March 11: Which Way, Plateau State?

Believe it or not, one of the most fundamental and contentious issues that has dominated and shaped the nature and outcomes of the 2023 general elections so far is the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.

This is most especially so in Plateau State whose citizens are very passionate about their Christian faith and identity. One of the reasons for this is that a couple of the European Christian missionaries who brought the Gospel to Nigeria established some of their first stations in what is today known as Plateau State more than a hundred years ago.

Being a sort of an island in the mainly Muslim geographical north, Plateau State fiercely protects that distinct religious pedigree. It has also become a safe haven for other Christians fleeing persecution from the far north. In fact, the state possesses this special appeal to other Christians and Muslims alike from other parts of the country.

That flashback serves to, first, lay the foundation for our subsequent submissions and, second, stress the fact that, contrary to what our detractors would have us and the world believe, religion has been insidiously thrust into the political equation this time around through the APC’s Muslim-Muslim ticket, which cannot be dismissed with a wave of the hand.

The APC’s bold impudence was simply contemptuous and denigrated Christians and their faith. Who could dare contemplate a Christian presidential candidate and a Christian running mate in today’s Nigeria so deeply fractured along religious fault lines? Not that it is impossible for an extremist Christian who cares less for the religious sensibilities of Nigerians to attempt.

But it is highly unthinkable for discerning Christian politicians to even imagine because they strongly believe in fairness and equity and, most importantly, they hold dearly the virtue of doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Expecting Christians to keep quiet about the Muslim-Muslim pairing is like sweetly cajoling the man you have pushed to the wall not to react. Such docility is self-destructive and negates all the ethos of natural justice and self-preservation.

Citizens of other religious persuasions must also strategize to guard against the looming dangers inherent in Tinubu’s New National Order gaining a foothold in Plateau State. They must secure their religious freedoms and push through their own socio-political and economic agenda by electing the right candidates in the March 11 elections.

The costly mistakes of 2015 and 2019 must be avoided like The Plague.

Only those who choose to tow the deceptive and self-serving path of political correctness believe that a huge dose of religion has not been introduced to these general elections in an unprecedented manner. And nowhere is this playing out more than Plateau State.

On March 5, the man who just ‘won’ election on the Muslim-Muslim ticket as vice president-elect, Senator Kashim Shettima, sneaked into Jos along with some of his co-religionists occupying high national political positions. They visited a well-respected Islamic cleric to solicit support for the APC’s gubernatorial candidate and got a positive response.

This very cleric, just as many others in other parts of the country, has gained notoriety for openly engaging in partisan politics with huge religious biases without qualms. All to the admiration of his followers, including the vice-president-elect.

Of course, Senator Shetimma did not deem it fit to balance his tour with an equal visit to any Christian leader. Therefore, it is widely believed that the APC gubernatorial candidate will continue with Governor Lalong’s policy of the pacification of a continuously errant and bullying core north, to the detriment of the indigenous peoples.

This is viewed with great trepidation and dread in the state. The Fulani herdsmen’s scotched earth policy against indigenous Plateau communities under the watch of Governor Lalong will very likely be carried over into a new APC government, should they win the election.

Certainly, this perception, founded on credible fears, is considerably whittling down his already slim chances in the election as countless indigenous communities have been forced into displaced peoples camps because their ancestral lands have been forcibly occupied by well-armed herdsmen.

This is an issue that must be put on the front burner of public discourse until the very moment each voter casts their ballot. It is central to the fundamental question of the true identity of Plateau people.

We have been brainwashed into believing that it is shameful, immodest, disingenuous, politically suicidal and embarrassing to talk about politics in religious tones. But for others, their religion and politics feed each other, they are mutually inclusive.

Now, what about the other contender in the gubernatorial race, Dr. Patrick Dakum, of the Labour Party (LP)? This gentleman, a last minute gate-crasher into the LP, was, in fact, one of Governor Lalong’s most consistent henchmen.

He himself owned up: “The governor in my own opinion has done well given the circumstances he has found himself…. My relationship with the governor is excellent. We have been in the same political group since 1999. We have been in the trenches with him when he was the speaker of the House of Assembly….”

That was on May 10, 2022, less than one year ago. (See PUNCH of same day).

He further gushed: “We have been in the trenches when he was campaigning in 2015 and did what I could do to raise fund when he was campaigning in 2015….

“I have also been part and parcel of providing advice where I can throughout his tenure…. Therefore, I have every reason to believe that he is a gentleman, a leader and our party leader.”

But on May 25, 2022, that camaraderie that was flourishing since 1999 simply melted away following the governorship primaries of the APC. The personal ambitions of the two men had finally collided.

“When it was obvious and glaring that the venue had been infiltrated by top government officials, siblings and relations of the governor who were not delegates and were determined to give the party’s ticket to a particular aspirant against the will of the people,” a tearful and wrathful Dr. Dakum had complained, “we then decided to walk out of the venue in protest because we won’t be part of such irregularities.”

And by August 6, 2022, he had already jumped ship and was declared the governorship candidate of the LP, although not without some bitter controversies. He now turned on his favourite ally of more than two decades.

THE WILL (February 12, 2023) reported that Dakum “blamed the failure of the Simon Lalong Administration in the state on what he described as an all-knowing mentality and refusal to listen to advice from elders and stakeholders.”

According to the newspaper, he said that the governor’s “poor leadership style” had made some members of his cabinet become so “disillusioned and disgruntled that they had concluded plans to exit the APC….”

Which do you believe now? The encomiums he poured on his friend, Mr. Lalong, when the going was great or the searing dressing down after they had been torn apart by intra-party rivalry? Whichever position you chose, it is apparent that both perceptions of Governor Lalong are chiefly driven by selfish interests rather than any altruistic fervor.

In fact, like some pundits have posited, had Dakum won the APC primaries, and he almost did because he came second, he would have been the candidate of the APC in Saturday’s poll. And all would have been cozy between the two gentlemen. And we would have never heard this whining about Mr. Lalong’s bad attributes.

Apart from the fact that he is believed to also share in the culpability for the governor’s disastrous ambivalence and double-speak about the herders’ onslaughts on indigenous communities, among other failed policies, he is considered as an opportunist who is now tenaciously struggling to ride on the wave of the popularity of the LP presidential candidate, Mr. Peter Obi, to gain power.

Analysts and critics alike point out that he thinks that even without vigorously campaigning in the nooks and crannies of the state, as the other candidates have done, he can use the band-wagon effect of Obi’s acceptance and good will to reap where he did not sow.

Don’t forget that he has an uncanny grasp of the emerging primacy of the individual candidate over the political party.

He once explained it thus: “In fact, Plateau State people look at the candidate more than they look at the party. It was that, that formed the basis for APC coming to power in 2015….There is no wrong or right party but there is right candidate who will now use the party platform to galvanize development.” (THE SUN, May 10, 2022).

Nonetheless, during the February 25 presidential and national assembly elections, discerning Plateau electorate demonstrated that they had found him out. While they voted for Obi, they adroitly rejected all of the LP’s other candidates. They cast their ballots mainly for the PDP candidates, most of whom swept the polls. None of the few LP hopefuls won.

Pundits observe that that was a clear indication of what will play out in the March 11 gubernatorial and house of assembly elections. According to political commentators familiar with the state’s unfolding elections permutations, this gives the PDP’s Caleb Mutfwang the clear upper hand in Saturday’s governorship election.

His advantage also stems from the fact that he is the only candidate that is unsoiled and untouched by the rot that has characterized the rapacious Lalong government. Both Dr. Nentawe of the APC and Dr. Dakum of the LP are perceived as the two sides of the same tainted coin.

Furthermore, Barrister Mutfwang has shown an abiding capacity for integrity and restoring and keeping faith with the dreams, aspirations and values of Plateau State’s founding fathers which was mercilessly trampled underfoot by the Lalong administration.

By pointing out the roads not to be taken, Plateau people can now see an alternative route. By marking out today’s pitfalls, other pathways into the future have been clearly laid out.

Through the above process of logical and painstaking elimination, based on verifiable facts and antecedents, we have arrived at the way Plateau should take, come Saturday, March 11, 2023.

GYANG can be reached at chrisgyang01@gmail.com

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