Yakubu Busari
“It has come to the notice of the Plateau All Progressives Congress (APC) Campaign Council that some miscreants are all out to foment trouble ahead of gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections slated for March 9, 2019,” Mr. Jonathan Ishaku Media, Publicity and Protocol Committee, Plateau State APC Campaign said in a statement.
We are aware of the ongoing mobilization of these miscreants around the Tudun Wada, Jos North LGA, office of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for the sole purpose of preventing it from performing its lawful duty of announcing results of the last Saturday National Assembly elections.
This has clearly created a security situation in that axis which threatens the peace in the entire city.
The gathering mob is unmistakably under the dictate of an aggrieved political party which has made clear of its intention to illegally constitute itself as a parallel INEC to determine the outcome of the elections and reject results unfavorable to its candidates. In its bid to execute this latter objective, it is already giving a religious coloration to the delay by INEC to announce the winner of the House of Representatives of the Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency.
It will be recalled that the Plateau State Resident Electoral Commissioner, Mr. Hussain H. Pai, had earlier told journalists that the Commission had some issues to sort out and promised that the announcement would hopefully be made today but this assurance failed to satisfy the rabble-rousers.
We condemn without mincing word, the unruly behavior which now threaten the peaceful atmosphere under which the elections took place, especially so at this interlude preparatory to another round of elections in less than two weeks’ time.
We urge the electorate to remain peaceful and vigilant as mischief-makers fearing another imminent defeat will stop at nothing in causing confusion and disorder.
In the same vein, we also use this opportunity to call on religious leaders to refrain from desecrating their places of worship by turning them into political platforms. Politicians are evenly spread across religious faiths and religious denominations in this state.
It is therefore obnoxious that certain religious leaders would pollute worship places by collecting huge amounts of money from political parties or politicians in order to turn the holy places into promoting the political interests of their earthly paymasters, and blasphemously call it the “gospel” or “prophesy.” A clear case of this was the meeting between a ranking member of the National Assembly and 50 church leaders from a denomination in Plateau State to parrot support for a party and demonize another!
Nothing has shamed the Christianity and Islam in our country than the activities of these money-shylocks in our synagogues and mosques.
But the Holy Books are both in agreement that power comes from God Almighty alone. True faithful know this and have continued to exercise their civic right to choose their leaders irrespective of what the political pastors or imams say.
The public demands the highest moral code from their religious leadership rather the infliction divisions and segregation upon their followers. The church should restrict itself to its anointed mission of preaching the gospel to all its members without discrimination.
This way, it would enjoy the unfettered confidence of the congregation and grow in leaps and bounds instead of having a grumbling and divided followership.
Finally, the Campaign Council salutes the people of the state for its overwhelming support at the last Presidential elections which put pundits to shame. With a 46 percentage score, as against 42% in 2015, we are certain that the next round of polls will witness another APC resounding victory in the race to Little Rayfield and House of Assembly.
We therefore urge our teeming supporters to remain peaceful and law-abiding, and come out en masse to seal our victory. With President Buhari now firmly on the saddle, by the Grace of God, Plateau State will not only remain in the mainstream of Nigerian politics but also a favoured one; with Federal support for infrastructural development, improved security, payment of salaries and pension as and when due, enhanced social welfare and the promised Abuja-Jos Dual-Carriage Expressway in place, another term for Governor Simon Lalong will transform the state into an Eldorado!
