CONTROVERSY continues to trail Plateau State Government’s declaration that the immediate past administration left a debt of N222.3 billion at the end of its tenure on May 29, 2015.

Chairman of the Plateau State Transition Committee and Deputy Governor of Plateau state, Prof. Sonni Gwanle Tyoden, had alleged that the former administration of now Senator Jonah Jang left a debt of N222.3 billion at the end of his tenure on May 29, 2015.

However, Senator Jang described the report of the transition committee as untrue, insisting that he left debts and liabilities of N103.9 billion.

Former Attorney General and Commissioner for Justice in the state, Olivia Dazyem, said the comprehensive breakdown of the debt was well documented in the handover notes and leaves no one in doubt, urging the committee to go back and study the handover notes properly.

Director of Press Affairs, Mr. Emmanuel Nanle said in a statement, “The government is to say the least not surprised at the effrontery of the former Commissioner to justify the venality that has typified the state of Plateau under the previous Administration with only the summary presentation of the reality which his government struggled to conceal with the last minute contraption packaged as a handing over note to the discerning Plateau citizen.” “The previous administration cannot be a judge in their own case.

Government only pleads with them to be patient until the report is made public to the citizens of Plateau before they have their own defence.

But until then let the people of Plateau be the judge in this matter and like the saying goes; let them not be quick to plead not guilty before the charge is read and the question concerning their pleading is asked by the Plateau people. “There is posterity ahead and a duty incumbent on the administration to ensure that the Plateau People’s fortunes are not further left in the hands of people who have treated them as mere commodities in the market place,” the statement also added.

Describing the committee’s report as “a clear distortion and manipulation of facts, aimed at personal vendetta, witch-hunt and smearing the good name and achievements of the outgone PDP government led by Dr. Jonah David Jang,” Dazyem said “a quick look at the compositions of the committees reveals that they were deliberately selected and made up of persons that have grudges with the immediate past administration.”

Giving a long list of the projects executed by the Jang’s administration across the three senatorial zones, Dazyem dismissed the allegation as baseless by the committee of lopsidedness and selective distribution of facilities and services, in which it claimed that 80 per cent of such projects were located in a particular section of one senatorial district.

While advising the APC government to focus on development and stop picking holes with the giant strides of the Jang’s administration, the statement noted that “the bar of governance in the state has been raised high by Senator Jang, and the Plateau people now use it as a yardstick to measure all succeeding Governors, and Lalong must live up to this expectation from the people of the state.”

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Jang clarifies position on debt as Lalong counters