More reactions have continued to trail last week’s swearing in of four All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates as chairmen of local governments in Plateau State by Governor Simon Lalong.
This is just as the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state said that action by the Governor shows he is legalising illegality as part of his policies.
The PDP also alleged that the actions of the Governor seem to portray him as someone who is fueling insecurity in the state.
This was disclosed by the party’s Publicity Secretary, John Akans, flanked by other party officials in the state, while addressing journalists in Jos, the State capital.
Akans said, “The party was shocked on October 9, 2019 with unbelievable and maladjusted news of Governor Lalong’s decision to swear in APC’s flag-bearers as the caretaker’s chairmen of local government areas for Riyom, Barkin Ladi, Jos South and Jos North.
“This action is not only illegal, but undemocratic, unconstitutional and a full blown dictatorship unexpected of a Lawyer who claimed to be a democrat, whom we believe his action is gearing towards disenfranchising the people by denying them the right to freedom and liberty to chose their representatives at that levels.”
The PDP Spokesman maintained that, “If this act is not condemned and rejected by all men of goodwill it might be a security threat to our existence as a people, because it is practically clear that APC has substituted democracy with impunity and are forcefully asking the people to accept this undemocratic and illegal actions.
“You will recall also that here in this office while interacting with you, the party have had cause to raise some concerns about some very disturbing issues in the affairs of Plateau State Government, particularly on assumption of office in 2015.
“The first assignment of the Governor was the dissolution of democratically elected Local Government Council Chairmen and their Legislators and replaced them with transition committee which lasted 3 years before an election was conducted with a Kangaroo result against the wishes of majority voters.
“This undemocratic exercise by Governor Simon Bako Lalong and the APC can only be described as a political circus”, he explained.
“What worries us most is the continuous leadership failure characterized by maladministration at all levels as a result of incompetence and non adherence to the rule of law in line with the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 as amended.
“For the avoidance of doubt section 7 (1) spelt out clearly how the Local Government Administration will be run, while these acts of impunity have continued to rear its ugly head under Governor Simon Bako Lalong without considering the yearning and aspirations of the people,by refusing to listen to the voice of reason by legalizing this illegality as part of his government policies.
“This is enough fact that the APC has chosen to govern against the wishes of Plateau people.
“As a party, we believed that democratic governance has the practice of periodic renewal of authorization through periodic elections in genuinely seeking the consent and mandate of the people not to rule but to govern them by providing a focused, transparent and effective leadership without any air of bias where the people will have unflinching hope and faith in the political leadership.
“Competence, skills and robust knowledge-based governance as well as accountability should be the watchword of every responsible leadership; instead what we have today under APC is a government that runs against Nigerian constitution”, Akans lamented.
“It is indeed tragic today that despite the effort of our democratic founding fathers in deepening tenets and norms of democracy for the people to enjoy, it is unfortunately now being bastardized and used against the people where they cannot freely and fully celebrate their freedom and liberty because those who lead us today are opportunist.”
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