By Marie-Therese Nanlong
Jos – Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang has charged elders in the State Chapter of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP to continue to uphold the ideals of the Party and contribute their quota in curbing any form of rancour in the Party.
He spoke on Monday at his residence in Jos during a breakfast meeting with some stakeholders and members of the PDP Elders’ Forum where he urged them to give wise counsel and guidance to ensure the right things are done to ensure peace and stability in the Party.
Recall that the State Chapter of the PDP is planning to conduct Wards and Local Government Congresses to elect their officials, the Governor acknowledged that the period of Congress has always been rancorous and cautioned against unpopular actions that could lead to avoidable conflicts in the Party.
His words, “… PDP is a platform that Plateau people have identified with since 1999. I believe that Plateau people will continue to identify with the PDP when we do the right things. It therefore became necessary to make sure that every organ of the Party was functioning…
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“The wisdom that God has invested in age, especially age well-lived, age that is well cultivated is something that you can never take for granted. I want to, therefore, congratulate the Party Chairman for making sure that the Elders’ Committee of the Party is brought back to life so that we can have the Party functioning in every sense of the word…
“We will soon begin the process of Congresses, the National Working Committee had announced some States where the tenures of the Excos have expired and they have transmuted them into Caretaker Committees; Plateau is one of them so it means that our Wards and LGAs Excos are dissolved, they only would act until we have fresh congresses.
“What this means is that we will soon hold congresses and congresses are the times when the demons raise their heads and this is where elders must show themselves to be elders. I want to beg you that you please play the role of an elder. The slogan of PDP is power to the people. Let the people decide and I’m sure often than not when you guide the people as an elder, they are not going to fight you.
“Some of us in our Wards and the local governments have established practices of zoning, don’t because you like somebody there you distort the arrangement that everybody subscribes to. It is not going to work, particularly at the Ward level.”
He added, “I appeal to us to use our good offices, use our good names, use everything at our disposal to make sure that we get people working together as a team. That is a strength of the PDP. I’m glad to have this opportunity for the elders to interact among themselves. And for us to be able to advise on things that need to be done so that we can be able to move the Party forward, bearing in mind that we bear the trust of the people of Plateau State and we cannot afford to disappoint them.”
Earlier, the Chairman of the PDP Elders’ Forum, Chief Raymond Dabo said the elders were happy with the work the Governor was doing so far and stressed, “We are here to encourage you and interface with you and have some cross-fertilization of ideas on how to move the State forward and to encourage you that we, the elders are proud of you and very proud of what you are doing on the Plateau.”
Among those in attendance at the meeting were former Governor Jonah Jang, former Ministers Hon. Damishi Sango, Hon. M. I. Azi, and Ngo Sarah Ochekpe, former Nigerian Ambassador to Switzerland, Amb. Yahaya Kwande, PDP North Central Zonal Chairman, Hon. Theophilus Dakas-Shan, former federal and State Legislators, State Chairman of the Party, Hon. Chris Hassan among many others.
