The Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has assuaged the fears of its citizens that Jaiz Bank’s involvement in the rebuilding of the burnt Jos Market is purely for economic gains and warned against the politicization of the plan.
The APC Publicity Secretary, Hon Sylvanus Namang in a press statement, said the opposition to the decision of Governor Simon Bako Lalong to rebuild the market was politically motivated. He stated that the moves and propaganda of those opposed to the decision of the current administration to rebuild the market are loaded with lies adding that the position held by opponents of Lalong’s Government is the height of mischief to the state and its people.
He pointed out that a lot of politically motivated propaganda was offloaded and circulated against the efforts of the Governor, where it was alleged that billions were spent to demolish the structure adding that the assertions were false and the height of mischief
Namang said the push for the economic growth of the State deserves the support of all discerning minds, stressing that they cannot continue to promote and elevate hatred as an ideology or achievement as the renegade Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) politicians, keep on doing.
According to him, the state needs the intervention of true Patriots, Statesmen, and Religious Leaders across the divide; to bring all disparate and divergent groups together, “as our strength lies in our diversity.”
The State Publicity Secretary of APC further stressed that Jos Main Market remains a cherished Heritage of Plateau People, which no one can take away adding that the market ought to have been rebuilt before now, if not for the misplaced priority of the immediate past administration.
“These Serial Fault finders’ opposition to the JAIZ Bank Funding initiative and the State Government’s decision to rebuild the market is purely politically motivated. Religion is only being ostensibly brought in as a mere smokescreen!
“The same JAIZ Bank has executed similar projects in nearly 100 % Christian States of Enugu and Rivers State without its people being Islamised, contrary to what is being widely canvassed by these deceptive opposition politicians in a 21st Century Plateau State.
“What the APC in the state finds worrisome and disappointing is that, despite the clarity in the terms of the proposals, politics has surreptitiously crept into this purely economic engagement and otherwise laudable project.
“Dishonest politicians, from the opposition, have, for their convenience, given a religious coloration to the issue. Everyone, from the government to the investor, prospective shop owners, clerics, and Plateau citizens, has unfortunately become a victim of these opportunists’ antics. These dishonest politicians, in the pursuit of narrow political ends, at the slightest opportunity, never hesitate to exploit the divisive and combustible issue of religion to fool the people that they are the worthy protectors of “Plateau Heritage,” Namang stressed.
