There is a moment in the life of every state when its people must choose between the comfort of short memory and the wisdom of long thinking. Nasarawa State is at that moment right now.
As the 2027 general election draws nearer and the political temperature rises across the state’s three senatorial zones, there is ongoing intense debate, from the corridors of Government House in Lafia to every town and village, which zone produces the next governor?
The answer, for anyone who has studied the history of this state and cares about its future, must be rooted in the zoning arrangement that has guided this state since its creation in 1996. And the man leading that charge is Governor Abdullahi Sule. The people of Nasarawa must stand firmly behind him.
Governor Sule has explained his continued advocacy for zoning the governorship seat among the state’s three senatorial zones, saying the arrangement promotes fairness, inclusion, and lasting peace.
These are not empty words spoken for political effect. They are the convictions of a man who sits where he sits today precisely because those who came before him chose to honour the arrangement.
Governor Sule has consistently reminded stakeholders that he was a product of zoning and fairness, recalling how in 2018, stakeholders from Nasarawa North had to go around the other zones, pleading to be given the opportunity to produce the governor of the state in 2019. That memory is important. It is a reminder that this arrangement was not handed down from the sky. It was earned through humility, negotiation, and good faith among the people.
Since the inception of Nasarawa State in 1996, its founding fathers agreed on a rotational approach to leadership due to the state’s ethnic and political diversity, with the intention that every zone would have a chance to produce the governor.
That decision was not made by careless men. It was made by leaders who understood the fragility of a new state, who looked at the mix of peoples and communities under this roof and wisely decided that no single zone should hold the seat of power permanently while the others watched from a distance.
Senator Abdullahi Adamu, the state’s first civilian governor, has confirmed that after his eight years in office, he reached out to Nasarawa South and supported Aliyu Akwe Doma, who succeeded him, in line with the spirit of power rotation. That act of statesmanship by Adamu planted a seed of trust in Nasarawa’s political soil. It is a seed that must not be uprooted now.
The APC state chairman, Dr. Aliyu Bello, has affirmed that the existing power rotation arrangement in Nasarawa State has helped to entrench fairness, unity, inclusion, peace and stability in the state’s political system, noting that the governing party has drawn from Nigeria’s experience of power rotation with the understanding that for democracy to thrive anywhere, it must adapt to the political realities of its environment.
That is a point worth pausing on. Democracy is not a one-size-fits-all garment. What works in a homogenous society may not serve a multi-ethnic, multi-religious state like Nasarawa. Our democracy must be dressed in the fabric of our own realities. Zoning is that fabric.
Consider, too, the specific situation of Nasarawa North. Without rotation, the Akwanga zone, which has only three local government areas, would not have been able to produce a governor. Think about that carefully. Three local government areas. In an open, free-for-all contest driven purely by numbers, what chance does such a zone have against zones with more local governments, more registered voters, and more political machinery?
The honest answer is very little. Yet Nasarawa North has sons and daughters who are capable, committed, and deserving of the opportunity to lead their state. Zoning creates that pathway. Take it away, and you have effectively told an entire zone that their place in the story of this state is permanent subordination. That is not unity. That is a wound waiting to fester.
The Nasarawa State APC chairman has thrown the party’s full weight, one hundred percent, behind Governor Sule’s position on zoning, affirming that the governor is standing on a precedent that he did not create but committed to uphold, and that nobody can fault him for that.
That endorsement matters. It means this is not merely a personal crusade by one governor. It is the position of the ruling party in the state, backed by its leadership, its structure, and its understanding of what is right for Nasarawa.
Governor Sule has said that every eligible indigene of the state has the constitutional right to contest the governorship, but he argues that zoning the seat among the three senatorial zones would ensure fair representation.
This is a crucial distinction that those who misrepresent his position must grasp. The governor is not saying that some Nasarawa citizens are less than others. He is saying that fairness sometimes requires structure, and that a structure voluntarily adopted by the state’s stakeholders for nearly three decades deserves respect. There is no contradiction between constitutional rights and zoning. One protects the individual. The other protects the community. Both are necessary.
Now, some voices are being raised against this arrangement. Critics have argued that competence, capacity, and a candidate’s statewide appeal must override any informal rotation arrangement.
This is a familiar argument, and it sounds reasonable on the surface. But let us examine it honestly. Has Nasarawa’s zoning arrangement ever produced an incompetent governor? Has it prevented qualified people from emerging? The record does not support that conclusion.
What zoning has consistently done is ensure that the pool of aspiring leaders is drawn from all parts of the state, not just the most populous or politically dominant zone. That is healthy for any democracy.
Governor Sule has appealed to those who may not get what they seek to take it in good faith, reminding them that no position is hereditary, and that there are many other elective positions and opportunities for every interested individual to pursue his or her ambition.
Those are the words of a leader who understands that the state is bigger than any single ambition. To those political actors who see zoning as standing between them and the governorship in 2027, the message is not one of rejection. It is one of redirection. Your season will come. Every zone’s season comes. That is exactly the point.
Governor Sule has said plainly: “I don’t have a single enemy among the aspirants. Every aspirant that is there, if God wants to give that aspirant power, that aspirant will become our own candidate. Once we have one of our aspirants as a candidate, I owe it upon myself to work for that candidate.”
Those are not the words of a man playing games. They are the words of a man committed to leaving his state in better shape than he found it. Standing with him on zoning is not about blind loyalty to a governor. It is about protecting an arrangement that has helped Nasarawa manage its diversity without tearing itself apart.
The governor has stressed that zoning allows communities to feel represented and reduces tension, giving citizens confidence that leadership opportunities will eventually reach their areas. In a state still building its institutions, that confidence is not a luxury. It is a necessity. Destroy it, and you will spend years trying to rebuild the trust that was lost in one moment of political impatience.
The people of Nasarawa, across all three zones, must rally around the governor’s position. Not because he is asking them to. But because it is the right thing to do. Zoning is not a cage. It is the covenant this state made with itself. Let us keep it.
