Plateau State Government has already slated 9th October, 2021, to conduct elections into the vacant seats in the 17 Local Government Councils, which comprises of Chairmen and Councilors.
The elections processes though began on a shaky ground, owing to the suit brought by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) challenging the powers of the State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) to exclude it from participating, the elections may hopefully go ahead on the slated date and time since the suit has been dismissed by the Plateau State High Court.
However, concerns are that, the motive to conduct the elections are more propelled by political interest(s), than the peoples’ interest(s), as the security situation in the state has not been put into consideration.
Already, there are strong indications that, the indigenous citizens in the state have continued to raise anger, frustrations and concerns that, the candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) may pose a problem to the wheel of the conduct of the elections in Jos North Local Government Area (LGA), which by its feature, is Cosmopolitan.
After the massacre at Rukuba road and Zangam in Jos North local government, the level of suspicion and distrust have been height more than ever before, and in response to the heightened tension, the state government imposed a 24 hours Curfew, which was later relax to dusk to dawn, and further relaxed from 6.00am to 10.00 pm.
However, in his speech, while relaxing the curfew in order to save lives and properties, the State Governor made bold to state that, the Orders made before the curfew in Jos North and Jos South Local Governments are still in force. This includes public possessions and protests among others.
The Governor Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong had explained that, the decision to relax the curfew was owing to security reports and briefing.
The concern therefore is that the government did not disclose its preparedness to secure the lives of the people in Cosmopolitan Jos in case there is a future breakdown.
It did not inform the citizens in the local government area of the fact that, the state government has address the issues and factor(s) that may have caused most crises in the capital that has been tagged “politically influenced”.
The Plateau State Government may be playing ignorant like what happened from 2008 to 2010 of the cause(s) of the crises in the state that led to the untimely death of Hundreds and the destruction of properties worth Millions of Naira.
The Government should therefore try to inform the state on how it had addressed the recommendations of the various panels and committees that had looked into the crises in Jos and Bukuru Metropolises before engaging a new series of political venture.
To the ruling APC and Governor Simon Bako Lalong, the time for reflection into grey areas is now, as tomorrow may be too late.
The threats over the coming Local government Elections are real and must be addressed squarely or avoided.
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