Gov Lalong explains circumstances surrounding his controversial name

Governor Simon Lalong has thrown more light on the controversy surrounding his name which is being canvassed at the Election Appeal Petition Tribunal by gubernatorial candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Senator Jeremiah Useini over the last governorship election.

It would be recalled that the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party in the last Governorship election Senator Jeremiah Useini in his petition against the winner of the election, Governor Simon Lalong had alleged contradiction in the name of the governor who was the APC candidate for the election.

Speaking in Shendam local government area of the state at an occasion to honour his late uncle, Miskom Stephen Sule Nanbient, under whom he was raised and trained, Lalong said his late uncle was humane and full of kindness.

He said: “When my uncle asked my father to release me to him, my father told him that he has become your son, take him with you. Because of the kind of tradition of love and oneness that exists in our culture, all of us under him bore his name Sule because he registered us in school.

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“It was when I finished school that my uncle said now that you are grown up and since you are the first male child of your father, you need to bear his name. That was when I did an affidavit to take on my family name of Bako. But unfortunately, my opponents are making an issue of it even when the tribunal rejected their arguments.”

The governor who thanked the people of Shendam for supporting his reelection and promised never to let them down pointed out that his administration inherited so much decay that he had to address especially in school and hospital infrastructure which were dilapidated.

He said as governor, he could not sleep to see how workers and pensioners were in pain and anguish over unpaid salaries, gratuities and pensions, hence his decision to pay backlog and also recalled over 2000 teachers that were sacked by immediate past administration adding that his legacy projects were meant to not only rebuild schools but also make them ICT complaint in line with today’s demands.

The governor implored the people of the state to shun all incitements that are meant to divide the state along ethnic, religious, denominational and political lines and tasked them to remains one and work together to make it so he declared.