Nobody has declared in Plateau because politicians are afraid—Dalung

Barrister Solomon Dalung is a member of the Northern Elders Forum (NEF) and former Chairman of Langtang South Local Government Area of Plateau State. In this interview, Dalung speaks on his ambition to become governor of Plateau State and how he intends to unite the different ethnic groups in the state.

There seems to be uncertainty in the political atmosphere on the Plateau, what would you say is responsible for this?
Plateau State historically has been the melting pot of politics of the north generally. In fact Plateau sets the pace and tune for the politics of northern minorities. But in contemporary times, Plateau state has abdicated that responsibility and it is in light of this that the political atmosphere in the state is not only dull but very discouraging. This is traceable to the politics of godfatherism. Plateau, where credibility was the basis for leadership now patronizes godfatherism and this has given birth to people who see themselves as having the political might to anoint people. Now every other politician on the Plateau

is watching the lips of the man in charge, seeking his anointing. In fact, the worst is that they have all taken refuge in worship places, bringing all sorts of men of God to pray to be anointed to lead Plateau state. There is so much fear among politicians that they cannot dare the state of affairs.
Don’t you think this is as a result of the poverty situation in the state?
 I will agree with you but poverty is an artificial creation by those at the helm of affairs so that when it is time, nobody will have the economic power to challenge them. But as Plateau people, our parents have survived through self determination so if in the 21st Century somebody has brought poverty, for him to give us money to go and campaign, I am saying no, I am going to offer myself and challenge that status quo and I will stand on the grace of our founding fathers who thought us to be courageous and resist such situation.
Are you saying you can seek for the governorship position in the state without financial resources?
Presently, I don’t have the money but I have the might to challenge and I believe that as the struggle goes on, the people of Plateau will realize that money as necessarily as it were, they need to save the destiny of their children and the state because it is the money we have collected in the past that brought us into this situation. Even the civil servants who collected money and were rigging elections today have no salaries to collect.
Some people say the present administration is doing well especially with regards to the construction of roads. What areas do you think its are lacking in?
Actually the present government on the Plateau has tried to the extent of constructing roads in one local government. I commend the government for spending resources to build roads in one local government. All the dual carriages, all the bridges, all the good roads are in Jos South. But Plateau State is made up of 17 local governments and over 40 ethnic nationalities so we must give our people full chances to aspire and attain full recognition. We must develop this state equally, we must provide education because as a minority state, only weapon that our people need is sound education. If I will only spend four years and lay a solid foundation of sound education where our children can challenge and compete favourable elsewhere, I would have produced people that will build a new Plateau. You cannot build roads when human development indices is zero, human development indices is the major economic development factor. The public service in Plateau State today has been reduced to gossip centers, civil servants cannot be promoted, they need godfathers to get promotion, the spirit of public service has been destroyed. As a governor, I will hold the balance to make sure that civil servants give in their best in building a better state for our people.
Insecurity has been the bane of Plateau State, even retired military officers cannot provide security for our people. With the huge money that is coming to the state, they still make our people believe that we have some enemies who are fighting us. Those enemies are not fighting them but they are only fighting the poor. The best method of providing security for the people is to ascertain those aggrieved, sit and dialogue with them, secondly, punish the people who do wrong. Some people cannot be sacred cows they will be burning other peoples house and you will leave them, then you are arresting somebody who has stolen chicken and lock him in Jos prison. Corruption must be fought because it is major factor. I cannot go and appoint my son an adviser. In Plateau or Africa, elders advice children, I don’t need advice from my child. It is not a family government. I will set up a government in Plateau that encompasses all and face religious disharmony head-on.
Finally, there will be no no-go areas in this state. We cannot build two nations in one state, every Christian can pass through Anguwan Rogo and every Muslim can pass anywhere. Anybody who is a trouble maker should know that there will be no hiding place for him because we will punish criminals, send them to prison so we can have peace.
What will you do to address the issue of unemployment which seems to be the major cause of insecurity?
The best way to start is to Invite the youths themselves and sit with them, generate ideas from them.  I know that an average young man in Plateau likes the civil service job, give our people 100 million to do business, they will go and buy cars and spend it, we are not good business men but call him and say he is the inspector of this motor park and by 6 o’clock in the morning he will report in the office and work religiously.
I am going to create employment that will accommodate the psychology of our people. Go to terminus and see how people park their cars and block the main road. You need young people, whom you will train to control traffic. When Tinubu became governor of Lagos State he held a meeting with all area boys, discussed with them and they gave their inputs to what they considered as the ways of addressing youth unemployment and he actually worked on that and today Lagos is one of the best cities. When I went to Lagos, I discovered that in Agege, if you match your brake, there were state traffic officers asking why are you matching your brake and f you cannot explain you will be arrested. We will re-enact such situation in Jos, we will replicate experiences of other people in other places.
The present administration has said that because of the strength of the PDP in Plateau, there is virtually no opposition in the state, how do you think that will affect your cause?
Whether the PDP is strong or weak is not the issue. The issue is that what has the PDP been able to achieve for the people of Plateau State in the last 16 years that it was trusted? The performance of the PDP is very abysmal, the strength of the PDP is because of this poverty that has been artificially created. We have all been trained on how to sing hallelujah but Solomon Dalung and the likes of those who love this state are saying no. So in 2015, we will see the strength of the PDP, let them anoint that candidate they have been calling for prayers for and then we will see whether PDP is strong or not.
Having declared your ambition, which party do you intend to contest under, which fits your ideology and principles?
Presently I cannot contest in the PDP. So I am going to take an alternative opposition party.
Based on the zoning formula in the state do you also share the view that it is now the turn of the southern zone to produce the next governor?
Going by our political zoning, the governorship of Plateau state should move to the southern zone. The zoning started with the central zone for eight years, it moved to the northern zone for eight years, it is only Plateau South that has never produced a governor for eight years. Others have argued that Lar was a governor, Tapgun was a governor but the Supreme Court has ruled that zoning is determined by the constitution in operation not the past one. So the constitution in operation is the 1999 constitution so those who are arguing that the adashe has ended should know that the right thing is for power to return to the southern zone and if that happens, I am the most qualified.