FeaturesLalong And ‘Plateau’s AK-47 Farmers’

Lalong And ‘Plateau’s AK-47 Farmers’

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BEVERLY HILLS, March 08, (THEWILL) – At a recent media outing, Governor Simon Bako Lalong, still panting from widespread criticism of under-performance that necessitated a mis-managed state-wide media tour, fouled socio-political atmosphere in the state with an amorphous, albeit unnecessary claim that Plateau farmers carry AK-47 rifle in the course of their work. UKANDI ODEY writes on a development that has veritably blackmailed the people, and sets Lalong on a free fall in local opinion polls as the issue continues to dominate discussions on social media platforms and different social circles.

In India, it is said that the next most-feared thing after the fear of snakes is public speaking. In Plateau State and for Governor Lalong in particular, it is neither snakes nor speaking, but public gaffing.

It was one such moment, during the inauguration of the Plateau State Inter-faith Council at the Government House, Little Rayfield, Jos recently. Twice in the course of his speech to mark the occasion, Lalong delivered uncanny jibes at the Ndigbo, and another against his own people of Bassa Local government area, all in an attempt to underscore his savvy in managing inter-ethnic tensions and crises generated mostly by Fulani nomadic and incendiary pastoralism. Both sides left the venue to nurse their injuries, while Governor Lalong continued on his North-tropism and Fulanicentric world view to sustain his tenure and reign as chairman of the ineffectual Northern Governor’s Forum.

Glo

On Tuesday February 23, Governor Lalong scored a decisive own goal as he took the game of loose talk to his own vital areas. In an effort to exterminate a culture of corns bearing by marauding Fulani cattle rarer often times on the assault and aggression against natives, their land, and their farms, Lalong delivered an upper cut – a foul one though – against the people of Plateau and their farmers, by claiming that “Plateau farmers carry AK-47 rifle” in the course of farming.

In the past two weeks, this false claim by the governor has no doubt cast the chestnut in the fire; and the miasma is issuing and oozing in different directions with dire implications for the governor and his APC as the calculations and permutations percolate in the countdown to 2023. Pitiably, the own goal is visible and agreeable from all angles; and this has overwhelmed the government and its aides in no uncertain terms. The Governor’s media team has been understandably tongue-tied and manacled by the pungency of evidence. In one frail and unimpressive effort, government said the governor has been hyper-interpreted, as his statement was particularly about arms proliferation as a national problem and not a contextual framing of Plateau farmers per se.

But the rave of vitriolic and vituperations have been unstoppable in the social media with some accusing the governor of identity crisis, or branding him ostensibly as a predator’s agent and apologist who trades his people for as meager as a pot of porridge and filthy lucre.

A lawyer and top APC member in the state described the goof in which the governor in a demonstration of uncommon malice maligned the state’s majority population as AK–47 bearers as the final nailing of the coffin of the APC in the State. However, acknowledging that public speaking is a skill which some public officers lack, the APC chieftain blamed the media team of the governor for the continued occurrence or committal of public gaffs by their principal, saying the media team has not been able to service the information needs of the governor, including not exposing him to situations of long-drawn on-the-spot speeches and media live interviews.

Many who argue that the governor’s claim was “reckless” or “irresponsible”, posit that while it is irrefutable that Plateau State is agrarian, and majority of the population is largely farmers, arms bearing, which in the waspish context of Governor Lalong’s claim is war mongering, is not part of the people’s enduring culture which upholds the values of accommodation, peace, and hospitality. This group posits further that even among the scanty hunting community of the state population, local fire arms, mostly den guns, not sophisticated weaponry such as AK–47, are used for the purpose of hunting down wild animals.

It is also argued that the phenomenon of AK-47 got introduced into the state rural sociology by Fulani herdsmen who, for always venturing into farms and farmlands not belonging to them, are constantly on the aggression and have developed a warring mentality and a psychology of living by killing.

In a quick and sharp riposte, the Plateau Farmers Association issued a disclaimer in which they expressed pride in the hoe and knife, and urged Lalong to look and search elsewhere for the AK–47 farmers. The farmers maintain that there is joy in the soil, and farming is their cherished heritage and not a bloody enterprise that will necessitate investment in state–of–the-cost guns.

In a release dated February 24, and signed by the State publicity Secretary of the party, John Atkans, the People’s Democratic Party currently panting in opposition in the state, simply advised Governor Lalong to “go back to school and learn how to talk”. In an earlier reaction, the state PDP called Lalong a “liar”, insisting that “Plateau farmers do not carry AK-47”.

Given that Gov. Lalong hinged his unpopular claim about the farmers on a certain ‘investigation report’, many have challenged him to publish the investigation report to allow public access to it. Other critical questions Lalong is expected to answer include, “as chief executive officer of the State, how many farmers has he arrested for carrying AK–47 rifle? Is it Plateau farmers that perpetrate crisis and continuous killings in Plateau villages? Are Plateau farmers aggressors on their own land?

It is certain that a tactless slip of the mouth has pitched the people tactically against the governor who is thinning fast in opinion polls and shedding electoral value having demonstrated his personal interest is over and above the Plateau Project.

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