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From Jude Owuamanam, Jos
Chairman of the Senate Committee on Employment, Labour and Productivity and senator representing Plateau Central, Diket Plang, has said he was sure President Bola Tinubu would have a smooth sail in his second term bid because of his purposeful, bold and all inclusive approach to governance.
Plang, who spoke when he visited victims of the recent attack in Bin-Mper community of Kumbun district in Mangu Local Government Area of the state, said the hard but necessary decisions the president had so far taken had put the country in the right trajectory.
More than 24 persons were killed in the incident.
He portrayed Tinubu as a determined, brave, articulate and purposeful leader, capable of implementing hard but necessary policies.
He cited those bold and transformative decisions as subsidy removal, state police, regional development centres, saying that the idea of a second term could help consolidate his vision.
He said: “I think President Bola Tinubu will win his re-election for the reasons that his policies and his vision are very inclusive
“He seems very determined, brave, articulate and purposeful to ensure that some very tough, critical but also needed policies are implemented. It takes a brave heart to remove subsidies.
“It also takes another brave heart to say, let’s have state police. It takes another great heart for a country to create regional development centres. For me, such a person should be given a second chance to consolidate on his dreams and visions.”
Plang, who failed to secure a re-election ticket, acknowledged the anger and discontent following that exercise and the arguments over the recently released list of members of the presidential campaign council. He, however, remained hopeful and optimistic that the party would perform well in the election.
He said: “I hope and believe that the party will be able to handle some of the little discontent from the party’s primary election. But regarding the presidential campaign council, I think the president has the right to drive his own re-election campaign, after all it’s his own election.
Plang, who took a swipe at the proposition by the presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) Atiku Abubakar, to reintroduce petrol subsidy and reopen the country’s borders, described them as mere rhetoric.
He said that reopening borders would be very catastrophic as porous borders were the main reasons for the insecurity bedevilling the country.
Speaking earlier to the victims of the attack, Plang said that he was comforted by the strong will and desire of the people not to allow anybody to displace them from their lands
“It is sad that in a small community like this, 24 people in one day will be killed. That’s just 10 percent of the total population of the land being wiped out within a very short time, within a night.
“I’m, however, comforted by the strong decision of the leadership of the land, particularly the village head, the district head and the entire tribal development association to remain resolute in their lands. I’m highly encouraged by their doggedness, their strong will to withstand this very very sad episode.”
District head of Kumbun, Gambo Tetmut, had earlier told the senator that the village is the last settlement in the vast land overseeing the hills, which made it very vulnerable.
He asked that the local vigilante be empowered to serve as the first line of defence.
He said: “If you look at this environment from the western part of this village, there are no houses there. So, these communities are vulnerable. We are asking for help, sustained help for this community, because most of the attacks are coming from these vulnerable communities.
“We want the government to assist us, especially to provide the first line of defence. There are youths that are sacrificing their lives. Some of them don’t have anything to even defend themselves. If they had, we wouldn’t have had this number of casualties here.”
