Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule has blamed the defeat of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the Osun State governorship election on what he described as interference by “Abuja politicians”.
Sule spoke on Tuesday in Lafia while presenting Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) acknowledgement slips to APC candidates contesting governorship and State House of Assembly seats in Nasarawa.
He said the APC would not have lost the Osun election if some politicians based in Abuja had not interfered.
“APC lost partly because of the Abuja politicians, you know, because if not for some of these Abuja politicians, there was no way for APC to lose in Osun,” he said.
The governor, however, said the election also demonstrated the strength of an incumbent governor.
He said those celebrating the APC’s defeat might not fully understand what the result means.
“So, for people who are celebrating, they don’t even understand what the hell they are celebrating. What they are celebrating is that the power of a sitting governor in Osun is what has stopped them from winning,” he said.
Sule also warned that Nasarawa has “one hell of a sitting governor”, apparently referring to himself.
Speaking about President Bola Tinubu, he said, “I’m not going to brag about anything that we are going to do, but what I can tell you is that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has done well.”
The governor urged APC candidates to avoid sycophancy, blackmail and activities that could weaken the party ahead of the 2027 elections.
“It is time, because politics actually involve, you know, a lot of sycophancy, blackmail, you know, underhand, and things like that. I’m begging you in the name of God, don’t get involved in that,” he said.
Sule also warned candidates against secretly supporting candidates from other parties while campaigning for the APC.
“When you are campaigning, campaign for APC. Don’t go with the drama that maybe I can actually campaign for myself and campaign for another candidate of another party, if you do that, you know, people will see. And the people that see, they are also going to make sure that they react to you in that manner,” he said.
“I don’t believe in this anti-party, I don’t believe in this realignment, I don’t believe in that. And I’m begging you also not to believe in the same,” he added.
He urged the candidates to “go out there and vote for the party that you believe in.”
The governor explained that the INEC acknowledgement slips confirm the candidates’ recognition by the electoral commission and allow them to check that their names are correctly spelt before ballot papers are produced.