Nentawe: Quest for secured, united and prosperous Plateau
By Katdapba Y. Gobum
For those who know, the quest for the occupation of the office of the governor of a state cannot be taken lightly. Therefore, anyone interested in the challenge must be well-prepared for the journey ahead; as no ill-prepared leader in the present age can succeed in leadership. For those who know, ‘governance comes with adequate preparation’; it does not come by happenstance.
The question to ask is: Is the APC gubernatorial candidate in Plateau State, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe prepared for the task ahead of him? There cannot be any genuine preparation more than what he has exhibited for the office he seeks to occupy.
Since 2013, except if it can be proven otherwise, realizing that he had an eye for the number one position; Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe started on a small scale what he would do if he was entrusted with higher responsibilities someday. It is common knowledge that since then, more grounds have been covered in building bridges across different divides between people and different communities.
If no one took him seriously then, he was not bothered; Nentawe had made up his mind to change how things in the womb of the future for the people and state should be. First, he needed to change the course of doing things by making certain provisions; which, when considered would be the springboard to the ascension of power one day by him.
Over the years, several things, particularly such that will create the needed platform for youth, women and PWDs took place. He had dreamt that one day he would be improving and developing agricultural value change, opening up the economy; but more importantly help in creating credit lines for SMEs in their support. His years and activities in the ivory tower blossomed and changed the trajectory of what God wanted him to become.
Little wonder, he ran with the humility that has become his hallmark. After all, the race was not jumped into it. A need that was observed and shared with a broad spectrum of individuals and groups irrespective of party affiliation bought the idea and he started running with it.
A prepared candidate can easily connect with the mass of the people. For those who know and have followed Nentawe’s engagements with the citizens over time; and indeed having studied the challenges of Plateau State, it is understandable why it can be safely said that workable solutions are possible for them.
One of those challenges that have faced the state is insecurity. Many of us may recall that in the last two decades and running, a disturbing number of people have been killed, even as we know that the people’s lands were grabbed in the most despicable manner. It is in this regard that if he wins the race, a ‘Security Trust Fund’, where money can be contributed to secure it, as well as to amend the Operation Rainbow bill and activities of the vigilantes and hunters that would accommodate certain peculiarities of the state, that are able to properly take care of the envisaged security architecture. Interestingly, to be able to assess the funds, which he promised 10 percent, Vulnerable Trust Fund for people living with disability, women and youth will be established.
In the course of being an academic, God showed him mercy; President Muhammadu Buhari on a recommendation appointed him a Resident Electoral Commissioner. Upon being confirmed by the Senate, he was posted to Benue State as the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner. He did not just prove his mettle in various assignments, it was apparent God imbued him with lots of solutions to human challenges; so much so that his ‘service to humanity is exemplary’.
It is not in my purview to review his performance while he held sway as Resident Electoral Commissioner from 2017 to 2021. However, one of the high points of his reign, while it lasted was ensuring that Internally Displaced Persons were not disenfranchised, INEC created avenues for them to vote. To date, his conduct while he served as INEC Resident Commissioner has not been called to question.
That was not all: He was dutifully engaged when the national headquarters saw the need for him to use his experience to get some states’ elections off the ground. These elections became test cases for the nation’s electoral process, as their nature appeared seemingly problematic.
The fact that he succeeded was enough to add a feather to his many caps and resolves that were needed to create value and deepen democracy in Nigeria. Therefore, as difficult as the Plateau State political terrain had assumed, Nentawe did not take things for granted.
The calculations, interactions, persuasions and meetings over the years with community youth leaders, opinion moulders, rural traders, unions, community-based groups, faith-based groups was the avenue he needed to assess the infrastructural deficit available in the rural communities.
Every political party and its candidates have identifiably unique ways of canvassing for and winning support from the electorate during election. While it is possible to create such an important environment by the party, it is by far the responsibility of the candidate to sell his person to the people.
Somewhere in the local communities that make Plateau State, the APC gubernatorial candidate, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe, and his running mate, Hon Pam Bot Mang had engaged the people of the state in what has been revealed as frank discussions on the way forward to being enthroned as governor and deputy.
Good intentions are good but, if we must move ahead, certain changes must be made to get rid of the state’s challenges. One of the challenges of Plateau is revenue generation that would be used for the purpose of development. The state’s Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) cannot be said to be sufficient as the monthly subventions are, if anything, only enough to pay salaries with very little left to be used for development purposes.
There are a number of issues that are instructive for rebooting the manner government does business. There are minerals in the state whose laws have to be amended, that is if we must not allow criminals take advantage to mine our resources at night while they kill the people at night
He had said at one of the meetings that, ‘I don’t want to borrow more money, I want to reverse the tide; by opening the state economy’. Competence has its advantage, and it cannot be traded for anything else. The fact that some others may not have been successful means they did not prepare well.
Government must exist for all, which is that people must feel the presence of those who lead. To unite the people for prosperity is a task which has to be done. The promises are many; they remain what we have been waiting for.
Politics is the only thing you may not need a certificate to go into, however, it should be known that power comes from the proper understanding of the issues that make a state prosper through people. Having exchanged ideas in order to propel the state, the people of the as other Nigerians need to be told to accept outcomes.
If politics is for service, Nigerians must need to be oriented to accept what should work for them and to accept the consequences of their actions. The reward system must help access the capacity of the gladiators in the contest. It is only the voter who has been properly educated on what can be offered to him/her that can make the right choices. Going forward, during the visits to the 17 local government areas, a number of things came to the fore. These issues may have remained bottled up without venting them out for solutions to be sought for; the fact that they spoke their minds to a man willing to find solutions to them.
Increasingly, the state has been inundated with certain issues that relate to ‘democratic rights, functions and decisions’, which regrettably many people have tended to support, so long as leaders in the past took them principally based on ethnic and religious motives. To enable young people remain nationalistic and pass it on to the next generation, let it be known that ‘a record of bad tribal democratic governance which many tribes on the Plateau have adopted as a precedent’ remains our bane.
It is on record that during the interactions Nentawe had with nationalities in the 17 local government areas, it was clear, the people mattered; the youth, women and people living with disabilities were highly placed as never before. Such leaders as the late Joseph Dechi Gomwalk and Chief Solomon Daushep Lar have always remained top above others as they were not considered as ’bandits of tribal governance’. It is time, Nentawe, had always maintained, we cannot be local champions in a state that he wants to take to higher heights. To walk out of our current predicament, tribalism, must be killed if we want a new Plateau.
A few months ago, it was apparent that a faceless group had insisted that there was a problem between the gubernatorial candidate with the ruling party. Since then the party through its state Publicity Secretary, Hon Sylvanus Namang said, ‘there is no activity he embarks upon without the tacit approval of the party’s leadership in the state.
‘The workaholic, diligent and composed gubernatorial candidate who is more than prepared for the job, has met with the leadership of all the indigenous groups on the Plateau known as PIDAN and all other ethnic nationalities residing in Plateau state to solicit their support which has given the opposition parties in the state sleepless nights.
‘The APC would want to advise those who think they can stop the APC awesome winning machinery not to waste their time an energy and are advised to key into this winning team for a better, united, secured and prosperous Plateau State instead of these unhelpful and vain distraction’.
It must be noted that, the party had carefully designed its programme to fit into the electoral time table by INEC. Therefore, when Dr Nentawe Yilwatda first embarked on a one-on-one reconciliation visits to all the gubernatorial aspirants he contested with to pacify and solicit their buy-in to key into his campaign programme; it was herculean, even as it was seen as one which may not see the light of the day. It worked out. He then followed it with a Thank You visit which took him to all the 17 local government areas of the State with the party’s leadership.
It was the Citizens Engagement which saw him visit all the 17 local government areas with all strategic blocs in the state took about three weeks to conclude also had the full approval of the party in the state. Those involved in the engagement included representatives of religious leaders, leaders of development associations along with their women and youth wings, strategic community stakeholders, Ardos, leaders of market association among many others.
In sharing the ‘social contract of a Secured, United and Prosperous Plateau of our Heritage’, to the people who comprehend what the state has gone through has been rewarding, if not revealing to the citizens who have longed for what they have not heard in a long while. If they yearned for it, it because they have in him a man prepared to lead the state.
The ACEES Agenda of Agriculture, Critical Infrastructure, Economic, Youths and, Education, and Security, by any stretch of imagination tells anyone of his preparedness to rule Plateau State. It is hoped that the youth, women, people living with disabilities and indeed men would buy into the whole gamut of what he has in stock to develop Plateau, when he gets to Little Rayfield.
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