Plateau State Commissioner for Information and Communication, Yakubu Dati, has reacted to comments attributed to the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Jonah Jang, who on Tuesday alleged that Governor Simon Bako Lalong governed the state from Abuja.
Jang was also quoted to have said at the recent PDP governorship flag-off in Mangu that he did not build the new Government House at Little Rayfield for Governor Lalong to occupy and advised the governor to start packing his luggage before the general elections.
However, Dati said, yesterday, that the former governor had made a similar boast while in office when he said he would not hand over the keys to the new Government House to anyone outside his family circle.
He said the people of Plateau had in 2015 reminded Jang through their votes that he did not build the Government House with his money.
He said the people had told him that since they knew the essence of democracy, they could not allow one man to dictate who should govern them.
Dati, who said the notion that Lalong governed Plateau from Abuja was untrue, added that the importance of getting the support of the Federal Government to complement the efforts of the state government towards bringing development to the state could not be downplayed.
“That is why in less than two years after he assumed office, Governor Lalong has been able to complete the projects abandoned by the former administration, clear the backlog of salaries left by the Jang administration, pay pension and students’ bursary, revive the fish pond at Panyam, supply tractors and fertilizers to farmers and achieve sustainable peace in the state,” he said.
He said the incumbent governor was running an all-inclusive government unlike his predecessor who regarded himself as being above the people of the state.
