REDEMPTION INTEGRITY GROUP CONFRONTS JANG: -DESIST FROM CONTINUATION OF ETHNIC DOMINANCE -YOU DERAILED FROM INITIAL AGENDA -ALLOW ALL PDP RETURNEES INTO PARTY In a recent interview granted The Beacon, Mr Nuhu Gagara who is spokesman of a group of former Commissioners, Legislators and other political juggernauts in Plateau State under the auspice of the Redemption Integrity Group, made a call to governor Jang to desist from the divisive approach which has set the various ethnic groups in the state on the path of mutual distrust and suspicion. Mr Gagara who is a former Commissioner of Information during the first dispensation of the Jang administration in the state decried how terrifying the situation is where there is deep mutual suspicion among the people like in no other time in the history of the state. Gagara lamented how some people don’t want to even make themselves known to belong to a particular ethnic group because a lot of minds have been poisoned. He said peoples’ psyche are badly injured and we now suspect one another and when a good look is given to the way things are done now, one would see misplacement of priorities. The group posits thus “we want to be one people once again and we want to say yes, we have a leader that is truly a leader, a leader that is ready to lead everyone, a leader that will not show ethnic bias. On this note, we say the people of Plateau should not shy away from the fact that the time has come. Everyone who has interest in the 2015 gubernatorial election should show up to tell the public what he or she can do for Plateau. He stated, if it is true that we are really a Christian state, and then let our deeds show we really are. A Christian does not support injustice, a Christian does not support unfairness, he doesn’t support bad governance, divisive sentiments, be they tribal or religious. Responding to questions on agitation from some proponents of Plateau northern senatorial zone producing the next governor after Jang in a bid to start the rotation of the governorship from where it ends, he said the position of the group is that every citizen of the state has a constitutional right to aspire to any office regardless of where they come from. In that case, we all know there are 3 senatorial zones; therefore, if we have a good candidate from the northern zone, he is free to contest. If we have a good candidate from the central zone and the south, the same should apply. But what we are saying now is that we are not happy over the ongoing agitations, where some people are calling for retention of the governor seat by producing the next governor from the same ethnic stoke as the present governor in pretext that the rotation should start from where it has ended, to some of us, this call is rooted in ethnocentrism, because this group feels it welds power now, they therefore want to perpetuate themselves in power against odds, this to us is unfortunate. It is immoral because if past leaders thought along that line, then power wouldn’t have shifted to cover the three zones of the state. Therefore, let there be level playing ground, nobody should impose any candidate on the people of Plateau state. You derailed from initial agenda Gagara said what we had in mind when we muted the idea of redeeming Plateau as an agenda was firstly to have a leader not a ruler. We meant to have a government that will touch the lives of everybody in the state and to have a leader that everybody will be his. Poverty was to be confronted headlong. However, as it were now, the rate of poverty is worse than what it was when we took over in 2007 and the sectors we identified will generate a lot of money to the state to run its affairs are abandoned. Our tourism potentials have not been developed. He continued, the Rock Hotel we inherited is meant to be of international standard and was at 70 percent completion, but until now, no further work has been done, what we now have is a concentration on one aspect and even the that one aspect is enclosed within a very tiny area of the state, that is not leadership, he concluded. Allow all PDP returnees into party The former Commissioner said the position of the Redemption Integrity Group is that we are operating a democracy. If we in the redemption team say we won’t allow people to come back, then those of us who left the PDP and later returned are the guiltiest of our own rule. For instance, during Dariye era, we were forced to leave the PDP to ANPP where our redemption leader(Jang) contested but lost and when we were ready to come back to the party, we were accepted with two hands and that gave us way to have him as governor in the state today. We therefore thank God for giving us Ahmadu Muazu as the new national chairman of the party who is now beckoning on party people to return home. Same will happen on the Plateau I assure you. The Redemption Integrity Group is comprised of former Commissioners, Local Government Chairmen, elected and appointed, former and some serving legislators with other Special advisers. Mr Nuhu Gagara was the then Information Commissioner in the state when the post-election violence broke out after the 2008 Local Government elections. He was joined in the suit filed at the International Court of Justice at The Hague by a group from Jos North Local Government council, accusing officials of Plateau State Government of pogrom against the Hausa community of Jos North, this suit has long been laid at the bay by the international court.
Posted on: Wed, 05 Mar 2014 12:52:05 +0000
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