STUNT by the crowd that thronged Plateau State All Progressive Congress Presidential rally at Rwang Pam Stadium Jos over the weekend, Governor Simon Lalong has stated that the massive turn out of Plateau people irrespective of party affiliation was not just a demonstration of love for President Muhammadu Buhari and the All Progressives Congress but an endorsement of the success of the Rescue Administration in the state.
Even as the Peoples Democratic Party in the state stated that APC coerced civil servants and hired crowd from the neighbouring states of Nasarawa, Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger and the federal capital territory to fill the stadium.
Governor Simon Lalong in a statement signed by his Commissioner of Information and Communication Yakubu Dati said the non-partisan welcome of President Mohammadu Buhari to the state confirmed Plateau’s restored status by his administration as the acclaimed “Home of Peace and Tourism.”
According to the governor, though the Presidential campaign launch was an APC affair, citizens crossed party border lines came out to endorse President Buhari, Governor Lalong and the APC for a fresh mandate in the 2019 general elections.
Dati said Governor Lalong commended Plateau citizens who renounced their former parties for the APC, noting that there is more room for those waiting in the wings to join the party adding that the response of Plateau citizens to President Buhari’s visit has put paid to lies that Plateau is a PDP state.
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The Governor assured that a fresh mandate for President Buhari, himself & the APC will witness a massive turnaround for the good of Nigeria & Plateau state.
Lalong appeals to APC members, supporters & well-wishers to go on with their campaigns without hate speech and bitterness expressing confidence that victory awaits APC at the polls.
In a swift reaction to the rally, Chairman Media and Publicity, Plateau State PDP Campaign Council, Pastor Yiljap Abraham in a statement said ahead of the rally primary school teachers were told that part of their duties now included giving support publicly to the president while local government workers were likewise coerced to join the queue.
He said: “Political office holders were ordered out of their offices to go to their local areas and mobilise the people. Not yet done, human contractors were dispatched to neighbouring Bauchi, Kaduna, Niger and Nasarawa States as well as the federal capital to rent and ferry people to Jos. They brought in mostly children and teenagers. But they had enough supply of thugs.”
He stated that Governor Lalong has wired himself to fail and had since disconnected himself from the people who gave him the mandate in the first place and had been hanging on the shoulders of PMB to get a second term.
“Now he knows the reality: even PMB had to be rescued from the crowd. And PMB had no words absolutely to tell anyone in Plateau to vote for Lalong. He went back to Abuja silently. So silently that he also failed to show up at the presidential debate!
“It is certain that the Governor will soon fly to Abuja to thank the president for this visit and how much Buhari had blessed Plateau these three years seven months. But everyone will remember that PMB did not raise Lalong’s hand at the stadium; PMB did not say anything in support of Lalong’s second term campaign; PMB did not receive any decampees; PMB did not commission any projects. PMB knows only that he has no votes enough to win Plateau in the February 16 election,” he said.
and then