- Protest Won’t Change Apex Court Ruling, Says Gov Sule
PROTEST has broken out in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, following the Supreme Court verdict which affirmed the election of Governor Abdullahi Sule in the March 18, 2023 election in the state.
The Lafia-Jos Road has been completely blocked as the protesters lit bonfire to prevent travellers and other road users.
Daily Trust reporter, who was at the scene of the protest, reports that motorists had to take alternative routes out of Lafia.
An automobile mechanic, Mallam Dogo Audu, called for the deployment of more security operatives to restore calm and avert escalation.
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Meanwhile Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State has advised the protesters to learn from the maturity displayed by members of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) who heeded the advice not to protest when he lost at the tribunal.
He gave the advice on Friday while fielding questions from State House reporters after a meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.
Sule, who paid a thank you visit to the president in company of his two predecessors in Nasarawa State, Senators Abdullahi Adams and Umar Tanko Al-Makura, said protests would not change the verdict of apex court.
He called on his opponents to come and join him in order to build the state.
When asked about his reaction to the protest, the governor said: “Nasarawa is a state where we had over 600,000 votes and we won with over 340,000 votes, so you will know that over 200,000 people did not vote for us. So, if out of these 200,000 people that did not vote for us and other set of 1,000 people are protesting somewhere, then you will know because it’s a day that not everybody will be happy.
“In every state where the Supreme Court actually passed judgment, in every one of these states, you will find some people are happy and some other people not happy. But I think people who understand what democracy is all about will understand that the Supreme Court is the ultimate and is the final and those who appreciate or respect democracy should actually leave it right there because protests or no protest will not change anything, the Supreme Court has already passed his judgment.
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“So, in our own case, when we lost at the tribunal, we told everybody, nobody should protest and that’s why nobody protested, but that is the level of maturity that you will see from one political party or the other. We are a very mature political party, we’re the ruling party in the country, we’re the ruling party in the state and we’re showing a good example, so that’s why we will not protest.”
Governor Sule thanked Almighty God for the opportunity of democracy in Nigeria and the President for ensuring that fairness was done without undue interference and allowing the justice system to work.
He said: “As far as we are concerned in Nasarawa State, we have won at the Court of Appeal unanimously. We also won today with the five justices being led by a panel of the highly respected Justice Kudirat Kekere-Ekun (JSC). So, we have to thank Almighty Allah that we also had all the five justices in support of us and that’s why we came.
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“All the issues, as far as elections are concerned, are over today. We call on our opponents, without any grudge whatsoever, to come and join with us so we can build our state. Nasarawa State is next to Abuja. Nasarawa State is, today in the North-Central, the only state that has commercial quantity discovery of oil. “It is the only state, so far, that is building minerals processing plants. We already have one of the lithium factories almost concluded and as you know, it is also a state that we are very lucky where we have agriculture that is flourishing. In fact, on my right hand, is the biggest local farmer that we have in the state and he’s rushing to go back for his harvest because he’s started harvesting.”
