Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State on Friday advised residents of the State protesting after the Supreme Court affirmed his election in the March 18, 2023 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.
Sule, who told journalists after a thank you meeting with President Bola Ahmed Tinubu at the Presidential Villa, Abuja in company of his two predecessors in office, Senators Abdullahi Adamu and Umar Tanko Al-Makura that they should note that protests would not change the verdict of the apex court.
He therefore called on his opponents to shed all traces of grudge and come and join him in order to build the State.
Earlier on Friday, there were protests in Lafia, Nasarawa State capital, following the Supreme Court verdict which affirmed the election of Governor Sule.
During the protests, the Lafia-Jos road was completely blocked as the protesters lit bonfire to prevent travelers and other road users. Motorists were forced to take alternative routes out of Lafia.
When asked about his reaction to the protest, Sule 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.
“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.
“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.”