Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong on Tuesday alleged that he was detained by former president Olusegun Obasanjo, for four months for resisting pressures to impeach the former governor of the state, Joshua Dariye.
The governor spoke at the ongoing annual general conference of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) in Abuja, as one of those empanelled to discuss the topic: “Contribution of Lawyers in Public Office to National Development.”
Lalong was the speaker of Plateau State House of Assembly from October 2000 to 2006. Dariye’s tenure lasted from 1999 to 2006 when he was impeached. Obasanjo was president from 1999 to 2007.
The governor said he took a stand against Dariye’s impeachment because, as a lawyer, he knew the process was flawed. He said he did not regret his position on the impeachment process, insisting that he had been vindicated by the different Supreme Court judgments nullifying the sack of state chief executives during Obasanjo’s era.
In another development, Lalong said the handover note of his predecessor in office, Jonah Jang indicated that Plateau was indebted to the tune of N104 billion. Days into the life of the new administration, the governor said he realised that the debt of the state had climbed over N200 billion.
Despite the huge economic challenge the government inherited, he said, the state was able to defray four-month salary arrears while he was yet to receive financial bailout from the Federal Government.
The governor said he had relied on his legal training to tackle the challenges confronting his state.The Diaspora Day was established by the Federal Government, under former President Olusegun Obasanjo, to create an official platform for Nigerian experts and professionals in the diaspora to, on a yearly basis, interact with their home-based counterparts.
The conference, scheduled to hold at the old Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, will examine these thematic areas – health, education and youth and sports.
Isama continued: “There is every need to re-frame and widen the government outreach to, not only productively engage and apply the broad and diverse Nigerian Diaspora in nation building and development, but also to be citizen ambassadors, working for sustained favoured nation relationship between Nigeria and their countries of residence.”
He stated that whilst it was important for Nigerian Diaspora to invest in Nigeria, it was also necessary to employ the Nigerian Diaspora to be goodwill ambassadors of the Nigerian people wherever they find themselves. He said: “President Buhari at every chance he has met the Nigerian community in his recent trips, always admonished them to respect and obey the laws of the countries of their abode.
“The first line of lobbying for Nigerian interests should be vested in, and be championed by Nigerian nationals in foreign countries. It is also incumbent on them to support the sustained funding of development agencies in their respective countries. These agencies, like USAID and its counterpart of several countries, invariably undertake and promote developmental programmes in Nigeria.
“Not to be left out is for the Nigerian Diaspora to promote investments and trade between Nigeria and their respective countries of residence. These would include the promotion of Nigerian export products, be it crafts, culture and tourism.”
“Just in the way we robustly fought off the misrepresentation of our then candidate, General Muhammadu Buhari and our party, the All Progressives Congress to the global world, we in the APC-USA Chapter are taking steps to mobilize and galvanize the Nigeria Diaspora Community in North America (USA/Canada) to rally behind and support the change agenda of the administration.
“The acclaimed success of President Buhari’s dignified visits to the USA and his determined and committed effort to set Nigeria on a new path, spur not only us in APC-USA Chapter but also the larger Nigerian Diaspora Community, to say to Mr. President, Sir: we’ve got your back.”
