GUEST COLUMN: Nasarawa ministerial slot: Time to reward Al-Makura
AREWA AGENDA – In his theory of man and greatness William Shakespeare asserted that “some are born great, some achieve greatness and others have greatness thrust upon them”. But for Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, the architect of modern Nasarawa state, despite having the privilege of coming from a great, influential and reputable family, he never allowed his family high horse to determine his life struggles and future.
Unlike most privileged individuals who always wear the garments of arrogance especially in their dealings with the less privileged, Al-Makura detests pomposity and is always down to earth. His humility, simplicity, respect for human dignity and love for the common man which knows no bounds remain the driving force of his success in life. He believes in making his own history which is why he continues to work hard to achieve greatness.
There is no doubt that, when the history of progressive politics in Nigeria is written, especially that of the governing All Progressive Congress (APC) in Nasarawa state, Al-Makura’s name will boldly inscribed in the front banner as one of its founding fathers, whose efforts, sacrifices and commitment gave birth successes and victories of the party.
Suffice to say Nasarawa state had hitherto been the stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) since the return to democracy in 1999. But in the build up to 2011 elections, when a progressive minded politician and successful business man called Umaru Tanko Al-Makura decided to rescue the people of Nasarawa state by heeding their clarion call to vie for the gubernatorial seat of the state on CPC platform. This ended PDP’s 12 years misrule in the state and took Nasarawa state on the path of progressive politics.
His emergence as CPC governorship candidate in 2011, which was initially dismissed by the then ruling PDP, turned out to be their greatest albatross when his acceptability and popularity began to spread across the state with people moving into CPC in their numbers in solidarity with him and his ambition.
His growing popularity and acceptability among the people forced the PDP government to declare war on Al-Makura and his party. The government deployed all coercive apparatus against him, leading to his arrest, detention and victimisation in a desperate effort to frustrate him out of the race. But Al-Makura remained undeterred and successfully sent PDP to political oblivion.
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His emergence as governor, which should have been a huge relief for him, marked the beginning of his travails as PDP and other retrogressive elements decided to make the state ungovernable for him using their numerical strength in the state house of assembly to strangulate his administration after his refusal to dump CPC for PDP. He is the only politician in Nigeria’s history to survive several impeachment attempts. He did not only survive the impeachment and put his detractors to shame but his victory as the only CPC governor in Nigeria qualified the party to go into a merger with other opposition parties which gave birth to the APC.
As one of the founding fathers of the party, Al-Makura continued to be at vanguard of attracting individuals ,opposition stalwarts and groups into the party which added to the woos of PDP and other opposition in the state sending them into political oblivion.
His leadership qualities, competency, credibility and more importantly his intimidating records of achievements which make him the best governor Nasarawa has ever produced since its creation, nailed the opposition parties in the state. PDP was reduced to mere political spectators in Nasarawa politics as Al-Makura attracted even those who did not share his vision for a prosperous Nasarawa state to APC.
Apart from his excellent performance as governor, Al-Makura brought a worthy successor, Engineer Abdullahi Sule, and delivered Nasarawa to APC at all levels, making it a progressive state. Despite moving to the senate in 2019 after his eight years tenure as governor, Al-Makura continued to be a rallying point for APC in the state and a beacon of hope to the people of the state – always sacrificing his time, energy and resources for the victory of the party and the development of the state, making him a factor to reckon with in the politics, governance and development of the state.
His sterling leadership qualities and visionary, progressive thoughts and ideas as well as his tireless contributions to the success and sustenance of the party made party stakeholders in Nasarawa and across the country to drag him into the contest for APC national chairmanship which he almost won.
Unfortunately, some elements opposed to the Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu presidential project frustrated Al-Makura’s emergence as APC national chairman, believing he was working for Tinubu. The cabal dragged former Governor Abdullahi Adamu from the same Nasarawa state as Al-Makura into the race and successfully hoodwinked President Muhammadu Buhari to impose Adamu as a consensus candidate.
Most of those who plotted against Al-Makura must by now be regretting their action which robbed APC of a golden opportunity to witness its best moment which Al-Makura’s leadership of the party would have provided. But despite their political coup against Al-Makura and Tinubu, they couldn’t stop Tinubu from picking the party’s presidential ticket and getting elected as Nigeria’s president awaiting for inauguration on May 29.
As president-elect Tinubu is set to take over governance and constitute his cabinet to enable him hit the ground running, there is no better, competent, credible and most suitable personality to represent Nasarawa state as a minister in the soon-to-be inaugurated cabinet of Tinubu than the architect of modern Nasarawa state, Distinguish Senator Umaru Tanko Al-Makura. Al-Makura has paid his dues for the APC, the Tinubu presidential project as well as in the politics, governance and development of Nasarawa state.
Abari writes from Lafia, Nasarawa state via [email protected]
