A former governor of Plateau State, Jonah Jang, on Monday, said the outgoing state governor, Simon Lalong, had derailed the development of the state in the last eight years.

Jang, in a statement on Monday by his media consultant, Clinton Garuba, alleged that governance in the state had nosedived under Lalong’s watch to the extent that “one would not envy the incoming administration for the enormity of work that it would have to do in rebuilding the people’s trust in government, programmes and policies.”

Jang said, “At a time when sections of the state have come under attacks from people hell-bent on waging genocide on the people, the government is rather hurriedly inaugurating projects, some of which it even inherited as ongoing projects of the Jang administration to cover for the eight years of nothingness.

“Perhaps the government realised too late in the day that it had pursued personal political gains to the detriment of the general well-being of the state, and is in a hurry to claim that it at least did something when in fact it did almost nothing.”

According to Lalong, the woeful performance of the ruling All Progressives Congress in Plateau State during the general elections was a testimony to the alleged failure of Lalong’s administration.

Jang said, “Had they done better, the Plateau people would have said so through the ballot box. Having failed, the best thing would be to quietly leave and continue with the lobby for appointment at the federal level where he (Lalong) had spent years of servitude abandoning the state to suffer a lack of leadership and governance.”

The ex-governor urged the governor-elect, Caleb Mutfwang, not to spare any effort in rebuilding the state when he assumes office on May 29.

When contacted for reaction, the state Commissioner for Information, Dan Manjang, said, “I’m a member of the state Executive Council .We are not ready to take issues with retrogressive elements. That’s our position.” (The PUNCH)

Update news