APGA Will Win Nasarawa Guber Election in 2019, Says Oye

•  I defeated Al-Makura in 2015, Maku insists

Onyebuchi Ezigbo in Abuja and Emmanuel Ukumba in Lafia

The National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA),

Mr. Victor Oye, has expressed the readiness of the party to do everything humanly possible to win the governorship election in Nasarawa State in the 2019 general elections.

This is coming as a former Minister of Information and Culture, Mr. Labaran Maku, has said that he defeated the incumbent Governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura in his own ward by 200 votes during 2015 elections.

Oye declared that APGA is the only party that can take the state outof the shackles of poverty.

The APGA national chairman consequently said the state needs a radical leader like Mr. Labaran Maku for a radical change from underdevelopment, mass hunger and poverty, adding that it is time the people of the state organise and enthrone inclusive governance for mass prosperity.

He stated this yesterday at the national headquarters of the party in Abuja when the National Secretary and 2019 governorship candidate of the party in the state, Maku, presented himself before the national executives of the party for their blessing as he officially commenced the campaign for the governorship race.

According to him, “we are taking over Nasarawa State as it is already manifested in the spirit. We are not in war battles with anybody but we want to liberate our people in Nasarawa State. We are not working against any individual, but what we know as soldiers of Christ is that we must fight and liberate our people.

“I don’t know how God intends to do it but all I know is that God will make Labaran Maku Governor of Nasarawa State come 2019. The people of the state have suffered so much. We can’t fold our hands to watch people being killed, destroyed and persecuted. It is time to liberate them and only APGA can do that for them.

Meanwhile, Maku has said that he defeated the incumbent Governor of Nasarawa State, Tanko Al-Makura in his own ward by 200 votes during 2015 elections.

He said he would make another bid for the governorship seat because of the level of suffering the people of the state are experiencing under the state government controlled by the All Progressives Congress (APC).

Maku who spoke to journalists thursday at the secretariat of APGA, after submitting his nomination form, said his major priority if elected would be to re-unite the people, stop the incessant killings and ensure sustainable development in the state.

“I took the ticket of APGA on Christmas day within three months, on April 11, I defeated the sitting governor Al-Makura in his own ward by 200 votes; in his own local government of Lafia, I defeated him; I defeated him in his own zone in four out of five local governments then; I took the rest of the states, the results were awaited, some people conspired and changed the results in the full glare of the people,” he said.

Speaking on his chances at the polls, Maku who is also the National Secretary of APGA said he has been able to sell his programmes to the people on how he hopes to administer the state and bring development to the door steps of rural populace.

“In the period of four years that the mandate was stolen, things have gotten worse in Nasarawa State, killings have multiplied. In many communities today people cannot go to farm. The government has been run in the most criminal way, N390 billion have been collected in this seven years but there is nothing substantive on the ground,” he said.

On current face-off between Governor Al-Makura and the former Governor of the state, Senator Adamu Abdullahi, the former minister said both men are not popular and cannot win election in a free and fair atmosphere.

Maku said the quarrel between the governor and Adamu has become inevitable since they connived to deny him the people’s mandate.

“Both of them know that they didn’t win election; both of them know that they are sitting on a seat that they do not deserve. They know Maku won the election but they upturned it; now, there is crisis.

“You know robbers fight at the point of dividing the spoils; so, now the crisis has erupted; that crisis tells the people of Nasarawa State clearly that the mandate was stolen –

“I knew there will be a fight over it – all they can do now is call the owner and hand it over so the state can witness peace and development, they don’t need to fight over it,” he said.