Plateau PDP Elders Derides Lalong Over Buhari’s Visit

By Jide Afolabi, Jos

The Elders’ Forum of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP, Plateau Central Zone, has derided the Executive Governor of the state, Rt. Hon. Simon Lalong over his failure to use the opportunity of President Muhammadu Buhari’s visit to the state to redefine and reposition their aspirations and consolidate their heritage.

This was stated by the chairman of the forum, Chief John Mankilik, at a news conference in Jos on Thursday.

He noted that, “It was a moment much desired to re-assert our identity, re-enact our struggle, make bold statement about our focus and originality as well as reject the servitude and threats from a malicious hegemony.

He said, “It was also an opportunity to restate the resolve of our people to hold their own against the menace of external aggression, armed invasion and orchestration of policies of economic exploitation, spearheaded by an army of occupation to decimate and replace us in our land.”

Mankilik said, “It was a moment like no other for our government and elders to echo our age-long cries and fulfill our dreams and hopes to be the custodians of our own destiny and run our society according to the dictates of our cultural values, norms and belief system that define and shape the riches of our history and predicate our uniqueness, cause and special place in the national scheme of things .”

The Forum expressed its disappointment at the governor for allowing such opportunity to pass by without making maximum use of it.

“It is sad and heart-rending that our people in Plateau State, with all our troubles and challenges, in spite of the trauma and tremor that have characterised our recent experiences as a people with all the bloodshed, ravaged homes, displaced people and unprecedented human capital decimation, it took the All Progressives Congress ( APC)-led government of Simon Lalong to mismanage the huge opportunity of the President’s visit, trivialising its original and unmistakable potential and unfortunately turning it to a salt-testing community feast, in which frolic and tuft-hunting were even restricted to some chorister undertakers”, he added.