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| Her Execelleny, Pauline Tallen with members of Conference of Plateau Independent Publisher and other Journalists |
Conference of Plateau Independent Publishers
Declares support for Pauline Tallen’s Senatorial Ambition.
By Ugante Udante
September 13. 2018
The
conference of Plateau Independent publishers comprising of the Beacon, African
Drum, Grassroots, National Rescue and Plateau News has declared its unflinching
support for the Senatorial ambition of Dame Pauline Tallen.
The
group during its courtesy call on the former deputy governor of Plateau state observed that her
decision to contest for the Plateau South Senatorial District was well
conceived and a welcomed decision because it was a decision that is people
oriented who are passionate about the progress, peace and unity of not just the
Southern zone but in Plateau State as a whole.
Speaking
on behalf of the group, its chairman, Shabul Mazadu said her pedigree spoke
volumes of her eligibility and valuable contributions to the progress of
Plateau State and urged her not to heed to voices of discouragement but to be
resolute and firm in carrying out her quest of going to the Senate and gives
qualitative representation.
He
further called on her to ignore the pressure being mounted on her in some
quarters to jettison her senatorial bid. According to Shabul “we are aware that
certain people from different quarters are mounting pressure on you to jettison
your ambition on the pretext that you hailed from the same locality, speak the
same dialect and also related to the governor Simon Bako Lalong.
“But
based on the United Nations’ quest of ceding one-third of elective positions to
women, (a position that is well accepted by the President Muhammadu Buhari led
Administration, and the desire of Her Excellency, Dr. Aisha Buhari pledged to
support all women vying for political positions, irrespective of party
affiliation), we rate you as highly qualified to come out and contest for the
position of Senator to represent Plateau South Senatorial Zone come 2019.
“We
call on those holding the view that you should rescind your decision based on
the above reasons, to have a rethink and consider the numerous contributions,
sacrifices and the indelible footprints that you have left in all the offices
you have so far held in the State and the nation, ranging from Commissioner to
Deputy Governor and Minister of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
He
said credibility of a person supersedes ethnic and religious sentiments and
those states that understood this principle have benefitted from it immensely. “For instance in Yobe State, the former
Governor, Bukar Abba and his wife, the former First Lady and Commissioner
represented their senatorial and federal constituency respectively at the
National Assembly at the same time.
“Also
in Plateau State, there was a time when the Governor was from the same
district, local government, senatorial zone and spoke the same dialect with the
Senator that represented the Northern Senatorial Zone. So it is high time
Plateau State moved away from parochial ethnic and religious considerations in
supporting elective office aspirants. Credibility should be the watchword and
Dame Pauline Tallen is extremely credible”, said Shabul.
Responding,
Mrs. Tallen expressed delight and appreciation for the visit adding that she
was touched and moved by the support and encouragement of the group as well as
its concern on the controversy surrounding her decision.
She
stated that her decision to contest the senate seat is not to satisfy her
personal interest or to satisfy the interest of the people of Shendam but the
interest of Southern Zone.
“You
know me well not to be a tribalist. I don’t treat people base on sentiments. I
believe in fairness to all. These and many other issues have prompted me to
contest to ensure that Southern Zone gets better representation.”
She
added that another issue that prompted her decision was the need to fill the
mandatory quota for women participation in politics as resolved in the Beijing
declaration that has been adopted in many African governments.
Tallen
however, said it was unfortunate that while the involvement of women in
politics and their identification in electoral process in other African
countries has been enormous and encouraging, the case of Nigeria was different
as they have been neglected stressing that it was shameful.
According
to her, “the world in general and Africa in particular have realized that in
order to move forward, women must be involved in politics and in the art of governance”
she gave an instance of countries like
Senegal, Kenya, Gambia and Ghana where women involvement in polities is between
50-60% adding that even crisis torn country like Rwanda has made considerable
progress and development after the genocide episode over twenty years ago
because of visionary leadership in the country that deemed it fit to give about
60% quota to women in the affairs of politics and governance.
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| Mrs Tallen and Mazadu |
Tallen
said that here in Nigeria, the wife of the President Aisha Buhari has appealed
for only 30-35% in line with the Beijing declaration and further commended the
President’s wife stressing that it was the first time in the history of Nigeria
that a first lady gathered all the leaders of political parties in Nigeria and
pleaded with them to give 1/3 of election positions to women. This, she said
was to encouraged women to participate in politics.
She
called on women to rise up and key into the global trend because according to
her, the story of Nigeria is shameful. Mrs. Tallen added that if given the
mandate, she would use her connection both within and outside Nigeria to
initiate projects and programmes that will touch the lives of not only the
people of Southern Plateau senatorial zone but the entire State.
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