I have no senatorial ambition for 2019 — Al-Makura

NASARAWA State Governor Umaru Tanko Al-makura, has debunked rumours making the rounds that he would vie for the Senate to represent Nasarawa South in the 2019 elections.

There have been rumours making the rounds across the state that, the governor is mapping out strategies to run for the Southern Senatorial seat of the state.

The governor, who made his position known during a media chat on Friday, in Lafia, as part of the programmes marking 20th anniversary of the state’s creation and independence, said he wants to be a statesman and a father of the state after 2019 elections.

Al-Makura also said he lacks the powers to install a successor from the Nasarawa North senatorial district to balance the formula of the governance in the state, of which the northern zone has not been given opportunity to govern since its creation in 1996.

“I am too small to determine my successor,  because it is in the hands of the people of the state to decide, even though it is natural the people would want the north to produce the next governor following the principle of fairness.

On the economy of the state, the governor said the state is gradually exploring the agricultural sector to boost its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) as a way of diversifying the economy.

The governor, however, appreciated his predecessors for not handing over a failed state to him and assured the people of the state of greater years ahead.