BY AHMED TUKUR, LAFIA – The campaign organisation of the Governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in Nasarawa State, former Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Abubakar Adamu, has alleged that the Akwanga Local Government Council has denied it approval for the use of a public facility as venue for its proposed empowerment programme.
Akwanga is the headquarters of Nasarawa North Senatorial District and the local government area of Governor Abdullahi Sule.
The Director of Media and Strategy of the Campaign Organisation, Otaro Douglas, stated that following the development, the campaign team has secured the premises of the Evangelical Reformed Church of Christ (ERCC) in Akwanga for the programme.
Douglas said the church graciously approved the use of its premises after the Akwanga Local Government Chairman, Safiyanu Isah, declined the organisation’s request to use the Akwanga Primary School ground.
In the words of Douglas; “After the Akwanga Local Government Chairman denied approval to use the proposed Akwanga Primary School ground, the church graciously approved the use of its premises”.
He explained that the campaign organisation, being a law-abiding organization, had approached the Council chairman for approval, but he turned it down.
Douglas noted that the same primary school ground was used by other political parties for their activities in the local government area.
He further said; “We contacted the local government chairman and he declined our request, which was why we approached the church”.
Douglas said the SDP governorship candidate had previously conducted a similar empowerment programme in the Nasarawa West Senatorial District without any difficulty, adding that the next phase was scheduled for Nasarawa North.
He further said that the programme was designed to empower farmers with agricultural equipment and inputs, including tractors, seedlings, herbicides and other farm supplies.
Efforts made to contact the Akwangwa Local Government Chairman, Safiyanu Isah, who also serves as the Nasarawa State Chairman of the Association of Local Governments of Nigeria (ALGON), for his reaction were unsuccessful as he neither picked his telephone calls nor responded to text messages as of the time of filing this report.
