Between 2015 and 2023, Senator Simon Bako Lalong stood at the helm of Plateau State, navigating a political terrain thick with suspicion, tribal mistrust and religious undercurrents. He took the unpopular position that every resident of Plateau, irrespective of tongue, tribe or faith, deserved a fair stake in the land’s opportunities and privileges. In a just society, such a posture would be praised as statesmanship. Instead, it was weaponised against him. The charge was simple, brutal and unrelenting: “He is selling Plateau to the enemies.”
Every policy was reframed as betrayal. Every handshake across ethnic lines was painted as surrender. Even the clergy, whose pulpits should have been sanctuaries of truth and reconciliation, lent their voices to the chorus of division. It became a political inquisition. Lalong’s head was demanded, metaphorically, for the political dinner tables of those who thrived on fear and fracture.
Fast forward to 2023 and today. The political winds in the State have shifted, yet the irony could not be more profound. The very actors who condemned Lalong for his inclusivity now practice not only the same openness, but have gone even further in outreach. Suddenly, it is no longer “selling Plateau”. Suddenly, it is visionary leadership.
We also saw this same theatre play out in the build up to the last general elections and comtinues today. Those who denounced the “Muslim–Muslim” ticket as the ultimate betrayal of trust are now scrambling for a seat on the same Muslim–Muslim flight, without so much as a moment of remorse. They have not admitted they misled the people. They have not sought forgiveness for fanning the embers of fear. We told them not to yield to politics of destructive propaganda, but they refused. Today they are the first to rush toward the President and his wife. How can one hate a man yet love what he bears in his arms when passing through the land? That is not conviction. That is opportunism at its rawest.
This is where moral equivalence exposes the rot. If Lalong’s actions were treachery, then by the same moral standard, these current actions must be treachery too. If, on the other hand, what is happening today is noble and progressive, then history demands an apology for the character assassination of yesterday. Anything else is not political conviction but selective morality dressed in partisan colours.
Some may attempt to deflect by invoking whataboutism — the rhetorical sleight of hand that shifts the conversation from the present hypocrisy to other unrelated grievances. But the fact remains that societies crumble when rules of judgment change with the faces in power. Selective outrage corrodes the very fabric of civic trust.
The deeper danger is the sustained belief that Plateau can live in splendid isolation, shunning interdependence in a nation as plural and interconnected as Nigeria. Such thinking is not only ignorant, it is perilous. No state is an island. Trade, security, investment and cultural exchange require bridges, not walls. A Plateau walled in tribal and religious absolutism is a Plateau that will stagnate while others grow.
There is also the moral bankruptcy of calling for a man’s political head simply because he holds a different view of inclusivity. Yesterday it was Lalong and us his lieutenants. Tomorrow, it could be anyone whose ideas threaten entrenched comfort zones. In a democracy, dissent is not treason. To punish it is to lay the groundwork for authoritarianism by popular consent.
History is unforgiving to those who trade the long term peace of their people for the short term thrill of partisan victory. The lesson is clear: weaponising tribe, religion or partisanship for political ends will always leave the society poorer, angrier and more fractured. Plateau cannot afford that cycle again. The time to speak truth, even when it is uncomfortable, is now.
Daniel Dung Dalyop is a former Commissioner for Youths and Sports Development in Plateau State and wrote from Jos.
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