By GAMBO ARABAT, Lafia

The Senior Special Assistant to Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa State on Public Affairs,Hon Peter Ahemba, has described as shameful “the outing by a group of individuals believed to have been hired by the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State to stage an unwarranted protest against the recent verdict of the Court of Appeal sitting in Abuja which rightly set aside the split judgement of the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal in the State and affirmed His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, as the lawfully elected Governor of the state.”

Peter spoke via a press statement made available to newsmen in Lafia, the state capital, on Monday, saying: “No doubt, the March 18^th, 2023 governorship election which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Governor Sule as the duly elected Governor of the State is a true reflection of the popular mandate freely given to him by the electorates of Nasarawa State, which is why they have remained firmly in support of the Governor and have been resisting all attempts by the PDP and its governorship candidate to takeover power through the backdoor. Indeed, no one can harvest where he/she did not sow.”

The statement further reads: “The recent stage-managed protest against the Appeal Court judgement by a group of sponsored individuals under the aegis of ‘Coalition of Indigenous People of Nasarawa State’ as a calculated attempt to discredit the courageous, sound and firm judgement of the Appeal Court and blackmail the nation’s judiciary for choosing to look at the appeal brought before it by the Governor on its merit rather than primordial sentiments.”

Peter added that the call on the International Community to intervene in the internal affairs of the state and tagging of some ethnic groups as foreigners is laughable and has further exposed the opposition PDP of its ethnic agenda in the politics of Nasarawa state. The PDP as a party and its leaders must be reminded that the state is highly diverse in terms of ethnic and religious beliefs and that no ethnic group or religion has the capacity to produce the Governor of the State without the support of the others.

According to him, “We therefore condemn this show of desperation for power and urgedsecurity agencies in the state tonote this dangerous rhetoric hovering very close to instigating hate amongst citizens by the opposition PDP and its sponsored groups in the state.”