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Akinwande Soji-Ojo
Nasarawa State Governor, Engr Abdullahi Sule, has admonished the people protesting the Supreme Court verdict, which affirmed his election, 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.
Earlier on Friday, there was a protest in Lafia, the Nasarawa State capital, following the Supreme Court judgement which upheld Sule’s election.
Major roads within the state capital were completely blocked as the protesters set up bonfires on the roads.
But speaking to State House correspondents after a thank you visit to President Bola Tinubu on Friday, Sule called his opponents to join him, without any grudge whatsoever, in building the state.
The governor, who was accompanied by two of his predecessors in office, Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Umar Al-Makura, said protests would not change the Supreme Court verdict.
“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 it is 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 while others are 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 will not change anything, the Supreme Court has already passed its judgement.
“So, in our own case, when we lost at the tribunal, we said 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,” he said.
Sule thanked Almighty God for the for the victory and the president for not interfering and allowing the justice system to work.
“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. 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.
“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 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 to 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,” the governor added.