CAMPAIGN PROMISES, MISPLACE PRIORITY AND THE IRONY OF CURRENT REALITIES: THE PLATEAU CASE (part1)By Hayatu Mailazzy Sulieman:

Political office holders ideally should serve as servants towards stewardship to the teeming electorates and masses who entrust and bestowed their confidence in them via voting, but the reverse is the case especially here on the Plateau. We have witnessed over the years leadership failure, massive corruption and diversion of public treasury, tribalism, nepotism and impunity.

The primary aim and objective of creating the local government as a third tier of government in Nigeria is to bring government and development closer to the people by impacting communities with basic infrastructural facilities and social amenities to the grassroot but the reverse is also the case.

For instance, in Bokkos local government, before the emergence of the executive chairman, during campaign, he made several promises to the electorate to better their lives and wellbeing but the LGA has witnessed a decay in infrastructure instead of advancement, untold hardship inflicted on the masses, appointing over 300 SA's and SSA's with appointment letters but without monthly salary.

 This and many more has led to untold hardship especially to the appointees where some resort to criminality, aggression and lost of confidence on the government of the day, politics and electoral processes. Another example is that the only transformer which supplies power to Tudu and environs had been stolen by unknown hoodlums which led the community in total darkness for over two months and all efforts to reach out to the chairman and other political office holders including but not limited to the members of the state and federal legislatures proved abortive. 

Eventhough the issue was reported to the chairman to come to the aid of the community, he insisted that the community, religious bodies and businesses operating within the affected location to contribute money to shoulder the responsibility in procurement of the stolen transformer estimated to cost four to six million approximately.

If we can have elected chairman, member of the state house of assembly, member house of representatives and a senator and yet they cannot intervene on such a less capital intensive project but they can comfortably walk home with looted funds ranging in millions, live in luxury houses, drive expensive cars and live in flamboyant lifestyle while their electorates live in total darkness and abject poverty coupled with high cost of living and rising inflation, then there should be no justification whatsoever to be loyal or supportive to the above rulers rather than leaders.

We have also seen and instances where senators and house of representatives members in other states constricting a 15 km roads, empowerment scheme worth millions, scholarship schemes and many other developmental project's to thier constituencies  but here on the Plateau, the reverse is the case. My question is this; Are our representatives from Plateau state receiving different monthly salaries, allowances emoluments and constituency allowance from other members? If the answer is no, then why is thier performance differs? Politics is a game of numbers and therefore it's our collective responsibility to know who we are voting in power during subsequent election void of electing the calibre of rulers we currently have rather than leaders.

In conclusion, we in Bokkos for several reasons has lost confidence on the current political office holders and therefore we must be proactive in identifying and voting them out during subsequent elections. We must shine our eyes, be responsive and hold our leaders accountable with regard to their failures in leadership and wrongdoings.

The time to act is now.

God bless Bokkos LGA.

God bless Plateau state.

God bless the federal republic of Nigeria.

I hereby rest.

Watch out for part 2 to 10) every day.