12/05/2026
ENGR. ABDULLAHI A. SULE HAS HONOURED UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA:
By Yakubu Lamai, mnipr
I served as Spokesperson to former Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura for 5 years from 2014 to 2019 and I am currently serving for nearly 7 years as Director General, Strategic communication to His Excellency, Engr Abdullahi A. Sule. Prior to working in Nasarawa State, I also held the portfolio of Spokesperson to former governor of Bauchi State, His Excellency, Malam Isa Yuguda, from 2007-2009.
As a Spokesperson, I am charged with the task to deploy FACTS in explaining the overarching political vision of the three governors I have served in a manner that is intelligent, politically astute and sensitive for the purposes of public enlightenment.
This brings me to the words of the American Civil Rights Activities, Dr Martin Luther King, who said: “Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter!” It therefore follows that it will amount to a profound loss of moral, spiritual and personal integrity on my part, if I fail to speak when political charlatans, rabble rousers and unschooled public commentators hurl “unwarranted and unjustifiable open insults on my principal Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, all in the name of political campaign rhetoric.
FACT NO. 1: There is no governor in the annals of our political history in Nigeria or anywhere else in the world who has honored his predecessor in such a noble way as Enr. Abdullahi A. Sule has done to Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-makura for the past 7 years from 2019-2026
FACT NO. 2: For Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, his conscience is the strongest element of his nature, which is why his affections are loyal, generous, kind, inclusive and forgiving. His whole nature as a political leader derives from the purity of his compassion and a sincere fear of God Almighty.
In the Holy Quran (SURAH AL-KAHF), it is written… “And the Book (of deeds) will be placed, and you will see the criminals fearful of that within it, and they will say, Oh, woe to us! What is this book that leaves nothing small or great except that it has enumerated? And they will find what find what they did present before them.”
In the Christian Bible, it is written in REVELATION 20:12-115…. “And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books”.
So, this follows that for everything we do to each other in this life (and even in politics), and no matter how political charlatans and mercenary journalists are hired to misinterpret or distort the truth; invariably there is a divine register called the BOOK OF LIFE, where FACTS DONT LIE and we are assured by the Almighty in Surah Al-Kahf (Quran) that: “YOUR LORD DOES INJUSTICE TO NO ONE!”, while in the Bible in Galatians 6:7-8, God reassures us that: “DO NOT BE DECEIVED. GOD CANNOT BE MOCKED. A MAN REAPS WHAT HE SOWS!”
So, the question that begs answering is this: WHAT DID ABDULLAHI A. SULE SOW AGAINST UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA IN THE LAST SEVEN YEARS TO DESERVE SUCH OPEN INSULTS FROM BIASED COMMENTATORS LIKE MUAZU ABARI who had the temerity and audacity to write a jaundiced article titled: “GOVERNOR SULE HAS FINALLY SHOWN HIS TRUE COLORS AFTER YEARS OF FALSE LOYALTY AND POLITICAL BACK STABBING!”
LET’S GO BACK TO THE VERY BEGINNING:
Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule won the governorship election of Nasarawa State in March 2019 and in the last three months of transition from March 14th 2029 to May 29th 2019, the governor-elect, Sule, was so keen on protecting the legacy of outgoing governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, that he personally approached me as DG Strategic Communication & Press Affairs (then), and asked if we were documenting the achievements of Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura for posterity?
I told the incoming governor, Abdullahi Sule that in fact, I had just finished working on THREE BOOKS and (as a private sector person), he demanded to see the draft manuscripts, which I gave to him. The books were “AL-MAKURA:200 QUOTES”, which was a 400-page collection of quotes and photos; “UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA AND THE ELEVEN HORSEMEN” which was a collection of articles I had written on Al-makura from 2013-2019 and the third book was my mega-sized evidence based – analysis titled: “UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA: THE ARCHITECT OF MODERN NASARAWA STATE!”
After he read the THREE BOOKS in their draft prints, the governor-elect, Engr. Sule was so impressed that he decided to take over complete sponsorship of the publication of the THREE books and he also donated sufficient funds for us to SECRETLY organize a befitting SURPRISE BOOKS UNVEILING as an event where Al-makura will be celebrated and honored. The simple intension of Sule was to appreciate Al-makura and to protect his legacy as an outgoing governor, so that people will not forget the good works which Al-makura has done in Nasarawa State, and posterity will judge Al-makura fairly.
All of these, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule did without the faintest inkling and slightest knowledge of Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura in March 2019, for the sake of history and for Sule to show his gratitude and personal appreciation to his mentor Umaru Tanko Al-makura.
On 6th of December 2019, speculations were rife in the media that Engineer Abdullahi Sule (who was barely 6 months in the saddle as governor of Nasarawa State) had said that his immediate past predecessor, Sen. Tanko Al-makura had left behind over N18 Billion as debt and that the burden of such debt was stopping his administration from running effectively. On hearing this speculation making rounds like wildfire; Engr Abdullahi A. Sule did what no other governor in the history of Nigeria had ever done before.
He abruptly cancelled his days work at government house and immediately invited the entire Newspaper organizations in Nasarawa State under the aegis of the State Correspondents Chapel and NUJ (Nigeria Union of Journalist) to urgently accompany him (along with his deputy, Dr. Emmanuel Akabe) to travel from the seat of government in Lafia all the way to the private office of Sen. Al-makura in Abuja (near Jabi Bridge), where the governor clarified the comments he had made to stakeholders and members of cabinet during the recent Retreat which happened in Akwanga.
In his characteristic simplicity and uncommon humility, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule explained to the 50 journalists (right in front of Al-makura) that: “I mentioned to them at the Retreat that we should wake up and improve our revenue generation because we are having some deductions which every state in the federation is experiencing, not only Nasarawa State” The governor went further to say: “We are having budget support refund, bailout refund and Excess Crude Account refund. And all these refunds are actually eating into the amount of money we receive monthly, he explained.
Thereafter, Engr. Sule maintained that financial debt comes in all kinds of classes and he expected the journalists not to sow a seed of discord between himself and Al-makura by implying that federal government palliative given to support states were serviceable facilities voluntarily taken from commercial banks, as local and foreign loans to embark on projects.
In the words of Engr. Sule: “As far as such debts are concerned, you cannot call bailout debt, you cannot call budget support debt because these are interventions given to states by the federal government as palliative to be deducted, Sule added.
As a keen observer of history, I maintain that no sitting governor in the history of Nigeria has ever traveled (4 hours) with over 50 journalists, just so that he can go to the house of his predecessor and clarify a statement he made out of respect, loyalty, love for peace and the need to avoid conflict with his predecessor; the way and manner Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule did to Senator Umaru Tanko Al-makura in December 2019.
As everyone is well aware, one of the biggest leadership challenges in Nigeria is to remain cordial with your predecessors and still maintain full authority as the governor. It is a FACT that Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule has been able to surmount this challenge for 7 years due to his humble and inclusive approach to governance.
For seven years, since he became governor, Engr. Abdullahi Sule has maintained peaceful, cordial relationship and mutual respect with his two predecessors. Both the 1st Civilian Governor, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu and Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-makura are accorded state honor and the formal respect they deserve. In most functions of government, Engr. Sule will insist that they are invited and he often visits them to seek their advice and carry them along in the affairs of the state, just as he openly and repeatedly refers to Umaru Tanko Al-makura as his mentor during state functions.
This honor which Sule bestows to his predecessor is to the extent that Governor Abdullahi Sule refused to handpick his own loyalists (as is normally the case), so that he can build the foundation of his own political structure during the previous elections into the national legislature, but instead (out of uncommon goodwill and inclusive democracy), he decided to split the state into THREE POWER BLOCS and allowed his predecessors to nominate delegates and anoint contestants from their own individual zones.
This brings me to the time when both Al-makura and Adamu decided to go head-to-head and indicate their interest to contest for the office of APC National Chairman. I vividly recall a report by NAN (News Agency of Nigeria) published on February 22, 2022, which had the bold headline: “APC National Chairman: Gov. Sule rejects Adamu, supports Al-Makura”.
The newspaper report is still available online and if you read the content, Governor Abdullahi Sule of Nasarawa did not mince words in explaining why APC stakeholders in Nasarawa endorsed Sen. Umaru Tanko Al-Makura over 1st civilian governor of Nasarawa State, Sen. Abdullahi Adamu, (when he paid a solidarity visit to Mr Al-Makura in Abuja), where Engr. Sule stated: "I am supporting Senator Umaru Al-Makura to be the next national chairman of the APC because he is fit, competent and reliable. Also, Senator Al-Makura is a founding member of the defunct Congress for Progress Change (CPC) in the merger that gave birth to our great party, the APC,” stressed the Nasarawa governor.
Speaking further, he explained, “If there is any face of the CPC in Nigeria, apart from President Muhammadu Buhari, it’s Tanko Al-Makura. Therefore, my humble self and the entire state stakeholders of the APC have since endorsed him, as he has set up a machinery for a united party, devoid of rancour."
The governor called on all APC members to vote for Umaru Tanko Al-makura I his aspiration to become the APC National Chairman, as he restated to journalists; “Senator Abdullahi Adamu has the right to contest the position, but the party in Nasarawa state has adopted Senator Al-Makura. Engr A.A. Sule had earlier mobilized the APC stakeholders in Nasarawa to unanimously endorse Senator Al-Makura in January 2022 to run for the position of APC national chairman.
This is not the kind of loyalty that should be forgotten, rubbished or insulted in the passion of political rhetoric.
On Saturday, the 21st of February 2015 during the Transparency & Accountability Awards at Sheraton Hotel and Towers Abuja, Former Governor Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, revealed that he had sent an Executive Bill to the Nasarawa State House of Assembly titled: “Fiscal Responsibility and domestication of the Federal Public Procurement Law in Nasarawa State and Al-makura further explained that the reason he sent the bill was (in his own words), .“so that the people can see exactly what the government is doing and how they can hold all of us accountable..”
Since according to the 1st hadith, All actions should be judged according to their intentions”, it will be natural to deduce that Al-makura wanted his administration to institute the kind of leadership that is anchored on the sacred principles of honesty, transparency, accountability and above all, the fear of God.
But his intension was never fulfilled until Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule came 5 years later to sign the Public Procurement Law and then he went on to establish the Bureau for Public Procurement, which paved the way for the World Bank to adjudge Nasarawa State THRICE as THE MOST TRANSPARENT STATE IN NIGERIA thereby earning for the state $13 Billion grant (in one instance) for NG-CARES and also for Nasarawa State to emerge FIRST POSITION IN SFTAS (States Financial Transparency & Accountability Scheme) of the World Bank.
In short, to honor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule never complained but completed EVERY uncompleted project which his predecessor left behind beginning from the 2,250 teachers that Al-makura “engaged” in the last few months of his administration, which Engr Abdullahi A. Sule formally appointed to become full-fledged staff of the Nasarawa State Civil Service and then Sule still absorbed 500 casual workers who had been eking a living on the fringe of the state civil service.
Thereafter, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule did not concentrate on starting his own projects as a new governor, but concentrated on completing the projects left by Senator Tanko Al-makura.
Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule began honoring Al-makura by completing the construction of the Presidential Lodge at Government House Lafia at the cost N663,847,527.18, and he named the lodge UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA PRESIDENTIAL LODGE, and thereafter, he constructed the 250-Seater Examination Hall at JAMB Office Lafia at the cost of N14,053,733.33, which he commissioned on Wednesday 27th May 2020 and still named it UMARU TANKO AL-MAKURA CBT EXAM CENTER.
Engr. Sule quickly went over to Kwandare (Al-makuras hometown) and completed the CT Scan Project at primary Healthcare Center Kwandare at the cost of N12,867,796.92, and then he also completed the construction of fence at NUDB Headquarters Bukan Sidi at cost of N16,851,367 which Al-makura started, as well as completing the Nasarawa State Liaison Office in Garki-Abuja at a cost of N1,365,410,918.
The Lafia-Kwandare-Keffi Road which was initiated by Senator Tanko Al-makura as a major project that will shorten the distance to Abuja did not begin until Engr Abdullahi A. Sule came into office and finally approved N17.5 billion naira for the construction to see the light of day, just as A.A. Sule tirelessly took over the construction of the very long Kilema-Command School Road in Lafia metropolis and completed construction of Vet Clinic at the cost of N55,800,562, which he also inherited from the Al-makura administration.
Remarkably when it comes to the completion of the Lafia Airport, it is noteworthy that it was Engr. Sule who eventually expanded the runway of the airport to make it large enough to take large cargo planes and he expended over N6 Billion, (N6,045,962,307) to complete the Taxi Runway, Fencing of Airport and Road Network around Lafia Airport Axis.
Aside this, before handing over the Lafia Airport to the federal government, Engr A.A. Sule completed the Fire Service Station at a cost of N47,815,413,.63, and the Airport Terminal Building at a cost of N868,344,540, and imported the Airport Control Tower at the cost of N249,944,989.8, just as the Sule administration took it upon itself to construct the fence at EFCC Academy Site Kwandare (to build on the goodwill Al-makura had started)
There are so many projects close to the heart of Al-makura, which Engr Sule completed out of sheer respect like the landscaping of Orphanage Home Lafia (behind Al-makuras house) at the cost of N7,064,610.00 and Disability Rights Commission ETC.
The truth is that Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule is a visionary spark, and an inspiration to what worthy political leadership is meant to be and can become in Nigeria because he is blessed with patience, diplomacy and tact, and a lot of calm and strength of character not to return insult for insult.
To emphasize the strength of character it takes for sitting governor to continually and patiently honor his predecessor (even while he holds the reins of power in his hands), the former Vice President Prof. Yemi Osinbajo GCON commissioned the Nasarawa State Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Research Centre on on December 1, 2020, and what is unforgettable to this day is how Osinbajo commended (both) Al-makura for initiating the project, as well as Engr. Abdullahi Sule, for ensuring that the vision came to fruition.
In his unforgettable remarks, former VP Osinbajo took time to particularly recognize and reiterate the loyalty of Engr Sule to Al-makura as a rare attribute and a unique strength of character by saying: “I want to commend Governor Sule for acknowledging the leadership and vision of his predecessor Al-makura. This is as it should be and this demonstrates his own personal capacity, his rare humility and the strength of his vision as well.” Osinbajo stated.
The truth is that in 7 years of his stellar stewardship, Engr. A.A. Sule has refused to engage in battle of words and bitter quarrels with political opposition, so as not to heat up the polity, and has evenly spread government projects across the entire state without regard to political persuasion and he has remained focused on inclusive growth and development.
In the victory speech Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule delivered after winning at the Supreme Court, he said; “Your Governor has the patience to withstand all kinds of intimidation, Your Governor has the patience to understand all kinds of insult that will come from people who do not understand what it is, and this Governor (Your Governor) will continue to tolerate in order for us to move forward."
In conclusion, I wish to quote from the book FROM AGRARIAN ENCLAVE TO INVESTORS HAVEN (published after two years of the stewardship of Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, where Distinguished Senator Ahmed Aliyu Wadada said in page 185 that: “there are some politicians that would only want to keep to only those who supported them from day one. But for A.A. Sule, those that supported him in the morning and those that supported in the afternoon or in the evening; as far as he is concerned, they are all his supporters and anything can be extended to anybody. That is how accommodating A.A. Sule is!”
Senator Wadada has celebrated the legendary large heart of His Excellency, Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule, but I wish to caution the APC family of Nasarawa State to rekindle trust, renew alliances and close ranks as one family, united to face the greater electoral battle ahead.
Theres only a limit to which we can tolerate insults, cyber bullying and gutter politics from mercenary journalists, political jobbers and their ilk.
YAKUBU LAMAI is Director General: Strategic Communication & Events Management to H.E. Engr. Abdullahi A. Sule.
