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Issues in Plateau’s political landscape

By Isa Abdulsalami Ahovi, Jos
20 February 2015   |   5:28 am
NIGERIA will reach another political milestone on March 28, 2015 when it holds general elections.     The elections initially scheduled to hold on  February 14 were shifted for logistics reasons.    While the polls referee, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that it was prepared, security chiefs said it was on its own…

NIGERIA will reach another political milestone on March 28, 2015 when it holds general elections.     The elections initially scheduled to hold on  February 14 were shifted for logistics reasons.    While the polls referee, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), said that it was prepared, security chiefs said it was on its own if it adamantly insisted on going ahead to conduct the elections because there would be no protection provision for the elections. 

   Owing to this posture by the military and the body language of the Federal Government, INEC had no option than to postpone reschedule the polls.

   Elections in Nigeria have always attracted the attention of the global community because it is the most populous nation in Africa. It is looked up to provide the roadmap for other countries to follow. Politically, economically and socially, Nigeria should be a beacon for other countries. 

    Therefore, it is expected to hold a credible election which will produce an acceptable president that the world, especially Nigerians will be proud of.

   To slug it out are many political parties. But the contest seems to have been narrrwoed down to the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) which is the ruling political grouping and its strongest challenger, All Progressives Congress (APC).

 While PDP’s candidate is the incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan, the presidential standard bearer of APC is Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), a one-time military Head of State of the country. The impact of other political parties is not much felt as the two. The political heat is around the two parties.

  Apart from the presidential election, all the states of the federation are also preparing to elect their respective governors when the time comes. 

  In Plateau State, four political parties are fielding candidates in the forthcoming governorship election. They are PDP with Senator Gyang Pwajok as standardbearer and Yilji Gomwalk (an architect) as his running mate. Others are APC (Simon Bako Lalong and Professor Sonni Gwanle Tyoden); Labour Party (LP), Ambassador Bagudu Hirse and Pastor Nanmwa Banda; as well as African Democratic Congress (ADC), Alhaji Ibrahim Sabiu Musa.

 The other three political parties are being dwarfed by the PDP in the state in terms of political structures and all other yardsticks that can be used to measure standards. However, none of the two major parties especially the APC will agree that it is playing a second fiddle. All the parties have their manifestos beautifully written.     Campaigns have been going on as expected especially by the first three political parties.

  Plateau State has never been known for political violence in spite of whatever has happened as far as history of the state is concerned. Whoever wins is congratulated, even by his closest opponent. The parties have seriously embarked on various intrigues and strategies, the campaigns are devoid of rancour and bitterness unlike what obtains at the national and other state levels. The parties have toured most local councils selling their ideas to the electorate. It is now for the people to be moved by the ideas that each candidate was able to marshal to persuade and convince them to give them their votes.

   The gubernatorial candidates of all the political parties in the state recently signed an accord in which they expressed their willingness to shun violence and hate speeches throughout the period of electioneering and before, during and after the election itself. Consequently, all their supporters are encouraged to discuss issue-based ideologies rather than violence, mudslinging and character assassination.

  Pwajok is a renowned academic who has been a university lecturer and a one-time Chief of Staff in the administration of Jonah David Jang. Lalong is a lawyer and a two-time former speaker of the state House of Assembly.

   Lalong heavily relies on sympathy votes especially when the central and southern senatorial zones want zoning formula adopted. This, they believe, if adopted would have favoured southern zone to be followed next time by the central. But that argument has been disregarded. Some people in the state felt aggrieved and betrayed that the zoning formula was jettisoned by the state government and the PDP. They argued that the southern zone which last tasted power 16 years ago should have been allowed to produce the next governor if zoning was to be followed.

   However, since it is not enshrined in the 1999 constitution, Governor Jang urged Nigerians to reject power rotation between the north and the south.

   His words: “If this agreement is adhered to, some states and ethnic groups in the country would never get a chance at the presidency. I want to advocate earnestly that even at national level, this issue of North-South presidency should stop.

  “Whoever is good enough to rule Nigeria, Nigerians should give such one the backing, no matter where he comes from. When we start talking of North-South, there are some areas in the South that may never get it, there are some areas in the North that may not get it. Irrespective of your religion or ethnicity, if Nigerians believe in you, you should be able to become the President of this country.

   “There are people who are bent on dividing Plateau State, trying to bring tribal sentiments, trying to bring all kinds of sentiments. People who should try and unite Plateau State are the people who are trying to divide Plateau State and we must say no to such divisive tendencies. We in Plateau State are one people and will always choose the best who will give the state the best, no matter where such a person comes from. What God has done on the Plateau this time and is still doing is to break that tribal interest.”

   Speaking recently during one of his campaigns, Pwajok said: “We need to come together as one so that we can break the barriers of religion, so that we can break the barriers of ethnicity and geography. If not for God, it would not have been possible for me as a young man to be counted among the 109 senators of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. This 2015, God is trying to prepare another way that I should be counted among the nation’s 36 governors from Plateau.

  “I want to promise everyone here that I will not betray the interest of Plateau State. We will continue to work with the young and the old, men and women, because it is only together that we can truly be greater.”

    When Pwajok featured in a radio (Rhythm 93.7) programme recently, he talked about how he emerged as gubernatorial candidate.

  He said: “I strongly believe that our God is a God of surprises and to me, it came as a pleasant surprise. All my life, I grew up seeing God’s handiwork in my life and virtually all my engagements; that is why I always tell people that I’m a living testimony of God’s work in progress. I have transversed positions that were hitherto unimaginable because I’ve always tried to do my very best in every little assignment I’m given or undertaken, not minding whether I’m planning for one thing or the other. The truth of the matter is that what is worth doing, is worth doing well. From my engagement as a lecturer with the Plateau State Polytechnic where this whole notion of ‘GNS’ started, I’ve always been very passionate about issues that affect my environment and not one who shies away from issues or being actively involved. At one time or the other, I became the public relations officer of the Plateau Youth Council and the National Social and Cultural Secretary of the Berom Youth Movement and these were the early days of my training as far as leadership is concerned. Added to that, my party engagement took me to being the pioneer secretary of the PDP in Jos North LGA.

   “So party politics has always been something that has endeared and made me to meet people at different for a. When Governor Jang was campaigning, some of us were active in the formation of the youth wing of his campaign via which we covered the length and breadth of the state and it has enabled us to know the reality on ground and the expectations of the people. I also played a significant role as the secretary of the transition committee that evolved the government even before the government was sworn in. So, to an extent, it gave me clues as to what the people want.

 “Shortly after I was appointed the Director- General of Research, I anchored the strategic retreat that ushered in the 10-Point Agenda and to that extent, I have always been more or less, a custodian of the policies and programmes of the Jang administration.

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