Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has revealed plans by some persons to scuttle the relative peace in the State and urged citizens not to allow themselves to be provoked into making unguarded statements that will only overheat the polity.

The Governor in a statewide broadcast on Monday night talked about the current political developments in the State and assured citizens that he is working alongside his team to provide purposeful leadership in the State.

According to him, “I am glad to address you today out of the need to keep you updated on our efforts towards rebuilding the foundations of our dear State. You will recall that I have stated at several fora that upon being sworn-in, we met a State in dire need of attention and repair with so many institutional and physical structures at the verge of collapse.

“Since my lawful declaration as Governor of this Great State, my team and I decided to hit the ground running, by urgently undertaking certain efforts to retrace our steps and correct fault lines left by the administration we took over from… However, as your leader in service, I owe you a duty and responsibility to regularly update you on the state of affairs as we continue to put in place the right approaches and strategies to ameliorate the challenges we face.

“I must at this point express gratitude to His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, GCFR, President, Federal Republic of Nigeria, who granted me audience within his early days in office during which His Excellency immediately made a commitment to address the security challenges in our State. I sincerely appreciate Mr. President for the support provided so far and look forward to sustained collaboration with the Federal Government towards eliminating all security challenges on the Plateau. I want to also extend appreciation to all security agencies for their cooperation and immediate response to the isolated attacks.

“I want to seize this opportunity to specifically express appreciation to the Chief of Defense Staff; General Christopher Musa, Chief of Army Staff; Lieutenant General Taoreed Lagbaja, Chief of the Air Staff; … , Inspector General of Police; Egbetokun Olukayode Adeolu, PhD, Director General of the DSS; Mr. Yusuf Magaji Bichi, Commandant General of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defense Corps; CG Ahmed Audi, and other security chiefs and operatives for their patriotism and professionalism which have allowed us to cultivate about 900 hectares of land of attacked communities,” he said.

On the political development, he added, “It has also become expedient to address the recent developments in our polity. We must not be tempted to throw away the baby and the bath water. We must continue to have faith in the Three Arms of Government, and believe that God will still use this great and necessary institution to affirm His will which you, my dear citizens, graciously and resoundingly expressed on March 18th this year.

“Recent developments have generated and continue to generate unnecessary tensions between our people. We are not unaware of activities by some who are busy conspiring to scuttle the relative peace we are enjoying. We must not allow them! We must not allow ourselves to be provoked into making unguarded statements that will only overheat the polity. We must allow the lawful grievance resolution mechanisms to be brought to a logical conclusion in an atmosphere devoid of threats or tension as some of our saboteurs would love.

“As a government, we wish to restate our commitment to protecting lives and properties. We therefore assure all and sundry to go about their lawful duties without any fear or intimidation.

To my dear youths, I urge you not to allow people with unexplained wealth instigate you into violence. These are people who occupy positions of honour but are actually dishonourable.

“Unfortunately, their dubious wealth has not brought them the honour they crave for, hence their resolve to seek the destabilization of our dear State. Doing the bidding of such miscreants mistaken for honourables will only ruin your God given potentials and destiny. I entreat you, flee from such leaders who preach and scheme evil. We must not allow the modest gains we have made in the last three months to be scuttled by utterances of a few rascals in our midst who found themselves in positions of honour they do not deserve!

“At this juncture, I hereby appeal for calm and restraint. Do not pay attention to merchants of destabilization who are bent on reversing the gains made so far. As Chief Security Officer of Plateau State, let me sound a note of warning that; I will not tolerate any attempts at unsettling the peace of our dear State and hereby call on any individual or group(s) involved in such conspiracies to desist forthwith.”

Mutfwang further stressed that, “Security agencies are investigating various leads to track down the sponsors of crime and to promptly deal with any criminal tendencies. Let us maintain our focus on the path of unity, peace and development. Let me appreciate the unwavering support I have enjoyed since assumption of office. I have never been under any illusion that I can run the state on my own capacity. Rebuilding the State requires collective action. We must be intentional and united in purpose towards building a prosperous Plateau where everyone will dare to dream and succeed.

“We shall continually be fair to all irrespective of party, ethnic or religious affiliation. Let me reassure you, dear citizens of Plateau that I will work assiduously to leave indelible marks, build on successes of the past administrations and set a new performance measurement standard for successive leaders,” he added. (Vanguard)

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