Governor Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang of Plateau State has said they would deal mercilessly with any person found to be conspiring to scuttle the relative peace being enjoyed in the state.
He urged citizens not to be provoked by unguarded statements by those who do not mean well for the state and thereby overheating the polity.
According to him, recent developments have generated and have continued to generate unnecessary tensions between the people of the state. The governor called on the people to remain calm and allow the lawful grievance resolution mechanisms to take its course devoid of threats or tension as some of the state saboteurs would love.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang made these clarifications in a state wide broadcast to the people of the state on the current political developments in the state on Monday at the New Government House, Little Rayfield Jos. He assured all and sundry to go about their lawful duties without any fear or intimidation.
To the youths, the Executive Governor urged them not to allow people with unexplained wealth instigate them 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 destabilisation of our dear state”, Mutfwang pointed.
According to the governor, doing the bidding of such miscreants mistaken for honourable, would only ruin the God given potentials and destiny of the youth. He urged them to flee from such leaders who preach and scheme evil. Stressing, ” We must not allow the modest gains we have made in the last three months to be settled by utterances of a few rascals in our midst who found themselves in positions of honour they do not deserve”.
He revealed that among the issues they have been tackling since assumption of office, was the heightened security challenges and renewed attacks in some local governments areas on the eve of their swearing in that confronted them face to face, over bloated civil service with some questionable appointments on the eve of elections and four months backlog of salaries, among others.
Regardless of the aforementioned, the governor said they have put in place mechanisms to restore peace in the state and due process in the civil service, correct employment maleficence, appointments and placement irregularities, saving people a significant amount of money monthly, that hitherto went into private pockets of some corrupt individuals who have been shortchanging and robbing the state through ghost workers and other illicit schemes deployed.
According to him, the government was not surprised when those benefiting from the criminality, sponsored elements on a social media to smear campaign targeted at the Government, all in a bid to veil their terrible actions. He explained that they have set a machinery of the law in motion which he said would soon take its course in bringing such individuals to account.
As part of the efforts to cushion the effect of the fuel subsidy removal on the people, Governor Mutfwang said work to reactivate rail transportation with the Greater Jos Master Plan, covering key locations within Jos-North and Jos- South was ongoing and was optimistic the services would commence soonest as well as expansion across other parts of the state would also kick-start.
He also assured that the ₦5 billion palliative received from the federal government would also be distributed along a comprehensive and systematic format, upon broad consultations with stakeholders towards ensuring the most effective deployment and utility of the funds, as well as ensuring the most disadvantaged among the people receive support and care.
He expressed gratitude to President Bola Tinubu who granted audience to him within his early days in office in which he made commitment towards addressing security challenges and the support provided so far. And that he looked forward to sustained collaboration with the federal government towards eliminating all security challenges in the state.
