Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong has been lauded for restoring peace to the state through inclusive leadership.
This is as he has been commended for effectively combining the jobs of governor and Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council (PCC) of the All Progressives Congress (APC) without governance negatively impacted in Plateau State.
The commendation came following the successful hosting of the ‘Plateau Day and Day of Forgiveness and Reconciliation’ recently by Lalong, attended by various ethnic and religious interests within and outside the state.
Yakubu Dati, Chief of Staff (CoS) to the Director-General of the APC PCC, in a statement, yesterday, said Plateau Day and Day of Forgiveness and Reconciliation was a part of the efforts of the governor in sustaining peace in the state.
“Recall that on assumption of office as Governor of Plateau State, Lalong resolved to restore the glory of the state in line with its popular slogan of ‘Home of Peace and Tourism’. For Governor Lalong, the push to drive home one of the cardinal objectives of his administration, which is to restore lasting peace in his state takes the cake as he understands that no development can take place in a rancorous atmosphere. Having inherited a fractured state at the brink of collapse instigated by bloodthirsty warmongers who were exploiting the fault lines of ethnic and religious sensitivities, Lalong initiated policies, programmes and an institutional framework to restore the state back to its lost glory,” he said.
Dati also said governance had not suffered in the state despite the appointment of Lalaong as the Director-General of PCC for the party.
He emphasised that the governor had succeeded in extinguishing initial doubts being expressed about the likelihood that governance would suffer, describing the governor as someone who could deliver in multi-tasks.
Dati said the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar and many dignitaries poured encomiums on the governor for restoring calm and progress in the state under his reign.
He said the Sultan lauded the initiatives put in place by the governor saying it had galvanized the entire state and brought together people who were no longer suspicion of one another nor nursing bitterness and hatred.
“The Catholic Archbishop of Abuja Most Rev. Ignatius Kaigama, on his part expressed delight at the initiative taken by the governor, which he said had been implemented by the state even as the Gbong Gwom Jos, Da Jacob Gyang Buba, urged the citizens to put the past behind them and look forward to a greater future, while Catholic Archbishop of Jos, Most Rev. Ishaya Audu appreciated the Plateau State government for adhering to the yearnings of the people and doing the needful,” he said.
Dati said the governor had succeeded in extinguishing initial doubts being expressed about the likelihood that governance would suffer in the state having been appointed as chair of the APC presidential council. He described the governor as someone who could deliver on multi-tasks successfully.