ITS NOW TIME TO REBULD THE FALLEN WALLS:

The emergence of Barrister Simon Lalong as Governor elect represents the collective will of a people to repossessed their destiny from tyranny. It also define the true meaning of democracy. When Governor Jang deluded by power drunk stated at the PDP Governors Forum in Lagos that "democracy is not for the poor" I immediately replied him that he should wait for the elections when we shall know who owns democracy. I believed the people of Plateau and indeed Nigeria has not contradicted me. Once more congratulations Barrister Simon Lalong, the custodian of our collective mandate.

After defeating tyranny, the expectations is high and the task ahead is daunting. The state has suffered gravely from socio-religious cum ethnic convulsions over a decade. This avoidable human catastrophe has destroyed our collectively desire to live together as a people and develop a community where the heritage of peace and tourism flourish. Indeed, the damage done to humanity cannot be quantify especially the younger generations who has been compelled to inherit hatred, bigotry, ethnic chauvinism as our new values. It's quite unfortunate that the world is gravitating into a global village yet we emphasised primitive sentiments of politics of exclusion and divisions which has largely been responsible for the state of affairs. 

In the years ahead, we must jettison anything that weighs our determination to embrace peace and unity. Our new government should learn from the error of history and improve on it. In approaching this problems, its necessary to reconcile all outstanding grievances objectively so as to guarantee hope for the future. Injustice has been the major cause of all man made crisis on the Plateau, our Governor elect must tackle it frontally without fear or favour in order to eliminate it from our system. As a father to all, he should resist the temptation of ambitious political jobbers identified as responsible for politics of exclusion which destroyed previous administrations. There is no modern political community that can survive primordial sentiments of race, religion, race or tribe but the building bricks should be humanity.

Impunity has been institutionalised in the state so much that the penal system has collapsed completely. This has encouraged barbaric traditions of primitive instincts replacing norms even in government institutions. The state bureaucracy as it is today is monopolised by single ethnic nationality. Even wages of public officials are in arrears of many months with nothing happening in most offices. It's not speculative to assert that the civil service is in comatose.  

Our educational system has not been spared, indeed it is the worst hit by bad governance. Territory institutions has been under keys and locks for most of the years thereby making the only curriculum known to our students is strikes. Lack of funding and regular payments of wages is already a religion of a sort in the educational system on the Plateau. Our products from this system in the last one decade are nothing but disgrace to our heritage. The new administration must approach education with serious  commitments because we cannot conceive development without sound educational foundations.

In view of the huge expectations coupled with the army of political office seekers usually marauding the corridors of power, I sympathise with the administration because most people will expect appointments, contracts and patronages against all odds. Where is the resources to meet all these demands in view of the huge debt profile created by Jang administration. The irregular loans and bonds collected by Jang administration cannot be paid by the children of our great grand children and this is not exaggerative. So, this explains my concern for the challenges ahead. We must cut down some excessive budgetary and unnecessary government costs to conserve funds for developments.

The new administration should address the question of religion, politics, indigenes/ settler dichotomy frankly with passion it deserves. It should not shy away from it as previous administrations did or be manipulated into escalating it. Plateau cannot afford anything short of peace and unity in the years ahead. All citizens whether Christians or Muslims must embrace peace and live in harmony with one another. The rights of every citizen should be the concern of all. And we should collectively support the peace project so as to move the state forward. The state has suffered so much from the so called religious crisis and its time we call a spade a spade. It is a political crisis encouraged to shield non performing politicians who had manipulated it for their parochial benefits.

May I ask what is the religion of hunger and can anybody tell me the tribe of poverty which inflict excruciating trauma on the poor people on the Plateau? Now that we have realise we must all say NEVER AGAIN SHALL WE BE DECEIVED. Let's team up together and build a great future for our children. I see great hope ahead. God bless Plateau State.

Congratulations my people.

Solomon Dalung, LLB. BL, LLM