CHRISTMAS BY THE RIVERS OF BABYLON

The sacking of federal and state lawmakers on the platform of PDP in Plateau by the appellate court deeply unsettles the masses, reckons CHRIS GYANG

Ordinarily, the Yuletide should evoke the spirit of love, goodwill and hope for all mankind. 

But as Christmas approaches, a menacing sense of foreboding, borne out of a feeling of unjustified loss and mutual suspicion, still looms over Plateau State. The usual boisterousness is subdued and muted at activities in the lead-up to the celebrations. 

This bleak state of affairs forcefully brings to mind this lament of the Israelites following their exile (between 597 BCE and 538 BCE) from their homeland as captured in Psalm 137: By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept, when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song; and they that wasted us required us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

Today, by the cruel twist of what is widely believed to be strings of injustice, Plateau people also find themselves wailing on the banks of their own Euphrates and Tigris rivers. 

Apparently, our own Zion, symbolised here by the equitable dispensation of justice, also appears to be far off. 

And those who brought the state to this sorry reckoning openly mock and poke fun at the victims, beating their chests about their might and power over the scales of justice. They also demand a song from the hurting, furious, victims.

The wholesale sacking of the federal and state lawmakers massively elected on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), by the appellate court rankles and deeply unsettles the masses, casting a pall over the Yuletide.

The fact that the governor was not spared leaves little room for comfort; and because his fate now hangs in the balance at the Supreme Court has left citizens even more disconsolate and traumatized. All on the grounds of legal technicalities and niceties.

So, even more sepulchral and eerie silences fill big, empty, spaces.

For people here, the current economic hardships (exacerbated by a 20-year high inflationary regime of 28.2 per cent and an exchange rate of N1,245.00 to a dollar) would have been more bearable and less dreary had justice been delivered to them at the appellate court. 

This bleak scenario conjures up an image of a people overwhelmed by despondency, desperately longing for an overhaul of the verdicts of the tribunals and appellate court in which they had invested so much trust and confidence. But can the Supreme Court restore the governor’s mandate and in the process further entrench that respect the people still have for it?

 It is absolutely possible. Even so late in the day. Political analysts concede that, even in the face of the excruciating distractions of the tribunal and appellate court litigations and outcomes, the governor has posted a relatively superlative performance in the last seven months that he has captained this ship of state on these tempestuous waters. 

Not only has he stabilized and brought a great measure of sanity to the payment of salaries of civil servants, the governor has restored to the Jos city centre a beauty and orderliness that has not been seen in close to a decade. During that unfortunate interregnum when filth held sway, mountains of putrid refuse and deep gullies adorned substantial parts of the state capital and its roads networks. Outlying metropolis and local government areas were worse hit. 

The state government is also taking a novel, most spectacular, step of resuscitating and bringing back rail services to the state capital and environs. This will greatly ease citizens’ transportation problems, worsened by the removal of fuel subsidy, and boost the economy. Being the first phase of this intervention, other parts of the state will benefit subsequently.

The administration has reinvigorated the once moribund Plateau State-owned security outfit, Operation Rainbow, with the support of the nation’s security agencies by training hundreds of operatives. They will provide community policing interventions at the local level. This has brought relative peace to some parts of the state that were once designated flashpoints of strife.

And because past conflicts in the state had negatively impacted food security due to the displacement of indigenous communities from their ancestral lands, the state government is poised to boost agriculture and make it more commercially oriented. To this end, it has procured hundreds of truckloads of assorted fertilizers which will soon be distributed to farmers that are returning home for the next farming season.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. Pundits affirm that, clearly, devoid of the distractions occasioned by the elections litigations, the administration would have taken the state to even greater heights. This is because it has shown sufficient commitment and determination to meet its own part of the social contract with citizens.

Observers describe these diversionary litigations about elections that are becoming a distant memory as ‘the elongation of the election season without end’. They warn that this has the potential of fundamentally stunting the state’s overall growth and development. The impact will be felt for a long time to come.

That said, some consolation can be extracted from the fact that the situation can still be salvaged; that the scales of justice can yet tilt to reflect equity, fairness and the ethical values that underpin the whole gamut of any system of jurisprudence. 

It is on this strong belief that majority of Plateau people who voted Governor Mutfwang on March 18, 2023, into power now lay their hope.  Which is why the dissonance in this year’s Jingle Bells tune is but a short term set-back; a rough patch from which will emanate glorious symphonies that will herald good tidings and joy to the good people of Plateau State in the years to come. 

Surely, there are limitless silver linings in these dark clouds. Yes, hope and greatness shall ultimately burst through as we turn away from this dark corner of injustice; as the Supreme Court restores hope to these despondent citizens by revalidating their massive, unequivocal, mandate.

Then, they will sing this splendid song:

      Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame. This poor man called, and the Lord heard him; he saved him out of all his troubles (Psalm 34:1-8).

Gyang is the Chairman of the N.G.O, Journalists Coalition for Citizens’ Rights Initiative

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