Plateau Ministerial Slot: The right thing for President BAT to do
By Hon.Gondina Musa Sambo
With the collection of Certificate of Return by former governor of Plateau State, RT. Hon. Simon Lalong, it is now obvious that the former chairman of Northern Governors Forum, has made up his mind to relinquish his position as minister for labour and employment in the federal cabinet to head to the Senate.
This is a good decision considering that the former governor is an experienced lawmaker who passed through the mill and rose to the pinnacle to preside over the affairs of his state parliament as Speaker.
As Lalong waits to take his oath as a senator of the Federal Republic, the question that has cropped up is ‘who will fill the slot of minister to represent Plateau at the Federal Executive Council (FEC)after his exit?
Since the final decision rests squarely with the President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, it is in place to chip in some advice that would help in ensuring equity and fairness in the process.
No doubt, Plateau State is blessed with an array of men and women who will definitely fit into the cabinet not just to support but add value to the current administration.
But the presidency needs to be guided in choosing a minister from Plateau coming against the backdrop of the not too impressive performance of the APC at the 2023 polls until a court judgment faulted the elections based on the opposition party’s failure to conduct congresses and gave the party another chance.
Owing to this, it is imperative that the President be guided into taking the right decision so as not to make the mistake of the past and to further consolidate on the support he has garnered from the state since he assumed office.
Plateau State has for years served a model for equity and fairness in the allocation of political offices.
It is one of the states in the country that has since 1999, adhered strictly to the principle of zoning and rotation of political positions and it has worked very well to give all, irrespective of ethnic group or religion, a sense of belonging.
For instance, the governorship seat went to the Central senatorial zone between 1999 to 2007; then it went to the Northern zone between 2007 and 2015; in 2015, though an attempt was made to alter the zoning process but this was out rightly rejected by majority of the people in the state hence the Southern zone took it and held it between 2015 to 2023.
In respect to this zoning/sharing of offices, the Central zone which started the race in 1999 have got the governorship slot back with all the major political parties presenting their candidates from the zone.
To be sure, it is not only in the zoning of governorship seats that the state has conducted itself creditably well as a beacon of justice and fairness and to the admiration of others.
In 1999, there was a template which ensured that for inclusiveness, all the zones are not left without top positions in government, which was why once a particular zone takes the number one seat in the state; the ministerial position is given to another zone for fairness.
This was what obtained between 1999 and 2007 when Joshua Dariye, who is from the Central zone served as governor and all the ministers under his reign (Damishi Sango and Ishaya Mark Aku) came from either North.
This worked well and exterminated any feeling of discontent as all the zones at all the times had a sense of belonging in government sharing other positions like house assembly speakership, state party chairman, etc.
It was between 2007 and 2015 that the template which worked so well to the appreciation of Plateau citizens was jettisoned when the minister (Hon S Dalung appointed by then President Buhari) and the governor were made to come from the same zone.
This created a suspicion of dominance of a particular senatorial zone and lots of the elites murmured showing their disenchantment in one way or the other.
Unfortunately, the Lalong administration could not correct the anomaly and continued with the template set by the Jang administration where both the minister and the governor came from the same zone.
In the current dispensation, the 1999 model has through default become the operational code where the governor and the minister from the state are from different senatorial zones.
Now that a vacancy is about to be created, many have advised on continuing with the path that would ensure fairness in the distribution of key offices due to indigenes of the state rather than the one that would create acrimony and suspicion. This is aside the political advantage of spread it can give to the ruling party.
The former governor, Lalong, who is exiting the FEC is from the Southern senatorial zone of the state. He was preceded as minister, by two other persons from the Southern zone, namely Solomon Dalung and Pauline Tallen.
As can be gleaned, the southern zone has taken the senatorial seat for more than eight years at a stretch even when it had a governor hence it would amount to bias for the zone to again produce the next minister in the current dispensation.
Ordinarily, the Central zone should have taken the slot as it has had fewer ministers since the current dispensation. Fortunately for it, the governor, whichever way the pendulum swings at the Supreme Court, is bound to come from the zone hence it would amount to over concentration of positions to nominate the next minister from the same zone with the governor.
This leaves the northern zone as most deserving because it has not had a minister since 2015. More so, that the zone is undoubtedly the strongest support base of the APC.
Coming down to the northern zone however, certain dynamics also come into play.
So far the Beroms, the majority tribe within the zone already has the state party chairmanship, deputy governor, and all the senatorial candidates for the rerun in all the parties. It will not be out of place for one to say that they are adequately compensated and represented the above mentioned key positions not readily available to the others.
Consequently, they are likely to retain the position of deputy governor whichever way the pendulum swings at the Supreme Court, and that of the senator representing the zone after the rerun election.
But even more important, is the need to accord the likely new governor, his due respect as leader of the ruling party in the state. Since it is the tradition to honour sitting APC governors with the powers to make nominations into the FEC, it is only fair that the decision of who will replace Lalong, is put on hold, until the Supreme Court verdict so that it would be the Prof Y. Nentawe (in case the case favours the APC), that should make the nomination rather than the immediate past governor.
This is also for fairness.
Hon.Gondina Musa Sambo, is a Former Member Plateau State House of Assembly.
