As the people of Plateau State begin to take steps towards the forthcoming Local Government Councils’ election in the state, projections towards 2019 general election have become the undertone. Political gladiators in the state and across party lines have started strategizing to gain control over local governments by assisting loyalists to emerge in the forthcoming elections.
Although there are identifiable alignments and realignments going on among politicians, the quest to control and influence those who become Chairmen and Secretaries of LGCs in the Southern Senatorial District of Plateau state has become paramount in the on-going strategies.
It is no news that most political parties, registered and operating in the state have and may zone their governorship seat to the Southern zone of the state. It is also a fact that the zoning formula has been the architecture that produced the incumbent Governor, Simon Bako Lalong to power in 2015.
It, therefore, follows that the eight years of governance of the state from 2015 to 2022, would continue to see the number one citizen of the state emerging from the southern part of Plateau State.
However, with the incumbent Governor, Simon Bako Lalong, who hails from the Geomai tribe in Shendam LGA, currently on the saddle of governance, the need for permutations to distribute the seats of the Local Government Chairmen and the House of Representative seats of Mikang, Qua’anpan and Shendam, where Geomai people are predominantly found is now becoming the issue on the drawing table of interested parties.
Pundits have posited that the Governor Simon Bako Lalong had earlier submitted that anybody who has been appointed as chairman of the Transition Implementation Committee under his administration should not contest in the forthcoming Local Government elections.
But, the new twist according to pundits is that the governor has now realized that his position would be against the provisions of the Nigerian Constitution and has therefore soft-pedaled.
This singular move by the governor to renege on his earlier stand has generated the heat to control the political process in Qua’anpan, Mikang and Shendam Federal Constituency of Plateau State.
The move to keep the Geomais out of the Chairmanship seats by other Tribes within the constituency is thickening. The moves by Geomai people in present political offices are also being resisted.
The quest of some Geomai politicians to also jeopardize the moves of the second coming of Governor Lalong in 2019, is not only being frowned at, put whips are in the air to whip them into place. The campaigns for the seat of a chairman in the Southern zone of Plateau state, from REALITY findings, are not just a mere politicking exercise but, “Serious Business”
Source: realitynewspaper.com.ng
