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| President Buhari |
Opinion: Why Plateau State should
support President Muhammadu Buhari
By Dame Pauline Tallen, OFR
The
presidential primaries of all political parties have come and gone with the
ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), featuring President
Muhammadu Buhari as its presidential candidate, while the leading opposition
party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has presented Alhaji Abubakar Atiku.
As a mother
and a stakeholder in Plateau State, I am calling on the good people of Plateau
State to rally round President Muhammadu Buhari and give him our votes at the
polls to reciprocate his good gestures to the state.
We should
not allow merchants of political deception to brainwash us into believing
fabricated lies that President Buhari hates Plateau and he is sponsoring Fulani
herdsmen for attacks on communities or trying to Islamize Nigeria.
It is on
record that in 1984 when Buhari was the Head of the Military Junta, and when
Nigeria had 19 states, he appointed two governors from Plateau State which was
a rear privilege. They were Navy Captain Samuel Bitrus Atukum of Plateau State
and Brigadier Jeremiah Useni of Bendel State. If Buhari out of 19 governors
will select two from Plateau, it shows he has a good will for the state.
Coming on
board as a civilian president, Plateau State has benefitted from his government
above the previous administrations.
We can see
clearly that under the immediate past regime, Plateau State had the Minister of
Water Resources, Mrs. Sarah Ochekpe, and then governor Jonah David Jang, was a
strong ally of then President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, but the regional water
plant in Mangu was not taken into cognizance for completion, until President
Muhammadu Buhari came on board and reviewed the contract upwardly from N855m -
N977m for speedy completion. The same Buhari administration has awarded the
contract of Baban Lamba - Sharam Road at N19.2bn, in Kanke Local Government
Area, 54km road from Plateau to Bauchi
and back to Plateau which is Pankshin-Tapshin - Gambar - Sara - Kal - Gindiri
at the cost of N15bn.
The Buhari
administration also approved N348.5bn for the expansion of Akwanga - Jos - Bauchi - Gombe Road.
So many
Plateau Youths have secured employment with N-Power which is greatly helping
them.
The same
administration has given five Chairmen of Federal Boards appointments to
illustrious sons and daughters of Plateau and 25 Federal Government board
members.
On the issue
of insecurity, we had not less than 7 Boko Haram Bomb blasts from 2010- 2015,
but since Buhari came on board and decimated the insurgents we never had any
till date.
Our father,
patriot and elder statesman General Yakubu has testified that President Buhari
has no hand in the herders attacks on communities as being perpetrated from
some quarters. These attacks by the Fulani did not start under the Buhari
administration as attested by Jonah David Jang's interview with The Messenger
April 2003 saying, “I don't know who is training Fulanis in the bush. These are
people whom we have lived here for so many years. Today they are militias. They
can shoot guns. They have sophisticated guns, killing and burning
villages."
Since
November 2008, we had several attacks on communities in Plateau State and most
of them had their owners sacked. It was in one of the attacks in 2012 that Honourables
Gyang Fulani, then member representing Barkin Ladi constituency in Plateau
State House of Assembly and Gyang Dantong Senator representing Plateau North
Senatorial District in the National Assembly lost their lives.
It was the
horror of the attacks that Jang once said he did not know why God made him a
governor of Plateau to always wake up to hear that his people are being killed
on daily basis.
What
prompted the agitation for a state police and creation of the Operation Rainbow
by the Jang Administration? Insecurity of course.
Buhari
inherited these clashes and attacks that have been here with us for fourteen
years and he is tirelessly working round the clock to bring them to an end.
Governance
is continuum, if the previous administration had judiciously utilized the $2bn
meant for the purchase of arms to tackle insecurity, its burden on Buhari
administration would have been much less. But it has been allowed to
metamorphosed into a multi headed hydra.
It is easier to destroy than to repair especially in the area of insecurity
where it has a lot of beneficiaries.
The boosting
of the Military and Police personnel morale
by the Buhari administration and their being equipped with sophisticated
equipment have depicted the President's high commitment to finding lasting
solution to all security threats.
Buhari's
attempt to stop the herders/fulani clashes was politicized when he talked of
cattle ranching, where some people interpreted it as a means of taking over
indigenes' land to give it to the Fulani. Despite frustrating his efforts
coupled with massive criticisms, president Buhari is relentlessly making
efforts to end attacks on communities and farmers/herders clashes.
Finally the
Buhari led administration has promised to refund the funds spent on construction
of the Secretariat Junction Overhead Bridge and the dual carriage from
Mararaban Jama'a to Secretariat Junction. And also promised to support the state
with N10bn To help the state return the refugees to their homes after the June
23 attacks.
One good
turn deserves another. We should not be carried by emotions but judge
righteously and support President Muhammadu Buhari for progress and more
dividends of democracy!
Tallen is the former
deputy governor of Plateau State.
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