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As Plateau emergency
rule nears end
Presidency directs Alli to prepare to hand-over
• Ogbe heads panel to probe Dariye
By Uchenna Awom,
Paul Mumeh,
Onyekachi Eze (Abuja)
and Onoja Audu (Jos)
There
is every indication that, with or without Governor Joshua Dariye back in the
saddle, democracy may return to Plateau State on November 18 at the expiration
of the emergency rule clamped on it by Aso Rock in May.
The
Presidency has directed Sole Administrator Chris Alli to start preparing a hand
over note to facilitate the restoration of democratic structures as the days
chip away towards the end of the six months given to the state to regain its
sense of peace.
It
is the sort of news former Head of State Yakubu Gowon has been waiting for. He
pleaded with President Olusegun Obasanjo last week that the perfect gift to him
on his 70th birthday is for Abuja to replace the emergency rule with democracy
in his home state.
The
Middle Belt Forum (MBF) and youths in the state will also be delighted at the
hint of the return of normalcy, although both groups predicate their full joy
on the restoration of Dariye as Governor. That bit is dicey. But he may return
if he survives a probe of allegations against him.
Impeccable
Presidency sources confirmed that the decision to lift the state of emergency
was taken at the Villa on Friday night when the stakeholders met with Obasanjo
and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) caucus.
A
six man committee, headed by PDP National Chairman Audu Ogbe, was constituted
to examine the allegations levelled against Dariye and submit its findings to
the Presidency and the party.
Other
members of the panel include Senate President Adolphus Wabara, Jonah Jang and
Yahaya Kwande.
It
was also agreed that, based on the report of the committee, Obasanjo will
address the nation on the Plateau conflict before November 18.
Sources
from the meeting disclosed that if the committee finds Dariye guilty, the state
Assembly, itself about to be restored, will be directed to impeach him. His
Deputy Micheal Botmang will take over the mantle of leadership.
Reacting
to the proposals, the Sports Commissioner in the suspended government, Yakubu
Datti, described the setting up of the committee as the right thing that would
give Dariye a affair hearing.
According
to him, this is the first time since the declaration of the state of emergency
that a due process is being employed to resolve the problems, saying he is
optimistic that Dariye will be cleared of all the allegations.
Datti’s
opinion reflected those of other suspended commissioners and the state’s
caucus in the House of Representatives who said in Abuja at the weekend that
the people of the state will resist any attempt to force Dariye to resign from
office.
They
also stated that they and other stakeholders in the state may not guarantee
peace if the state of emergency is extended by one day after November 18.
Their
spokesman, former Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs Commissioner Aminu
Zang, said if the import of the meeting held in Abuja is to force Dariye to
resign for his deputy to continue “as a pre-condition to restore democratic
structures”, then the people will resist “with everything
available”.
Dariye,
he said, cannot resign and “if he must do anything near to that”,
he has to go back to his constituency, after regaining his mandate, to seek
their opinion. “Besides, such a thing has to be democratically done
through the instrumentalities of the state Assembly”.
Zang
argued that the return of Dariye should not be based on anyone’s
apprehensions “which, by the way, are handiwork of propagandists and
blackmailers in low and high places”. To him, the fact that Dariye chose
to remain quiet “during his trying period” is due to his desire to
remain consistent in his “commitment and loyalty to Mr. President whom he
calls father.
“Those
who may wish to be apprehensive about his return are free to do so in so far as
it does not deny Plateau people their democratic right to choose their governor
as enshrined in the Constitution. We must quickly point out that there are
attempts to confuse the issue of the state of emergency with the removal of a
governor. These are two different issues treated under different sections of
the Constitution”.
Zang
was accompanied at the press briefing by the Chairman of the Plateau State
Caucus in the House of Representative, John Adamu Longhor, and three former
commissioners, including Datti and Dan Tensha.
They
described the argument for an extension of the emergency rule as
“intellectually puerile and visionless”.
They
commended Alli for his “effort and success in many areas” since
assuming office, but insisted that he should leave now “when the ovation
is loudest”.
Backing
this position, the Middle Belt Forum (MBF) said it identifies with Gowon in
calling for the restoration of democratic structures in the state.
A
statement it signed in Abuja urged Obasanjo to ignore calls from some quarters
for the emergency rule to be extended and that he should instead restore full
democratic structures to consolidate the peace efforts so far achieved.
“Having
achieved this feat, we strongly advise that democratic structures that were
suspended following the imposition of a state of emergency be restored”,
MBF National Publicity Secretary George Ohemu said in the statement.
He
implored the Federal Government not to succumb to the “deceit of some few
persons” opposed to the return of Dariye.
His
words: “We call on our President not to give listening ears to those
clamouring for an extension of the emergency rule. From our assessment of the
situation, the Plateau State people are now ready more than ever before to live
in peace with one another and avoid a re-occurrence of the circumstances that
led to the imposition of the state of emergency on May 18, 2004.
“For
anything, we at the MBF have discovered that the state of emergency has served
as a period of reflection on the circumstances that led to the imposition of
the emergency rule in the state. We are sure that the democratic structures,
when restored, will strive to consolidate the feat of General Alli”.
Youths
in the state have also thrown their weight behind Dariye’s return.
The
Youths Unit for Democracy in Plateau State (YUDPS) appealed to the President
and the National Assembly to return the dismantled democratic structures so
that civil rule can flourish again in the home of tourism.
Its
Chairman Solomon Nyam Rindam said: “We join the clarion call by our elder
statesman General Gowon for the reinstatement of Dariye” and argued that
the crisis which precipitated the emergency rule has been resolved as the
parties have learnt their lessons.
In
his own reaction to the planned return of democracy, state Unique Circle
Chairman Alex Anpe said in Jos that Abuja should conduct an opinion poll to
find out whether the people of the state are still interested in having Dariye
back alongside the democratic structures, so as to avoid negative consequences.
He warned that the federal authorities should not rush into
taking actions that will put the lives of the people in the state in danger, an
insisted that Dariye should publicly apologise to the people over the failure
of his administration to provide good governance in all of the five years he
has served.
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