Mr. Simon Lalong, Governor of Plateau State.
By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – The Plateau State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP has taken a swipe at the State Governor, Simon Lalong for calling the incessant violent conflicts between herders and farmers a “clash,” saying the Governor is seeking to please the Presidency.
It would be recalled that the Governor in a recent television interview discussed the security situation of the State but the opposition PDP picked holes in the discussion.
The State PDP Publicity Secretary, John Akans faulted the Governor, stating, that the Governor had again disappointed the Plateau people.
His words, “The attention of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has again been drawn to the shameful, disgraceful and disastrous outpouring of Governor Simon Lalong during an interview with Arise TV on the 15th and 16th of April, on the state of insecurity in the State.
“Governor Lalong, in his usual attempt to deceive Plateau people again to impress his boss at the top exhibited the unstatesmanlike and disappointing character of a supposed leader.”
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“First, he described the mindless decimation of Plateau people ongoing under his watch as just a clash between the Beroms and Fulanis and the Rigwes and Fulanis claiming this clash has been in existence before he became a Governor and that when he came on board he was able to solve these problems as a result of his accommodating agenda of appointing those that were marginalized.”
“When asked to give an idea of what exactly is the root cause of the continuous killings for the past seven years of his reign as the Governor; instead of responding directly to the question, he claimed to have final solutions to, he rather chose to display open hostility towards the people of Plateau by saying he is speaking as the Chairman of the Northern Governors’ Forum, not as a Governor of Plateau state.”
“Ordinarily, one would expect the Leader to outrightly condemn this genocidal act and direct for arrest but shamelessly Governor Lalong said when the military went after the killers they ran away. What a Governor?”
Akans added, “To further impress his oga and a few of his followers Lalong went on bragging that his experience as the longest-serving Speaker in the State (7 years ) has helped him perform by restoring normalcy in the state, ignoring the genocide that took place in Barkin Ladi, Bokkos, Mangu, Riyom and Bassa local government areas under his watch…
“We, therefore, ask Governor Lalong having agreed on Arise TV that he has refused to set up a commission to investigate this ongoing massacre across the state even after stakeholders have advised him to do so. He has also admitted that there is an already existing report of Nikki Tobi’s commission when he was the Speaker of the House of Assembly why does he then not go-ahead to implement the Nikki Tobi Commission’s report?”
