Senator Philip Aruwa Gyunka, a chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Nasarawa State, has attributed Governor Abdullahi Sule’s defeat at the March 18 polls and the Governorship Election Petition Tribunal (GEPT) to what he termed as poor performance in his first term.
Gyunka, who represented Nasarawa North in the 8th National Assembly, while speaking on AITs ‘Democracy Today’, on Sunday night, said the governor’s performance during his first term, from 2019 to 2023, left much to be desired.
He said the governor failed to meet the expectations of the people of the state, insisting that Sule’s policies led to the impoverishment of the Nasarawa people.
He lamented that some indigenous residents of the State had been forcibly displaced from their ancestral homes and receiving minimal compensation for industrialization projects. He particularly highlighted the situation in Akwanga, the governor’s hometown, where he claimed that he did not make any significant impact on the lives of his people, leaving them in abject poverty.
The tribunal’s judgment, delivered virtually on October 2, upheld the petition against Governor Sule, unseating him from office and declaring PDP’s David Ombugadu as the lawful winner of the March 18 poll.
Governor Sule had since lodged a 27-ground appeal with the appeal court, challenging the decision, stating that the tribunal had erred in its judgment and called on the appellate court to affirm his election, as declared by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
INEC had originally declared Sule as the winner of the election with 347,209 votes.