Senator Jonah Jang on Thursday said he has no any reason to lose sleep
over the trumped up charges against him by the All Progressive Congress
led government and the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission EFCC.
This was a direct reply to the Plateau State Commissioner of Information Yakubu Dati when he said Jang should be more concerned about accounting for Plateau money
Jang in a statement signed by Clinton Garuba his Media Consultant made available to newsmen in Jos on Thursday reads that
“The recent rants by Yakubu Dati the information Commissioner of
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State wherein he made spurious
allegations and uncomplimentary remarks against distinguished Senator
Jonah David Jang, is by all standards of appraisement comes as no
surprise at all. Ever since he was invited to attempt to rescue the
battered public image of Governor Simon Lalong, it becomes more and more
evident that he has parted ways with the beautiful traits and skills he
acquired from the People’s Democratic Party when he worked with Senator
Joshua Dariye while he was governor of Plateau State, and the Federal
Airport Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) during the Goodluck Jonathan
presidency, which combined gave him the oratory he now misapplies.
As the mouthpiece of a governor who has failed the people woefully, we
sympathize with Yakubu Dati for the herculean task he has had to
shoulder trying to redeem the irredeemable. His principal Governor Simon
Lalong has proven beyond doubt on numerous occasions to be against the
people he governed unlike his predecessor Senator Jonah Jang who stood
with the people of Plateau State through their travails while the passed
through the valley of the shadow of death. Where people are killed and
displaced from their homes, Lalong abandoned them to their fates and
sought to reward their killers and persecutors. If not for the
resilience, courage, and bravery of Plateau people, most of their
ancestral lands and heritage would have been forcefully taken away as
grazing reserves, colonies, ranches, or any convenient nomenclature. The
people saw through his deceit and today he has been rejected because of
it. This and many more make Dati’s job frustratingly difficult.
Yakubu Dati and his apologists can go to town with any story they
fabricate against Senator Jonah Jang, but it will have no effect, and
cannot erase the magnificent achievements of the Senator while he was
governor. Today the cars Dati’s principal and indeed the APC
administration in Plateau State drive were bought by Jonah Jang. Most of
the roads he plies in the State Capital and on the way to his Village,
were constructed by Senator Jonah Jang. The office he works in and the
government house he sleeps in on the few nights he spends in the State
were built by Senator Jonah Jang. What more does Dati want? We
understand their frustration and fixation on Senator Jonah Jang. His
transformational work throughout the 17 Local Government Areas of the
State have eclipsed them in all ramifications thereby reducing Lalong
and his government to midgets before the towering accomplishments of the
man who is cherished by the people of Plateau State for the memory of
his outstanding stewardship as governor for 8years.
One thing Yakubu Dati sought to achieve is misleading the people to
think that Senator Jonah Jang has any reason to lose sleep over the
trumped up charges their government and the Economic and Financial
Crimes Commission EFCC brought against him. Unfortunately, he failed
lugubriously trying to make a mountain out of a molehill. EFCC is
bemoaning their fate in court and so is Dati and his boss having endured
the most painful and agonizing traumas of their lives when their own
witnesses testified against them. So, it is shocking that a man of
Dati’s acumen can be so delusional to mention and celebrate a
politically motivated case like that which the Senator is confident of
winning.
It is always amusing when Yakubi Dati and his people say they have
restored peace on the Plateau. What peace are they referring? Where is
the peace? Perhaps it is a figment of their imagination. From New Year
Day till date, a little over a week ago, we have lost 20 precious lives
in the State. Is that the peace Plateau people desire, the type that
reduces them to internally displace persons, IDP? Certainly, they cannot
lay claim to creating peace as an achievement, neither can Lalong or
Dati boast of returning IDPs to their homes, because what continues to
happen is that more ancestral lands and homes of the people are being
forcefully occupied in the name of conquests under Lalong. Oh Plateau…
How can your governor know or understand your pain and suffering when he
governs from the palatial penthouses of Abuja?
Putting Yakubu Dati’s infamous antecedents in perspective since becoming
Lalong’s Commissioner of Information, it leaves very little to be
desired. Saner people in his position use their offices to inspire hope,
unite people, heal wounds, and open new vistas of progress and
advancement for the government and people they represent, but that
cannot be said of him. He is the exact opposite of that, and my
torpedoing the goodwill he is presumed to have garnered over the years,
he is truly in a precarious situation today.
Consequently, I will like to use this medium to call on Yakubu Dati to
tread carefully, because the trajectory on which he is moving may soon
consume him politically. When you have a bad principal like Dati’s who
is anti-people, the wise thing to do is to quietly resign to safe
whatever is left of your integrity.
Importantly, Senator Jonah David Jang wishes to hereby categorically
warn Governor Simon Lalong not to mistake the 2019 General Elections for
the sham he presided over when Plateau State Independent Electoral
Commission stole the people’s mandate. The 2019 elections is between the
people of Plateau State and Governor Simon Lalong. Therefore, the
Senator is calling on the people to resist all attempts to rig the
elections.