Pioneer National Chairman of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Solomon Lar, on Thursday advised that the suspended Governor of Plateau State, Chief Joshua Dariye, should be restored to his position.
Lar, a former governor of the state, who spoke against the background of speculations that Dariye may not be allowed to return as the state chief executive, insisted that the feelings of Plateau State residents remained that the embattled governor should be retuned to office.
But The Presidency said that it had no hidden agenda against Dariye.
Lar, who broke his silence on the crisis in Plateau State in an exclusive interview with our correspondent in Abuja, said that any back-door approach to displace Dariye would not work.
The elder statesman�s reaction came against alleged pressure on The Presidency by some influential indigenes of Plateau State not to allow Dariye back to office.
It was learnt that some stakeholders in Plateau State had been shopping for a successor to Dariye although the leadership of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party was not keen that the suspended governor should be removed.
Lar said that the state of emergency was suspect and it would be constitutionally fair enough to return Dariye to office.
�My position is that the Governor of Plateau State, Joshua Dariye, should be returned or restored to his position on or before the 18th of November, 2004.
�Dariye has nothing that should stop him from going back to office. In the first place, we did not expect that what we are seeing should have been done. For example, the declaration of a state of emergency in Plateau, we thought that it would simply be a police task force affair or military task force affair as it is being done in Rivers State.�
He said, �Although Mr. President has declared the state of emergency, we believe that after the expiration of the period, Dariye, his deputy and members of House of Assembly should be restored back to office.
�I think that is the right thing to do.
Responding to a question, Lar maintained that Dariye should not be removed from office through the back door.
�There is no reason why he should not return to office. He must return to office. We are following the constitution and there are only two ways you can remove a governor. This is through Sections 188 and 189 and these sections have to be applied by the House of Assembly.
�And if it is the House of Assembly that will remove him, there is nothing we can do about it.�
Asked if the House of Assembly should be recalled to oust him, Lar said that such a move was constitutionally impracticable.
�That will be illegal to reconvene the House of Assembly when Dariye has not been restored. If somebody is not on seat, how will you impeach him?�
On the alleged ongoing search for a replacement for Dariye by some elders in Plateau, he said, �I am not aware of that. I do not think so.
�Definitely, once you have been on the seat of government, you have to get some opposition, you will have some people who will not agree with you. So, that will not be an unexpected type of reaction.
�But, having said this, the generality of the people of Plateau would want him back because he has won more sympathy than ever before.�
He said, �They would ask, why is it that it was only Dariye that was suspended? This thing had happened in many states like Kano, Lagos, Anambra and many other states.
�And recently it happened in Rivers State. And our people said that the arrangement that was made for Rivers State ought to have been done for Plateau as well. That is police task force or military task force which would have adequately taken care of the situation rather than to declare a state of emergency,� he added.
On whether elders in Plateau had conveyed their feelings to President Olusegun Obasanjo that Dariye should be returned, he said that there was no basis for that.
�I don�t think that elders in Plateau State or anywhere need to convey their feeling to Mr. President. This is a federal system, we are operating a federal system. People are trying to give the impression as if we are in a unitary system.
�Mr. President is operating on a different wave length while governors are as independent as Mr. President. So, the question of convincing Mr. President does not arise. If you ask Mr. President, he would say that that is not his area of jurisdiction.�
He said, �So, I want us to wipe out the military tendency that Mr. President is everything.�
But the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Public Affairs, Mr. Femi Fani-Kayode, said that President Obasanjo had no hidden agenda on Dariye.
�Mr. President has no hidden agenda in Plateau State. He is committed to the return of peace and security to that state. I don�t have anything outside that.
�We should just wait for things to unfold. The resolution of Plateau crisis is an ongoing process but the President is not taking sides. All these speculations that the President does not want Dariye to return are unfair to Mr. President.�
