By Rayyanu Bala, Lafia
Sometimes, when you watch people dig up old political videos or recycle past statements, you can’t help but chuckle a little. It’s almost as if some amateur politicians genuinely believe that replaying yesterday’s political attacks will magically influence today’s realities. They act like politics is a straight line, once you say something, you can never shift, evolve, or work with the person you once opposed. But the truth is far more dynamic than that.
A perfect example is the video recently circulated on social media, where Senator Wadada is seen making uncomplimentary remarks about Engr. Abdullahi Sule back in 2019. At that time, both men were vying for the governorship seat. Political heat was high, ambitions were alive, and each candidate was trying to outmaneuver the other. In that context, such comments were normal almost expected. Politics at that level is never a tea party; it’s a battlefield of ideas, interests, and strategies.
But here’s what some people fail to understand: comments made in the heat of a political season belong to that season. They served specific purposes at that moment. To drag them into 2025 and expect them to create divisions today is to completely misunderstand how politics actually works.
For example, there was an incident that occurred while I was serving as SSA Media to Governor Al-Makura. The same pattern that Senator Wadada used on Governor Sule in 2019 was the pattern Governor Sule himself used in 2013 on Governor Tanko Al-Makura when he was seeking the governorship under the PDP. Governor Sule didn’t just criticize Senator Tanko Al-Makura, he practically tore into him. In an interview with Weekly Trust on July 6, 2013, titled: “Al-makura’s team can’t take Nasarawa Higher” Governor Abdullahi Sule openly questioned the capacity of Al-Makura’s administration to take Nasarawa State forward. The criticism was so strong that Al-Makura felt compelled to respond with a detailed rejoinder published in same Weekly Trust a week later, precisely on 13 July 2013, titled: “Re- Al-makura’s team can’t take Nasarawa higher” And that rejoinder didn’t hold back either.
Yet, after all that fiery back-and-forth, Governor Al-Makura still brought Governor Sule forward as the APC governorship candidate in 2019.
The question now is: why did Al-Makura put Engr. Sule forward in 2019 despite the attacked? Al-makura put Engr. Sule forward because politics is not an emotional affair. It is not about who hurt whose feelings or who said what years back. Politics is about interests. This interests could be personal, group, strategic and sometimes, survival interests. Today’s politicians understand this clearly. It’s the spectators, especially those thriving by sentiments, that often fail to grasp it.
What happened in 2013, 2019, or any past political season should be viewed within the context of those times. Politicians attack, criticize, strategize, and reposition and when their interests align, they shake hands and move on. That is not hypocrisy; it is politics.
Today, politics has gone far beyond emotional attachments, grudges, or recycled statements. It has become a sophisticated game of alliances and alignment. Those who remain stuck on old quarrels are simply out of tune with the evolving political landscape.
So, before anyone gets too excited about old videos or past remarks, it’s worth remembering that in politics, yesterday’s enemy can be today’s strongest ally not because anyone has forgotten the past, but because interests have shifted. And in the real political environment, interest is the only permanent factor.
So if those circulating this old video think it will create a rift between Governor Abdullahi Sule and Senator Wadada, they need to rethink. Both leaders have long closed ranks in the interest of Nasarawa’s future. Their relationship was firmly cemented the day Governor Sule invited Senator Wadada to serve as the chairman of his 2019 governorship campaign council. And that cemented relationship is still intact, no cracks.