President Bola Tinubu has been urged to appoint his long-term political ally, Chief Amos Gizo, to replace former Labour Minister, Simon Lalong, to fill Plateau’s vacant ministerial slot.
Plateau Progressive Movement (PPM), a political group within the All Progressives Congress (APC) fold in Plateau, made the call in an Open Letter to President Tinubu, obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday.
NAN reports that Lalong recently resigned as Minister of Labour and Productivity to take the Plateau South Senate seat after Court of Appeal sacked PDP’s Napoleon Bali and declared him winner.
The group in the letter signed by its Chairman, by Mr Danjuma Song, Secretary, Alhaji Zakari Iliyasu, and eight other members, expressed concern about the need for Tinubu to make the right choice.
The letter reads in part: “Mr President, we are extremely concerned about the delay in the appointment of a minister from Plateau State to replace the immediate past minister from the state, Simon Lalong, who resigned late last year.
“We are also your die-hard supporters, who are deeply concerned about the need for you to make the right choices to enable you to succeed in office, in order to bequeath indelible legacies for posterity.
“Which you have already started, so that we can equally thump our chests and share the bragging rights.
“We are also making this passionate and patriotic appeal to you as crucial members of the APC’s 2023 Renewed Hope Campaign Agenda at the National, State and Grassroots levels, having served as a member of the party’s pre-election and election Planning and Strategic Committees at various levels,” he said.
The group, urged the President to micro-zone the appointment of Lalong’s replacement to Plateau Central Senatorial Zone, which has unfairly produced just one minister in 25 years, since 1999.
“It is noteworthy that Lalong is from Plateau South Senatorial Zone, which has produced six ministers since 1999, namely Pauline Tallen (twice), Fidelis Tapgun and his sister, Josephine Tapgun, Solomon Dalung and, lately, Lalong.
“Besides, out of the six ministers produced by Plateau South Senatorial Zone in the past 25 years (the zone has many ethnic groups), all of the above appointees are from Shendam, Lalong’s Goemai ethnic group, except for Solomon Dalung, a Taroh man, from Langtang South Local Government Area (LGA).
“Like Lalong’s Plateau South, Plateau North Senatorial Zone, on the other hand, has similarly produced five ministers within the same period:
“Damishi Sango, Mark Aku, Musa Izam, Dasuki Nakande and Sarah Ochekpe, and they were all picked from different ethnic groups in the zone, namely, Ganawuri, Rukubu, Afizere, Hausa-Fulani and Birom, in that order,” PPM said.
The group, however, said that Plateau Central Senatorial Zone, on the other hand, has produced only Bagudu Hirse as minister since 1999, in spite of its returning massive votes for APC in all elections.
“Plateau Central Senatorial Zone also has some of the APC’s founding fathers, major financiers and prominent chieftains, who are Tinubu’s die-hard political supporters, who the ministerial cap fits, Gizo towers above them all.
“There is no need to beam the ministerial searchlight any further.”
The PPM would like to boldly and unequivocally suggest, without any sentiments, that you appoint Chief Gizo, who hails from Kanam LGA in the Central Zone.
“He towers far above the available ministerial options, based on his unmatched political pedigree and trajectory of experience, loyalty, maturity and competence.
“Mr President, recall that Gizo was at various times the Plateau State Chairman of your party, the defunct Action Congress (AC), as well as when the party was rechristened as the Action Congress of Nigeria (CAN), during which he was elected as the National Coordinating Chairman, Forum of CAN Chairmen in Nigeria,”.
It added that Chief Gizo was the Director-General/Coordinator, Malam Nuhu Ribadu for President 2011 Presidential Campaign, when Ribadu, now National Security Adviser (NSA) was the Presidential Candidate of the then ACN.
It noted that Gizo was the National Patron and Chairman, Board of Trustees (BOT) of numerous support groups of the Asiwaju for President 2023 Campaign and was also Plateau State APC.
It also explained that Gizo was the Governorship Aspirant in the buildup to the 2023 Governorship Election.
PPM also said Gizo has a support base that cuts across party lines, as he earns a lot of respect across main political parties in Plateau like the PDP, Labor Party and other parties.
“A political juggernaut of sorts, who combines his rare gift of an uncanny ability to combine politics and diplomacy, Gizo will leverage his requisite experience and capacity to strengthen the APC in the state by bringing together aggrieved members to form a strong united party front.
“He will also bring back those that defected, take back the state from PDP in 2027, and engender the much needed but elusive unity and peace in Plateau State, if given the ministerial slot,” the group added.