Governor Abdullahi Sule has decried the exploitation of innocent women by desperate leaders of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to protest the court of appeal judgement reinstating him in office.
Governor Sule, while presiding over the state executive council meeting for the month of November, Monday, used the opportunity to call on the opposition not to continue to mislead gullible women into displaying nudity while protesting the judgement of the appeal court.
According to the Governor, when the tribunal annulled his election in October, he prevailed on members of the All Progressives Congress (APC) not to protest the judgement but to remain calm while he takes the case before the appellate court.
He said leaders of the opposition, who are desperate for power have rather chosen not to show maturity but to mislead their members to portray the image of the state in bad light, as if it was only in Nasarawa State that judgement was passed.
“Those are the people portraying negative image of our state as if it was only in Nasarawa State that a judgement was passed. We don’t see any naked women in other states. We don’t see people wearing black clothes in any other states except Nasarawa State.
“The people are just being misled by some desperate individuals who are thinking that this time they must have power. But the judgement from the appeal court has made it impossible for these type. They must wait for yet another time,” he stated.
He added that, the unanimous decision of the court of appeal is giving the APC added courage and confidence to triumph at the Supreme Court.
Governor Sule used the opportunity of the meeting to highlight on some activities of his administration since the last executive council meeting.
He disclosed that Nasarawa State has secured three mining licenses issued in the name of the state, with one for gold mining in Uke and two for Lithium mining in Toto and Nasarawa Local Government Areas.
The Governor expressed confidence that some investors seeking to partner with the state in the area of mining have shown willingness to pay signature bonus to the state like they do in the oil industry.
“We didn’t applied for these licenses in our names, we applied with the state. Therefore, the state will be the beneficiary of whatever amount that we are going to get for these licenses,” he said.
He recalled that his administration applied for the mining licenses in 2021.
Governor Sule also disclosed that the Federal Government has allocated 625 slots to the citizens of the state, where each beneficiary will be receiving twenty-five thousand naira as palliative.
He delegated members of the state executive council to work alongside local government chairmen, to select the beneficiaries from across the 13 local government areas, irrespective of political leaning.
Beneficiaries of the scheme should be holders of the Ordinary National Diploma (OND) and must have the National Indentification Number (NIN) and a bank account to qualify.
“Let us try as much as possible to engage people who have this level of education. Let us be transparent and fair in this selection,” he added.
Governor Sule equally informed the council that the faculty of engineering at the Nasarawa State University Keffi has taken off fully, with the inauguration and matriculation taking place on December 5th.
He further informed members of the council that he has been nominated to deliver the inaugural lecture titled, “Engineering: The Future for Sustainable Infrastructural Development”, describing the feat as a dream come true.
Governor Sule disclosed that the Nasarawa State Investment Development Agency (NASIDA) is signing a Momerandum of Understanding (MoU) with GreenPad Enterprise strictly on low carbon economy.
“This is something that we have been looking forward to because we are really now getting into the category of states that we should be. We are there now. That’s the way things should be. They are competitive now. There are going to be a lot of benefits to the state once we sign that low carbon economy,” he said.
He also brought up the matter of Shoprite being constructed opposite the Late Sani Abacha Mega Bus Terminal, with the state initially poised to retain 10 percent but later negotiated and invested in the business to own a larger percentage.
“Another exciting information is the fact that the Bureau for ICT has developed a new blueprint for Nasarawa State Information Technology and Digital Economy Agency for 2023 to 2027.
“We have looked at it and we have sent it to NASIDA to review it because of the economic value it will bring to the state and I also sent it to the Ministry of Justice to review the areas of legal implications before we release it. Again, this will give us additional areas when it comes to the knowledge our youths and other beneficiaries will get. But more importantly in the area where we are getting the economic value,” he stated.
Governor Sule informed the council that last week, Nasarawa State was lucky to receive the highest reimbursement in the whole country from the NG-CARES programme, with the state leading the entire 36 states in the country.