2023: Don’t underrate other parties – Al-Makura tells APC

THE Senator representing Nasarawa-South senatorial district, Umaru Tanko Al-Makura, has cautioned the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) against laxity in next year’s general elections, warning further that the contest will not be a walk over.

The former governor of Nassrawa state said the 2023 general elections would be tough especially with the insistence of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), on the introduction of electronic voting system during the exercise.

The lawmaker spoke during the party’s stakeholders’ meeting convened by Governor Abdullahi Sule at the Government House, Lafia, the state capital recently.

According to Almakura, the ruling APC must work hard if the party must capture power at all levels in 2023.

“The 2023 election will not be easy, let’s not take for granted that everything is going for us. We have to get up and do the right thing, especially with the change in the electoral process.

“The Bimodal Voter Accreditation System (BVAS) that has gone scientific and full proof, will make us laugh at ourselves at the end of the day, if we don’t take into consideration, some of the basic things that we need to do”, Almakura declared.

While urging Governor Sule to create a soft-landing political space for some of the aspirants that resigned their positions and contested but lost during the primaries, the lawmaker also urged the aspirants, as committed members of the APC, to consider and sacrifice for the good of the party.

He further appealed to Governor Sule to embrace all the aspirants, with a view to moving together as members of a strong, united APC.

“No matter how bitter we feel about the outcome of the primaries, I think it behooves upon all of us, as committed members of this party, to reconsider certain sacrifices for the general good of our party.

“I will like to caution that we are at a certain stage of the political history of our party and we need a united front if we must come out victorious in 2023.”

Almakura called on the federal and state legislators in the state to use the remaining period to deliver both stomach and physical infrastructure to their constituents, as doing so will further motivate the people to vote for the candidates of the party.