A chieftain of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and gubernatorial aspirant in Plateau State, Samuel Nanchang Jatau, says the people of the state have become refugees in their state as a result of the alleged inept leadership style of Governor Simon Lalong.
He described as pathetic the manner in which displaced children and women sleep under the rain and cold weather without food at the internally displaced persons, IDPs camps across the state with no drastic action from the APC government.
Jatau disclosed this in an interview with journalists in Jos, as he vowed to spend only one tenure, if given the mandate to respect the unwritten zoning arrangement in the state.
He said, “I am contesting the governorship election because the present government has failed to provide the needed leadership for the people of Plateau state, we have issues of insecurity that is fast consuming the state, and we have lost our identity. What bother me the most is that we have become tenants in our own land.
“Today, we have about 17,000 Internally Displaced Persons in the IDPs camps scattered around the state, passing through trauma and agony, and that has given me cause to worry. We have children and women who are sleeping under the rain and very bad sanitary condition without food, no clothing but we have a government in place.”
Jatau advised the PDP to allow a free, fair and credible party primaries and urged the governorship aspirants to embraced and support whoever will emerge as the party’s candidate to avoid a repeat of what led to the defeat of the party in 2015.
He vowed to work with all aspirants if he emerged the party’s candidate to kick APC out of power in 2019.
“Presently, we are divided along tribal and religious lines on the Plateau and that is our biggest enemy, that has hindered our progress because tribalism and religion are issues that always come up when we begin to talk about Plateau.
“There is need for us to begin to see ourselves as one Plateau, we need to begin to see ourselves as brother’s keepers to an extend that if people are attacked in Riyom, it should be seen as an attack on the Plateau and not Berom, and the whole of Plateau will collectively respond, there is need for us to have the mindset of an injury to one, is an injury to all,” he stressed.
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