Press Release
Fellow Plateau Youths and the peace-loving people of Plateau State worldwide, ordinarily, we would have waived off the temptation to respond to misleading and provocative statements made by His Excellency, Governor Simon Bako Lalong on June 15th, 2022 when he was hosted by Mannir Dan Ali on Trust TV’s “Thirty Minutes” which is in the public domain. When a father says a lie against his child in public out of excitement, the child is left with no choice than to clear his name publicly, less, the lies said against him will be taken for the truth. After listening to the governor’s interview, we wonder what he intends to achieve through blackmailing the peace loving and hospitable Berom people.
Our response to the governor’s interview is on two premises:
The first is the magnitude of the falsehood, careless, misguided, and insensitive direct attack on the Berom nation and the potential it has to dent and cast aspersions on the well-earned integrity, respect, and peaceful disposition of our people which is evident in the hospitable and accommodating nature in Jos, Plateau State since before the colonial era. Thus, we find it necessary to respond to His Excellency, Governor Lalong because neutral and uninformed Nigerians who might have not visited Jos, social media users and members of the public may believe the lies said against the Berom nation.
The second reason is the potential of Governor Lalong’s statement to ignite or rather awaken a dangerous, irreversible, and irreconcilable tribal and sectional consciousness, tension and eventual division of our beautiful Plateau along tribal lines.
OUR CONCERNS
Our primary concerns with the whole interview are;
- The manner in which His Excellency, Governor Lalong diverted from responding to the issue of why there are still issues of attacks in Plateau State despite achieving peace by his administration to reduce the insecurity that was and is still being experienced in the State to ” the Berom and Fulanis being at war. Talking about the Berom and the Fulanis at war, may we ask His Excellency if late night attacks on our people in their sleep and attacks on their farms can be termed as “serious war”? Does the Governor even understand the term war? Also, does it mean that the Governor does not have the records of attacks in some parts of Bokkos, Kadarko, Mangu and Bassa before his coming in as governor? This looks to us suspicious and fishy, signalling that there is more to it than meets the eye.
- Secondly, the governor publicly saying the Berom people did not vote him because of his affiliation with the Hausa/Fulani Community is preaching hatred and discrimination against the Berom people. We even wonder why the case of an election in 2015 involving the governor and the late Senator GNS Pwajok be a subject of discussion to Governor Lalong in 2022.
- When asked on whether it should be a Muslim-Muslim ticket or Muslim-Christrian ticket, the governor said there is a tradition in politics of inclusiveness and fairness and he has seen it work in Plateau state where he comes from as it was what he used to achieve peace in the state.
Is the present situation on ground not an irony as he is the Director General of a Muslim-Muslim ticket? Where is the culture of inclusiveness he talked about during the interview in the selection of the Vice Presidential candidate of the party?
- According to the Governor, if someone request for a hundred and you give him, he will request for a hundred and one, is he still ready to give the one still in the interest of peace? Should we say this is a confirmation of the allegation that the Governor is trading our Heritage for the so-called relative peace?
- Talking about tolerance, we are forced to ask the Governor, what does he mean by tolerance in the context of the crisis in the state? He said before he came on board, it is difficult to pass through Jos wearing same cloth without changing. Can the governor confirm this with facts?
- His statement suggested that as the then Member of the House of Assembly, and the present Governor he never knew and doesn’t know what caused the Yelwa Shendam crisis, yet he came up with a solution which he applied to the Plateau crisis which he inherited.
- The governor tried to indict the past regime when he said a governor was talking about his tribe and religion. The governor should come out to say the past regime he is referring to.
- If the Governor said the crisis was between the Berom people and the Fulanis because the past regime was talking about his tribe and religion, the crisis has escalated to Wase, Kanam, Langtang North, Bassa, Bokkos, Mangu, Yelwa Zangam in Jos North and Jos East, whose utterances are responsible for those attacks?
If anyone should complain about not enjoying support during the tenure of Governor Lalong, it is the Berom. This is because:
- It is under his watch as Governor that in June 2018, over 500 persons were killed in some parts of Gashish, Ropp and Bachi districts with thousands rendered homeless in over thirty villages with the government doing little or nothing.
- When the Vice President visited the state, He promised a Mobile Police Squadron in Gashish and N10Billion to resettle the Internally Displaced Persons, till today nothing has been done. Yet the governor is said to have visited the President severally to lobby for interventions including the Mobile Police Squadron which has been diverted it to his Local Government Area, Shendam.
If permitted to think aloud, we will say maybe this is because the Berom people do not matter to him.
- It is sad that the Governor had picked our people from IDP camps and dumped them in schools within their communities in the name of resettlement without building even a room to accommodate at least, a family. This year, when some of the displaced Persons in Rantis Village of Gashish District attempted to rebuild their community through self help, they were attacked and three Persons were killed, yet there was no word from the Governor who brought inclusiveness as a way of settling the “war” between the Berom and the Fulanis.
Also, the villages that our people were sacked are today under forceful occupation by the invaders with nothing done to address it from Governor Lalong. Is the justice from our Governor selective?
- Talking about the 2015 Elections, the Lalong won the Elections with 537,050 against 501, 938 votes scored by late GNS Pwajok. The margin between them is 35,112 votes after securing 52,164 from Barkin Ladi, Riyom and Jos South Local Government Areas that are dominated by the Beroms. This is excluding part of Jos North that is also for the Beroms. The figure is against 40,464 votes that the Governor secured in Shendam Local Government Area where he hails from. How then can the governor say the Berom people did not vote for him?
To this end, the interview has only revealed the continuous attempt to set the world against the Berom nation, as governor Lalong lied that the Berom people refused to vote for him because he is too attached to Hausa Fulani people. If we may ask, is there a tribe call the Hausa/Fulani in Nigeria? It is either Hausa or Fulani. If the past regime that governor Lalong had accused of talking about his tribe and religion thereby fanning the insecurity in Plateau State is former governor Jonah Jang who is also Berom, permit us to ask the tribes Local Government Area of the present Minister of Women Affairs, DG ITF, PLASIEC Chairman, the Resident Electoral Commissioner Representative for Plateau, Deputy National Secretary of the APC among many others? This is for a tribe that can be found in only two Local Government Areas as against Jang’s tribe that occupies four Local Government Areas out of the 17 Local Government Areas of Plateau State.
One wonders why a governor who is a lawyer keeps rubbishing our traditional council by acting contrary to court orders of maintaining status quo.
As a people, the Beroms have remained peace loving and hospitable in the midst of provocations and attacks by those the Nigerian government once told us are foreigners but have surrendered our land to them.
However, it is important for the governor to know that such consistent blackmails, vilifications and provocations against the peace loving and hospitable Berom nation, will never take away the natural virtues of peaceful coexistence and hospitality of the Berom people to all and sundry irrespective of religious and ethnic divide.
Above all, the Berom people shall continue to be peaceful and hospitable because that’s their inherent trademark which they are known for.
God bless Berom nation
God bless Plateau state
God bless Nigeria
Rwang Tengwong
BYM National Publicity Secretary
01/09/2022
