NasarawaPolls: Religion and Ethnicity in Politics, Draw us Backwards- Sule
The Governor of Nasarawa state, Abdullahi Sule, yesterday revealed that the introduction of religion and ethnicity into politics would keep drawing Nigeria backwards.
Sule, while speaking on Channels Television during a programme said, aside from the major role religion played during the polls, the population of Abuja residents in parts of the state made his re-election bid very difficult.
“There was a lot of religion also… but my number one goal now is to unite the state…in the same house, you will find Muslims, Christians, and others who don’t even care about any of the two religions.
“So the moment we begin to introduce religion into our politics and ethnicity into our politics, it is going to only draw us backwards”.
Sule who is the gubernatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) polled 347,209 beating his closest contender, David Ombugadu of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who got 283,016 votes in the last Saturday’s governorship poll.
The re-elected governor added that many people who work in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) live in Nasarawa state, which shares a very close boundary with Abuja, including the very populated Karu, Nyanya, among others.
He, however, noted that while the Peter Obi tsunami in Abuja snowballed into Nasarawa, the role that religion played was also very critical.
“We have a lot of people who come into Abuja, but then they end up living in Nasarawa state. That’s why today, Karu local government, which used to be a very small local government, has now over 300,000 voters, far more than the state capital.
“So I think that was one of our challenges. Most of the people who actually come from other places to settle here in Nasarawa state, most of them do not understand the local politics of the state. Therefore, you know, they go in most cases, they go the other way, and it’s understandable,” he stressed.
He also acknowledged that the APC lost much ground in the presidential election, including the divisions within the party in the state, noting that there had been some reconciliation before the governorship poll which ensured the victory of the party.
The governor stated that while the Eggon people have a large population in the state, other tribes like the Hausa-Fulani, Alago, among others have very strong numbers, insisting that one tribe cannot make anybody a governor.
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