednesday February 1st, 2023; Why Wadada deserves Nasarawa west senatorial seat published on Tuesday March 2nd, 2021; 2023: Why Nasarawa APC must be fair to Wadada published Friday February 11th, 2022, just to mentioned but few.
So, if there is anybody in this world who should be happy if Wadada becomes next Nasarawa Governor in 2027, it should be me After all, I started promoting his gubernatorial ambition for 2027 immediately he was elected senator via a writeup entitled 2027: What next for senator Wadada published in Blueprint Newspapers of 23rd April 2024. Apparently, when it comes to the issue of promoting Wadada’s political cause since his days in the lower chambers to now and his gubernatorial ambition, no journalist has invested in the project more than me. So if it comes to Wadada issue, Abare should just keep quite and concentrate in his job of defending the governor because I’m an authority in that respect.
The issue at stake has nothing to do with Sule’s endorsement of Wadada as his preferred successor but it has everything to do with governance and accountability. Governor Sule’s public conduct, leadership style, actions, inactions and utterances are affecting Nasarawa negatively for which I’m constraint to ventilate my frustrations as a bonafide citizen of the state.
Abare writes from Yola.