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Gyang Bere, Jos
Plateau State Governor, Simon Bako Lalong has honour his late uncle, Miskoom, Stephen Sule Nanbiet, whose name he said he used in his credentials. And now, this is being contested by the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Gen. Jeremiah Useni (rtd) at the election petition tribunal.
Lalong, who attended the memorial service of late Nanbiet at the Sacred Heart Cathedral Shendam, along with his wife, Regina, said he grew up with him and used his name partly before he obtained an affidavit for change of name.
He used the opportunity to throw more light on the controversy surrounding his names which is being contested at the election petition tribunal by the candidate of the PDP in the last governorship elections.
Lalong in a statement by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Dr Makut Simon Macham said: “When my uncle asked my father to release me to him, my father told him that he had become your son, take him with you. Because of the kind of tradition of love and oneness that exists in our culture, all of us under him bore his name, Sule, because he registered us in school.
“It was when I finished school that my uncle said now that you are grown up and since you are the first male child of your father, you need to bear his name. That was when I did an affidavit to take on my family name Bako. But unfortunately, my opponents are making an issue of it even when the tribunal rejected their arguments.”
He thanked the people of Shendam for supporting his re-election and promised never to let them down. He explained that his administration inherited so much decay that he had to address especially in school and hospital infrastructure which were dilapidated.
He said as governor, he could not sleep to see how workers and pensioners were in pain and anguish over unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions, hence his decision to pay the backlog and also recall over 2,000 teachers that were sacked by immediate past administration.
He said his legacy projects were meant to not only rebuild schools, but also make them ICT-complaint in line with today’s demands.
He asked the people of the state to shun all incitements that are meant to divide the state along ethnic, religious, denominational and political lines. “Plateau State remains one and we must work together to make it so.”
The Parish priest of the Sacred Heart Cathedral Shendam Rev. Fr. Hoomsuk Ahmadu, asked the governor to continue paying attention to education and health just like the late Miskoom Stephen Sule did while he was alive. This, he said, would be the greatest honour that can be done to the late Miskoom Stephen Sule.
The governor and members of the family later visited the grave of the deceased and offered prayers.
