Hon Peter Akuja is a? member of the House of Representatives representing Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency. In this brief chat with RUTH CHOJI, he advocated for the prosecution of people hampering the peace and stability of Plateau State. Excerpt:
What is your reaction on the suspension of the justice of the Appeal Court and the installation of an acting president?
The President only accented to the recommendation of the National Judiciary council and from what I read on the pages of newspapers, he said that until the issue be resolved before a substantive Court of Appeal before a new president would be appointed.
I? think it was a temporary measure until investigation into the issue are conducted. whether the case is in court or not, I think that there are disciplinary actions that an organisation can take before a court would resolve a matter, because the court is the last resort, but it cannot stop the internal discipline. I think the council looking at this own action as indiscipline and based one that they give him the suspension, the only thing is that, people feel that there are other ways of handling the matter.
Do you support calls for the merger of the ICPC and EFCC?
Yes, I am a supporter of that. I believe they should be merged and made to work under the same environment, they can have departments to cover different areas. Right now, they do the same functions, their functions inter lap. Most times when someone has been taken to ICPC, he goes through lots of rigor and then after his release, EFCC will come and carry him again and he is made to go through that same rigor, so what is the difference. It should not? be so, merging them would minimise cost. Keeping them apart is just waste public resources, this outfit can work effectives and at less cost to government when it is one unit, with different department.
The relative peace had been disrupted with the recent killings in some parts of the state, what could have led to this?
I am representing some part of the volatile areas.The problems we have in Plateau State is that some people somewhere don’t want this peace, but the average Plateau man wants peace. This thing is still happening because people are never punished for their actions. When government starts taking decisive action against perpetrators, then this situation would be arrested and? peace would reign. We want peace on the plateau, this people have sponsors, nobody can really say what caused the recent killings because we have had peace for some time, but I believe that if the violators are caught and prosecuted and maximum punishment meted out, it would deter some people from killing innocent lives.
Most people blame the governor for the crises, do you share that view?
How can they blame the governor, is there any government that doesn’t want peace, Jang is a peaceful person, he is exposed to lots of critism but he is a peaceful person, he has tried in his own way to restore peace, he has tried to accommodate everyone on the plateau, even though that they have shown clearly that they don’t like him, but the governor is really doing his best for the state. Look? at the development programme the governor has done and still planning to do morse, the road network, the? cleaning of the streets and? maintenance of security. Look at our educational system and other sectors, I believe that by the time Jang would be leaving the seat, his legacy would long be remembered on the plateau. He is a visionary leader that, he has the interest of the state at heart, all the strike and what is happening are just plans to destabilise his administration, but the good people of the state know that their governor is doing well and has the best interest of the state at heart. I believe that Governor Jang will do better than he did in his first term.
Since his return for the second term, the state polytechnic has been closed, there have been lots of agitations and complaints by the same people that voted him into power and? there have been reports of ethnic agenda, what could be responsibie?
I think some elements are trying to destabilise the efforts of the government, you can? never excuse political detractors, the governor is trying to see that the glory of the state is restored. The Beroms are the largest tribe on the Plateau. So whenever you want to appoint people to position, they automatically get four of such slots, because they have four local governments, and when you have one commissioner from every local government, the Beroms will have four, the same with perm secretary and other positions. The governor is giving appointment according to their population. So I? don’t think this is about ethnic agenda, it is about fairness and federal character.