Plateau South seeks PDP governorship ticket

Jos - Saidu Musa ,Vice Chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau said on Wednesday that the next governor of the state will come from the South senatorial zone. Musa said that the zone had yet to produce a governor since the state was separated from Nasarawa State in 1996. According to him, the zone is next in line to produce the governor, as the North and Central Senatorial Districts, have produced a governor each. The party official said that since the state was separated from Nasarawa, no one from the zone had sought for the governorship seat. Musa said both Fidelis Tapgun and late Solomon Lar were from Plateau North, while their deputies were from the present Nasarawa State. "Practically, since the creation of the present Plateau, the southern senatorial district has not produced a governor. "I am talking about 1999 to date; the first civilian governor of the present Plateau is Joshua Dariye who did two terms of four years each from 1999 to 2003. "He is followed by the present governor, Jonah Jang who is serving his two terms of four years each from 2007 to expire in 2015. "Based on the principle of fair play and cooperation between various zones of the state, the next civilian governor of the state should come from the South zone,'' he said. The PDP chieftain said it would provide "a sense of belonging'' to allow anyone qualified from Shendam, Mikang, Quan’ Pan, Langtang North, Langtang South and Wase, to contest. Musa was optimistic that there were capable hands in the zone to take over and build on the legacies established by the PDP government under Jang. He said believed that the zone had remained consistently behind the PDP, as such deserves the support of other zones to produce the next governor of the state. The vice chairman said the time was ripe for the eligible persons in the zone to join the governorship race. "I presented this issue during the local government campaign rally in Shendam and the governor answered us that he was praying to God to anoint his successor. "We believe that God is a just God and He will anoint somebody from the southern zone and reveal him or her to our governor,’’ he said. -