Hold Lanlong responsible for rising insecurity in Plateau – HURIWA

Civil Rights Advocacy Group- Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) has said Governor Simon Lanlong of Plateau state should be held responsible for the rising insecurity in the state.

HURIWA spoke against the backdrops of ceaseless violent attacks by suspected armed Fulani terrorists including the mass killings of Irigwe Christians and the high profile kidnappings of influential traditional rulers of Plateau State extraction also by suspected armed Fulani militia.

According to HURIWA, Lanlong’s administration’s failure to work with the State House of Assembly under the past leadership to stamp out the earliest manifestations of armed Fulani insurgency targeting Christians contributed immensely to the insecurity plaguing the state.

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 HURIWA recalled that the illegally impeached leadership of the Plateau State House of Assembly had prior to the illegal impeachment purportedly ‘funded’ by the Plateau State Governor Gov. Simon Lalong, that hierarchy of the state’s legislative House gave the governor a two weeks ultimatum on August 26th 2021  to address the security challenges bedeviling the state.

HURIWA quoted details of the ultimatum handed down to Governor Lanlong which he failed to implement but chose to be politically correct by opting for pampering and appeasement of the aggressors who enjoy the tacit backing of the Presidency  in Abuja, thus: “As an assembly with people at heart, we call on Plateau citizens to have confidence in us with renewed commitment. We have given two weeks to the governor to take action on the resolutions the House has forwarded on security matters and how to restore peace.

“We call on the Gov. Simon Bako Lalong to come up with a statement defending us as a people and to bring back renewed commitment to the cause of Plateau. We strongly call on Plateau people to practically stand up and defend themselves and their communities, as the conventional security design is no longer guaranteeing our safety as a people,” he said.

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The Rights group recalled that when Hon. Nuhu Ayuba Abok was elected Speaker, Plateau State House of Assembly, Governor Simon Bako Lalong was lauded for his support in producing the youngest Speaker in Nigeria. Abok was a 400-level Law Student of University of Jos in 2019 and was said to be a mobiliser and youth leader, who Lalong thought would be easy to manipulate.

 HURIWA said the government of Plateau State must put up workable security architecture to frustrate the attempts by Fulani terrorists to move their operational base from Kaduna forests to neighbouring Plateau State.

The traditional ruler, HRH Charles Dakat is the Paramount Ruler of Gindiri, in Mangu Local Government area and was said to have been abducted as heavy gunshots were heard in his palace in Gindiri between 1 am and 2 am on Sunday.

On December 26, 2021 Mr. Gut, who is the Da Gwom Rwei of Vwang, was reportedly accosted by armed men on Sunday night while returning home in Vom, a few metres to the entrance of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies (NIPSS).

 He was subsequently taken away to an unknown destination and no one has caught wind of who the attackers were and if they would be making demands as has become in practice in recent times.