Is Lalong Alone on Tinubu’s Project?

Despite the crowd that graced the All Progressives Congress’ presidential election flag-off in Jos, Plateau State, Seriki Adinoyi writes that Governor Simon Lalong may not be representing the will of his people as the APC has never won any presidential election in the state

The easy and expected fairytale that followed last week’s flag-off of the presidential campaign of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Jos, Plateau State was that going by the crowd at the event, the party will record a landslide victory in the 2023 presidential election.

But those familiar with the politics of the state will vehemently disagree with that illusion. The average man in Plateau State has a mind of his own; he does not sheepishly follow a leader he perceives as working for personal and selfish interest. So, such leader is usually abandoned to himself in his selfish pursuit.

That may be the case of Governor Simon Lalong, who the people of the state perceived as not working for them. So, the crowd that attended the campaign flag-off of the presidential candidate of the APC, Senator Bola Tinubu last Tuesday may not be a true reflection of the popularity of the party in the state.

The people of Plateau State had openly expressed their opposition to the leadership style of President Muhammadu Buhari and the choice of Muslim-Muslim ticket by the APC.

It is on record that whenever APC had a rally in the state, it would always go to the neighbouring states of Bauchi, Gombe, Nasarawa, and Kaduna to hire crowd. So, despite the huge and electrifying crowds that President Buhari pulled in the build-up to 2015 and 2019 elections, he lost woefully in the state, though he had a Christian and pastor as running mate.

To put it straight, the APC has never won any presidential election in Plateau State, despite the crowd it always attracted at its rallies. The reason was that the crowds were actually hired from neighbouring states and did not represent the people’s support.

It is an open secret that the people of the state are aggrieved with the Muslim-Muslim ticket of APC, and the impression created by the party that no northern Christian is competent to be the running mate. This anger is not peculiar to Christians only, but some Muslims too who claimed that Islam represents justice and equity. 

In addition, the number of people killed in the state since 2015 when President Buhari came power, is unprecedented. There is hardly no week at least five persons or more would not been killed. While Governor Lalong has not been able to solve the intractable problems in the state, President Buhari feels unconcerned. For instance, the night after the APC rally, the state was attacked and no fewer than 11 persons were killed.

Many were not surprised that apart from handing over the party’s flag to Tinubu, President Buhari refused to speak at the event. While observers have read it to mean that the president is not in total support of Tinubu’s candidacy, others said it is because of the poor performance of the party in the last seven years.

According to a public affairs analyst, Dr. Ahmed Adamu, “If a sitting president attends his party’s political rally and shies away from speaking, it is a clear message that he does not trust and believe in the candidature of the party’s candidate.”

According to Adamu, “President Buhari enjoyed support from northern Nigeria, and now he fears that his defaming political personality would not add much value to his party. However, if he still had Tinubu in his heart, he would have grabbed the microphone and said a word or two.”

It was not surprising that in the morning after the presidential campaign flag-off, some people came out in their thousands to embark on what they described as a “symbolic cleansing” of the land which they alleged had been desecrated by “the evil that visited the city in the name of a mega rally.”

There is no worse level of disapproval than when an African home sweeps away the footprint of a visitor. It is a form of symbolic and spiritual cleansing of the home from the ill-luck that the visitor represents.

Mocking the party and its presidential candidate as they went round the Rwang Pam township stadium, venue of the flag-off with buckets of water, mops, brooms, and soap to cleanse the venue and the adjourning streets, they said that their action was to show their disenchantment for APC and the evil the party has visited on the land in the past seven and a half years.

Commenting on the action of the people, the Director General of Atiku Motivational Movement (AMM), Mr. Kamru Sani, said the action of the people was a clear message of disapproval for the APC.

“Can you imagine that on the night of their rally, the state was attacked and no fewer than 11 persons were killed? Yet, the governor was ‘given a medal’ during the rally for bringing peace and security.”

He reiterated that Plateau State is a stronghold of the PDP, adding that the choice of a failed governor of the state as the Director General of Tinubu/Shettima campaign would not change the position of the people.

Also speaking, the National Coordinator, PDP Youth Amendment Movement, Comrade Sadiq Mohammed Hassan said, “the people present at the rally yesterday were not supporters of APC, but gullible hungry Nigerians hired from neighbouring states of Bauchi, Gombe, Nasarawa and Kaduna.”

He said: “We were all witnesses to the lofty promises they made to us during the campaigns for 2015 and 2019 elections, and how they roundly failed; it was all a deceit after all. We can’t afford to have them receive us again.

“The price Premium Motor Spirit (petrol) has steadily gone up since they assumed power, security situation continue escalate, education, especially at tertiary level has been in shambles, food prices have grown worse, corruption has gone to its peak. No promise fulfilled.” 

He alleged that the same Lalong who had abandoned the state to itself hurriedly began to fill the portholes on the streets of Jos on the eve of the rally – the same streets he had abandoned for years.  

“The governor and DG of their campaign organisation that persuaded them to take the rally to Jos, suddenly realised that he had nothing to show. While his counterparts in other states like Rivers and Ebonyi are commissioning flyovers, bridges and smooth roads, his own achievement is to patch the portholes and host campaign rallies.

“How can hosting the presidential campaign rally count as an achievement? Has it restored and boosted our economy; has it erected dilapidated infrastructures; has it restored our sporting capacity; has it brought back the glorious days of our entertainment industry; has it revitalised our tourism potential, and has it ended the persistent kidnappings and killing in the state; has it brought back the relocated regional headquarters of Central Bank, Post Office, and others?”

He dismissed the claim that Lalong’s sterling qualities and patience got him the campaign DG of the APC, querying why the party did not notice his acclaimed qualities when he was denied the vice presidential slot. 

A political analyst in the state, Mr. Shabul Mazadu, while deconstructing Lalong’s choice, said the governor was chosen as DG to serve as bait to appease Christians, because a Muslim DG would have further compounded APC problems.

He said: “Why he chose Lalong was to appease the Northern Governors’ Forum whom he broke his promise of picking one of them as running mate. Who else would Tinubu have picked as a Christian DG among the northern governors? Would he pick Samuel Ortom or Ishaku Darius of PDP? The only APC northern Christian governor is Lalong, and it was on that basis that he was considered, not on the basis of ‘competence or sterling qualities’ as Lalong has noting sterling in his qualities.

He told Lalong that Tinubu cannot win the election simply on the basis that he flagged-off his campaign in Jos.

“Alhaji Shehu Shagari did not flag-off his campaign in Jos, but won in 1979 and 1983; Umaru Musa Yar’Adua did not flag-off his campaign in Jos, but won.  Goodluck Ebele Jonathan did not flag-off in Jos, but won. Buhari did not flag-off in Jos, but won,” he added

He insisted that Lalong is standing alone, and not representing the will of the people.