Nasarawa State Governor Abdullahi Sule has said President Bola Ahmed Tinubu currently enjoys more support in Kaduna State than he did in 2023 under former Governor Nasiru El-Rufai.
In an interview on a national television live programme last night, Governor Sule dismissed recent comments by El-Rufai that President Tinubu’s popularity was on the decline in the North.
The governor insisted that the political reality on the ground was the opposite of El-Rufai’s claim.
“President Tinubu has more support today in the same Kaduna State where El-Rufai comes from than he used to have when El-Rufai was the governor. After all, President Tinubu got only 300,000 and something votes when El-Rufai was the governor. He lost Kaduna at that time,” Sule said.
The Nasarawa State governor noted that under incumbent Kaduna State Governor Uba Sani, public sentiment towards the President has improved significantly, particularly in the southern part of the state.
“If you look at Southern Kaduna, and even from my local government in Nasarawa State, which shares a boundary with some parts of Kaduna, I know what the people say about President Tinubu today. The support is stronger under Governor Uba Sani than it was under Nasir El-Rufai,” he added. Sule said his personal experience while travelling through Kaduna by road gave him a direct sense of the mood on the ground.
“That’s why I sometimes go by road—to stop, interact, and understand what people are really saying,” he said.
The governor, a senior member of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), also addressed the issue of public misinformation, warning Nigerians against taking political rhetoric at its face value.
“Politicians can say whatever they want to say. But the reality is that President Tinubu today has more support in Kaduna than in 2023, when he (El-Rufai) lost the election there by over 300,000 votes to the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP),” he stressed.
Sule made a strong case for the establishment of state police, arguing that community policing structures currently in place across various states are inadequate to deal with the escalating threat of armed banditry and criminal violence.
“We have Amotekun (in the Southwest), Katsina Marshals, Sokoto Marshals, Zamfara Marshals, and other vigilantes. But they lack proper training and the right equipment. You cannot expect results when your security personnel carry Dane guns and face criminals armed with AK-47s and automatic machine guns,” the governor said.
According to him, a state police will operate under a regulated structure with proper oversight and training provided by national security institutions, such as the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) and the military.
“We’re not saying state police should be totally independent. They’ll be trained by the same national institutions. But the key is that they will be recruited from their own communities and they understand the terrain better,” he added.
Sule noted that this model would strengthen accountability and responsiveness, as state police officers would be locally based and trusted by the people they serve.
“If I employ someone in Keffi, he’s not going to work in Lafia or Akwanga. He’ll work in Keffi, where he understands the area, the people, and the issues. That’s what we need for effective security,” he said.
Responding to concerns about the timeline for impact, the governor expressed optimism that if approved, state police would begin to reduce violent crimes, such as kidnapping and armed robbery, within months.
“These criminals are also afraid for their lives. If they know the person facing them is well-trained and armed, they’ll think twice. So, yes, state police will reduce kidnappings and insecurity significantly,” Sule said.
Also, the Special Adviser to the President on Public Communications and Media, Daniel Bwala, has said the coalition of opposition politicians that former Kaduna State Governor El-Rufai is spearheading, has already lost steam.
Speaking on a TV programme yesterday, Bwala described El-Rufai’s political movement as having no real influence or connection with grassroots politics.
He noted that southern voters would not vote for a northern candidate, if the southern candidate has not completed his eight-year tenure.
The presidential aide gave the example of a former governor (El-Rufai) whose political popularity he said had declined significantly before he left office.
“In the second half of his term, when he was doing his second term, he was so unpopular that the APC lost three Senate seats and a number of House of Representatives, and the president lost the election there,” Bwala said.
