By Marie-Therese Nanlong

Given the desperate efforts of former Governor Jonah Jang to ensure he handed over to only a trusted lieutenant, it is not surprising that his failure has now led to a faceoff between him and his successor, Simon Lalong.

The opening shot in the face
off between the two regimes was recently opened when the transition committee constituted by Governor Lalong who came to power on the platform of the All Progressives Congress, APC submitted its report. The report was replete with allegations of financial misdeeds.
The committee which had the incumbent deputy governor of the state, Prof. Sonni Tyoden as chairman was made up of 12 Central Committee members and 188 other members broken into 27 sub-committees, each handling a given aspect of government operation.

Implementation of recommendations

Having received the report of the committee, Governor Lalong had promised to implement its recommendations. The decision has, however, led to bickering between the two major parties in the state, the All Progressives Congress, APC and the Peoples Democratic Party and also, between officials of the incumbent government and those of the preceding regime.

Prof. Tyoden while presenting the report to the governor had disclosed that the “State has been rendered prostate” and advised that the new government “should take the hard decisions that will be required to correct the mistakes of the past and reposition government for the arduous task of rebuilding Plateau.”

Speaking on the finances of the state, Prof. Tyoden said that Jang left the state on his exit with a debt of N222.3 billion.

Simon Lalong

“The sum of N747.65 billion could be said to have been expended on Plateau State citizens, in the last eight years. The Central Bank of Nigeria remitted the sum of N2 billion to the coffers of Plateau State Government for the benefit of small and medium scale industries in the state.
“However, about 90% of this amount which was remitted to the state on the 17th of March, 2015 was drawn in two days (between 24th and 26th March 2015), for unexplained expenditure, without a single small and medium scale enterprise in the state benefitting from the money, yet the hand-over notes dated 29th May 2015, stated that the government was yet to access the fund.

“Various sums totalling N6.1 billion were transferred from the accounts of SUBEB, SURE-P and Ministry of Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, to State Government accounts, without justifiable explanations on how the funds were used. On the 27th of May 2015, four political appointees of a certain government Agency who were not entitled to severance allowances as specified by the Revenue Mobilisation and Fiscal Commission, illegally paid themselves the sum of N30million, severance allowance.

“The hand-over notes received from the proceeding government claimed the level of indebtedness of the government was N103.9 billion as of May, 2015.  Our findings put the figure at N222.3 billion. What was left as credit in all the government accounts put together was N93million.”
The Jang government had claimed to have spent N8.6 billion on the New Government House but the committee put the figure at N16.4 billion and remarkably, that work is still on-going. The sum of N28.2 billion was raised from the capital market on the eve of the departure of the former government ostensibly to refinance existing state loans in three commercial banks.

Responding after receiving the report, Governor Lalong commended the committee for what he described as the revelations made by the committee.

“We will strive in our efforts to address the many issues begging for attention, to be conscious of time and the expectation of our citizenry. Our strong desire and determination is to provide the needed leadership and give the people qualitative service that will outlive this administration and return governance to its proper place.

Jang

“Government will without delay study and commence the implementation of the recommendation of the committee with a view of repositioning government for the important task of delivering on the mandate given to her.”

However, the former governor, Jang who has since transited to the Senate described the allegations contained in the report of the transition committee as untrue, insisting that he left debts and liabilities of only N103.9b.

In a statement signed by Mrs. Olivia Dazyem, former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the last administration, he said, “The new debt figure paraded by the committee is mischievously manufactured, the comprehensive breakdown of the debt is well documented in the handover notes and leaves no one in doubt, the committee should go back and study the handover notes properly.
The committee’s report is “a clear distortion and manipulation of facts, aimed at personal vendetta, witch-hunt and smearing the good name and achievements of the outgone PDP government led by Sen. Jonah Jang.

Allegation of lopsidedness

“A quick look at the compositions of the sub-committees reveals that they were deliberately selected and made up of persons that have grudges with the immediate past administration.”

She dismissed as baseless the allegation of lopsidedness and selective distribution of facilities and services, in which the Committee claimed that 80% of projects were located in a particular section of one senatorial district and advised the APC government to “focus on development and stop picking holes with the giant strides of the Jang’s administration”

She maintained, “the bar of governance in the state has been raised high by Senator Jang, and the Plateau people now use it as a yardstick to measure all succeeding governors, and Lalong must live up to this expectation from the people of the state.

“The committee itself clearly reveals its inadequacies, in view of its recommendations for set up of a more specialized technical or audit committees to conduct further investigation.   This therefore means that the report is at its best a draft that lacks the relevant technical and professional inputs. How can such a draft report be implemented?

“While we are not opposed to inspection of the previous administration’s activities, any such exercise should be done within the ambit of the law, due process and fair hearing.”

Responding to Dazyem’s statement, the new administration in another statement signed by the Governor’s Director of Press and Public Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Nanle said “Government is not surprised at the effrontery of the former Commissioner to justify the venality that has typified the state of Plateau under the Jang’s Administration.”

He observed the said report is just a summary presentation of the reality which the Jang’s government struggled to conceal with the “last minute contraption packaged as a handing over note to the discerning Plateau Citizen.”

His words, “The desperate quick response of Barr. Olivia Dazyem even before the full disclosure of the Transition Report is at best, the antic of a drowning man who will grab at any straw.

“The Jang Administration cannot be a judge in their own case, Government only plead with them to be patient until the report is made public to the citizens of Plateau before they have their own defence but until then let the people of Plateau be the Judge in this matter and like the saying goes; let them not be quick to plead not guilty before the charge is read and the question concerning their pleading is asked by the Plateau people.”