From Yakubu Busari, Jos
Alh Saidu Adamu
The National President of Jonde Jam Fulani Youths Association of Nigeria, Alh Saidu Maikano Adamu has appealed to Governor Simon Lalong to run an inclusive government in Plateau state.
He said that is the only way to solve the divisive issue of settler vs indigene and restore lasting peace in the state.
In an interview with our correspondent in Jos, the state capital, he said the preceding administrations of Joshua Dariye, Jonah Jang failed to address the issue but that Lalong has a better chance to do so given the influence he wields as Chairman of the Northern Governors Forum and his cordial relationship with the Federal Government.
Speaking in an interview with our correspondent at his resident in Mista Ali in Bassa Local Government Council on Sunday morning, Adamu said history is beckoning of Lalong to write the wrongs he made when he was Speaker of the Assembly and failed to join Deputy Senate President, Ibrahim Mantu to affirm a proposed state of emergency that would have allowed stakeholders in the state to work out a solution of the crippling crisis then.
He said: “Joshua Dariye’s administration in 1999 brought crisis to Plateau state and refused that Bokkos LGA should not be involve in the ongoing crisis then but by that action he allowed the crises to spread across the 16 LGAs”
“We gave Lalong this mandate in 2015 believing that he would provide conducive atmosphere for our people to contribute to the development of the state but the reverse is the case. What we are seeing now is total discriminate and failure to deliver on his campaign promises to the Muslim community.”
“We the Fulani, assembled all the Ardos for him in 2015 and we all agreed to vote him but he didn’t carry us along, what we are asking for is not about religion but an opportunity for our children to go to school to acquire education.”
He maintained that “our people can take advantage of nomadic education and on Saturday and Sundays the can use it to study Arabic because we now have only 20 out of the 86 nomadic education schools established by Professor Marry Lar and Dr Jibrin Aminu in the 80s.”
Adamu blasted some Fulani leaders he accused of being “war contractors who go about telling to lies to the powers that be while thousands of their members are wallowing in abject poverty and frustration under the present leadership of APC in the state.”
Adamu who said that his people were now at the mercy of neighbours, “who are after our lives”, cautioned herders to keep the peace while his group appeals to the federal government to set up a committee to visit the state and see for itself, “what we are going through.”
Adamu stated that in 2019 election, “we all agreed not to vote Lalong again but Mrs Pauline Tallen (Minister of Women Affairs) came to beg us and when the election results were being counted PDP was leading but immediately Jos North LGA results came, the narrative changed. It shows you how we assisted him to win”.
He stressed that the problems of the lingering crisis in Plateau state has do with political injustice under Dariye administration and that of Jang, urging Lalong to walk away from that path. He added that the suspicion should not be created that Dariye is still ruling the state from Kuje prison, where he was sent after being found guilty of corruption charges.
He suggested the creation of chiefdom or a first class chief for the Hausa-Fulani as part of the measures to bring lasting peace to the LGA.
