Ex-Plateau Speaker Drums Support For Sen. Joshua Dariye Over National Chairmanship Of APC

Samson Yakubu

The former speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Peter Ajang Azi, has drummed support for the former governor, Joshua Chibi Dariye to be made the national chairmanship of the All Progressives Congress (APC) as he charged stakeholders in the zone to consider and adhere to gentleman arrangements.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with this medium at his Dong residence, Peter Azi called on the APC supporters to give Plateau, a chance to produce the party’s next national chairman in the spirit of unity and oneness in politics.

Azi described the former governor, Joshua Chibi Dariye, as a competent politician with vast wisdom to spearhead the APC to win the 2027 general elections for President Bola Tinubu if given the mandate.

He stated that it is our sincere prayer that he should contest for the seat of Chairmanship in Plateau State, and we are working toward it to make sure that by the grace of God, one of us here in the state grabs it.

We want someone competent in person, His Excellency the former Governor. He is the only person who has taken the bull by the horns, competent enough to contest that position.

According to Peter Azi, everybody has his own opinion, but if he or she is a Plateau man who is not happy with his brother vying, then that person is not a true or sincere Plateau man who won’t work for his brother to clinch the position.

According to him, Dariye is a seasoned politician with a track record of grassroots mobilization that can reposition the APC for a landslide victory.

He appealed to all the geopolitical zones of the country to support the Plateau State candidate in the person of Chief Joshua Chibi Dariye because when you follow the history of the Plateau political arena, most of the people that got to wherever or whatever they became, they got their support here in Plateau State, so it won’t be out of place within the geopolitical zones to allow Plateau to enjoy that position.

In his New Year message, Azi called on Plateau State citizens to put their hands on the desk and support the administration of Governor Caleb Mutfwang.

We thank God that we have seen Christmas and the new year and we are alive. We pray to join hands toward the progressive development of the state and Nigeria at large. We need peace in our dear state because development can’t come in an atmosphere of disarray.

We need to get ourselves together to support Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the development of the state. We admonish people to know that power comes from God and only God that gives power; pray for it because God said we should pray for our leaders.

Adding his voice to the comatose industries in Plateau State, Peter Azi said it is unfortunate because where there are no industries, you don’t expect the secretariat to be occupied by the youth graduates from tertiary institutions, and we are producing them where we don’t have a place to absorb them.

He stressed that the teeming youth need to be engaged in where they can work, and whenever they are engaged, it is good for the state; it is secure because they’re full of energy, but when the energy is not properly harnessed, their potential is reduced into criminality in the state.

Azi described the idle youth as an agent of destruction; he prayed for a governor who would take care of this army of jobless youth because their plight couldn’t just be dismissed with a waving hand.

When you go back to history, when Sanusi Lamido predicted the current economic hardship, he was fired. How can someone who is in government speak ill of them? With Okonjo Iweala, the Nigerian economy is sitting on a time bomb.