Obviously, the enemy was mightily XSVHW

$IWHU HLJKW ORQJ KRUULÀF DQG brutal years of sorrow, apprehension and gloom, the overwhelming victory of Mr. Caleb Mutfwang in the March 18, 2023, JXEHUQDWRULDO YRWH ÀQDOO\ RͿHUHG 3ODWHDX people a respite, a ray of hope. So, across political party, ethnic and religious divides, they engaged in tumultuously celebration, as one family.

By perpetrating that massacre of May 15, 2023, on the very soul of the governorelect’s homeland, our enemies intended

WR LQÁLFW PD[LPXP IHDU DQG SDLQ WKDW will frighten him from stamping his feet and confronting this persistent injustice done the peace-loving Plateau indigenous communities and citizens. They insist that this land-grabbing and displacement of communities from their ancestral lands must continue.

Yes. As a reminder that this testament of blood will persist, they have continued to visit terrorism on us - ordinary folk, defenceless children and women. Even FURSV LQ WKH ÀHOGV DUH QRW VSDUHG 6DGO\ their brutal message is clear: even under D QHZ GLVSHQVDWLRQ WKH\ ZLOO QRW FHDVH ÀUH and leave the land in the hands of those into whose hands God has entrusted them.

Unfortunately, they plan to intensify this mayhem. They sense that the new man in the saddle is poised to face them frontally and without equivocation – a far cry from the standard practice in the last eight years which almost became routine state policy.

But, even amid the wailing, pain and blood that have characterized the last few weeks in Plateau State as we edge towards the historic handing over of power, the governor-elect, Caleb Mutfwang, has shown that he is prepared to face these enemies of the state and make the much VRXJKW DIWHU GLͿHUHQFH LQ WKLV GHSDUWPHQW of seemingly intractable lawlessness.

+H KDV H[KLELWHG VX΀FLHQW FRPPLWPHQW and zeal that he is prepared to not only RͿHU OHDGHUVKLS IURP WKH IURQW EXW KH is also ready to be courageous even to WKH SRLQW RI PDNLQJ JUHDW VDFULÀFHV WR bring peace to this beautiful land full of SOHQW\ 7KDW LV WKH VWXͿ WUXH OHDGHUVKLS LV composed of.

He amply demonstrated this resolve in his interview with Channels television a few days ago when he hinted that he was already in full grasp of the true nature of the problem on ground.

7KH 1RUWK &HQWUDO JRYHUQRUV DQG other political leaders are now solidly

XQLWHG DERXW VKDULQJ 1DWLRQDO $VVHPEO\ and sundry positions. They have never done this regarding the insecurity that is threatening the very existence of their Middle Belt peoples.

This is the lesson here for Mutfwang: it is only when it comes to apportioning positions for personal aggrandisement that most of our leaders stand as one. This has been the bane of this region in the last eight years.

Therefore, the onus is on Mutfwang to rally round his other colleagues in this region towards ensuring its collective security. In the last eight years, our governor preferred to wine and dine with the enemies of the state instead of forming a coalition, just as the South-West has done, to tackle this hydra-headed problem. Governor Samuel Ortom of Benue State was abandoned in the wilderness to fend RͿ WKDW HQHP\ DOO DORQH

Going forward, Barrister Mutfwang must also declare a state of emergency on insecurity in Plateau State immediately KH DVVXPHV R΀FH 7KH 0DQJX PDVVDFUH should serve as an eye-opener for him.

Once upon a time, Governor Jonah -DQJ ZDV YLOLÀHG RQ QDWLRQDO PHGLD as being ‘recalcitrant’ by a national security adviser. He had courageously and vociferously called out the security agencies and warned the entire country about suspicious movements of persons deemed to be threats to the state’s security.

It was at that point in time that some of the odious seeds of the current state of anomie in this part of the country began to be sown. Regardless, he had the uncommon vision to push for legislation leading to the formation of the communityEDVHG VHFXULW\ RXWÀW 2SHUDWLRQ 5DLQERZ

That was at a time when most governors had not yet thought about the looming hazards of terrorism, herdsmen’s attacks and banditry to the entire country. Unfortunately, just as other progressive initiatives of the Jang administration, Governor Lalong has virtually rendered that organisation prostrate and useless, HYHQ DV WKH VWDWH FRQWLQXHG WR EH EXͿHWHG by incessant attacks.

It is widely believed that Mutfwang would, as part of his declaration of a state of emergency on insecurity, make the resuscitation of Operation Rainbow one of its cardinal objectives.

How do you react to people who kill and maim defenceless men, women and children and destroy houses and farmlands? Do you, once again, mainly resort to weeping, name-calling and vowing the kind of revenge that has at its core the code of an eye for an eye and a WRRWK IRU D WRRWK" 1R 1RW DJDLQ

That has consistently failed because there was no truth whatsoever in that approach as our leader and his co-travellers were most of the time speaking from both sides of the mouth. Plateau needs a more robust, honest, systematic and coordinated approach to tackling this menace. And this must be built on the strong foundation of justice.

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