Jang to Lalong: For Your Ineptitude, Shame Awaits You at Polls
*Says G-5 govs not supporting, working for Tinubu
Seriki Adinoyi in Jos
Immediate past Governor of Plateau State, Senator Jonah Jang, has taken a swipe at his successor, Mr. Simon Lalong and his All Progressives Congress (APC), warning that their shame was imminent at the coming polls as Plateau people would not spare them for bringing shame on the state.
He said he was amazed that rather than hiding his face over his abysmal performance in the past eight years, Lalong still had the guts to try to denigrate him, adding that his record of performance in office towered higher for even the blind to see.
Jang had reacted to comments attributed to Lalong at the flag-off of the APC campaign rally in Wase Local Government headquarters, where he alleged that the G-5 governors and allies including Jang were working for the APC presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu.
Jang, in a statement by his media consultant, Clinton Garuba, said such unguarded comments by Lalong showed he was daydreaming.
According to him, the statement, which sought to disparage and cast the former governor in bad light as well as curry some favour for his anointed candidate and the APC was nothing but the “last kicks of a dying horse.”
He added that Lalong, it seemed has just woken up from his slumber of almost 8 years and discovered he has spent these years doing nothing in the interest of Plateau people, hence the degeneration to daydreaming.
He said the vituperations from Lalong would have been dismissed as the outbursts of a deeply frustrated person, who had taken a difficult task of marketing a bad product all in the need to stay relevant in politics, “but for the misleading comments he made, there was no need to dignify him with a response since we know that anything outside his written speeches are not only disjointed, but profane babbling that makes no semantic sense.”
He clarified that G-5 Governors had repeatedly said they did not have personal problems with the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, but with the process that brought him up and the ensuing structural imbalance it created in the party.
“Yes, the integrity group has disagreements with the PDP and their withdrawal of support for the PDP presidential candidate’s campaign does not in any way suggest that they support the APC candidate. Only Lalong and his fellow dreamers think so and will stop at nothing to mislead the public in order to get favourable feedback for a bad product they so desperately want to sell.
“Need we remind the governor once more that this again is a figment of his imagination conjectured to put him in good stead with the Plateau people he long abandoned in pursuit of personal interest that clearly undermine the Plateau people he claims to govern,” he stated.
New Community Newspaper UnveiledThe Question Marker, a media outfit based in Lagos, has announced the launch of IkejaRecord.com, a new community newspaper that aims to cover the politics, business, and culture of Ikeja and surrounding communities.
The newspaper was unveiled on February 10, 2023.
IkejaRecord.com is part of the first cohort of the Nigeria Media Innovation Project (NAMIP), a three-year initiative working to increase capacity, generate sustainable and diverse revenue streams, and build audiences of independent media in Nigeria, particularly those reaching underserved communities. NAMIP is funded by the MacArthur Foundation.
The news platform, according to a statement, would facilitate access to quality, timely information that is critical to the health of the Ikeja community.
According to the founding member of IkejaRecord.com, Solomon Elusoji. “People want to know who their neighbours are; people want to know if there’s going to be traffic on their way to work; people want to know why there was a protest at the roundabout that leads to their street yesterday and what the government is doing about it; people want to know when the road that runs through their streets will be tarred, when the potholes will be fixed; people want to know why the waste vans haven’t come around in two weeks. People want to know a lot of things. And they are not getting it.”
Elusoji added, “Quality information leads to knowledge; it leads to civic awareness. It helps people to be able to demand more from their representatives. It can also help to build trust between the governed and the governors, between those who lead and those who are led.
“Because if you demand for more and your representatives can show you how they are responding to your demands, or maybe why they can’t, then you begin to develop some inner ease, some comfort, knowing that something is being done to allay your worries, your fears.”
The vision for IkejaRecord.com is to be more than just a newspaper, says another co-founder, Ikechukwu Onyewuchi.
He added that the goal was for IkejaRecord.com to be an information resource database, where members of the community can go when they need any kind of information – the best restaurants in town, the cheapest spot to buy groceries, what the local government is up to.
The publication also wants to give the community members a voice. So when they feel slighted, when they sense any whiff of injustice, when they don’t like something about the community or the direction it is heading, they want to be able to pass them the mic and get them heard.
The publishers of IkejaRecord.com believe that every member of the community should feel seen, valued, and understand that they are a part — a very important part — of something bigger than themselves. They are excited to be able to provide this service to the community and look forward to growing and evolving with the community.
