Fight poverty, banditry, kidnapping, APGA tells Nasarawa Govt

The All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) in Nasarawa State has urged the state government to concentrate on fighting poverty, banditry, and kidnapping in order to secure lives and property as well as to improve on the standard of living of the people.

This is contained in a statement signed by the state Chairman of the party, Mr Adams Nyisana.

Nyisana said that the party remained the people’s choice for change, security, democracy, and development in the state while urging APGA supporters to continue to be law-abiding for development thrive.

The chairman said that the prevailing hardships in the state would continue to strengthen the party membership and support base across party lines.

This, he said, would change the situation if APGA secured power in subsequent elections in the state in order to improve on the standard of living of the people of the state.

The statement said, after the 2019 election, we returned to God and the people continued to put our case before them.

“The people in anger continued to follow APGA and her candidate; H.E. Labaran Maku, CON, former Minister of Information/Defence, who is also a former Deputy Governor of Nasarawa State.

“Given the general collapse of governance, unpaid arrears of salaries, pensions and gratuity across the state; and the intense suffering in the rural and semi-urban areas, banditry, kidnapping, and violent crimes.

“It was not surprising that in 2019, even those who didn’t follow APGA in 2015 turned to APGA,” the statement read in part.

Nyisana said that the ruling party in the state have devised strategies to use the present severe economic pressures on every family across the state to dangle poisoned carrots on APGA members to defect to the APC.

“We understand that after months of deploying the entire government machinery to cajole targeted APGA members, they went round to promise appointments and other pledges to anyone that defects from APGA to the APC.

“Politics of fake promises of personal favours to woo APGA members won’t change the desperate situation facing the people of Nasarawa state across all the political parties.

“Including founding members of the APC, majority of whom are living in frustration and bitterness, because of the way they are being treated and or ignored,” it said.

The statement added that: “Those who have succumbed to the pressure from the state government are people with whom we hold shared values and concerns. We understand the individual and community pressures on them.

“Regardless of where they are we retain our full respect for them as individuals and as comrades at arms in the struggle for democracy, good governance, and for a better future for our people and our children,” he said.

The APGA chairman assured all members crossing over other political parties of continued goodwill and partnership in the struggle for a better and safe future of the state.

Nyisana also urged those who crossed over to APC to be watchful and prayerful, adding that no one is safe from the insecurity that is bedeviling the state.