By Marie Nanlong

Plateau State Governor, Simon Lalong has defended the N40 million on this year’s Sallah celebrations arguing that he runs “a government of mercy.”

Eyebrows have been raised from different quarters in the State when the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, Gambo Hawaja had announced that the Governor gave the amount for the purchase of rams, rice and cows. Defending the action, the Senior Special Assistant to the Governor on Media and Publicity, Mark Longyen questioned what he termed, “unnecessary attention trying to make a mountain out of an anthill” and urged the people to beware of “harbingers of negative insinuations.”

In a statement issued in Jos yesterday, Longyen said, “the attention of the Plateau State Government has been drawn to media reports about a statement credited to the Deputy Chief of Staff, Government House, to the effect that government spent about N40 million on the purchase of various items for the welfare of our Muslim brothers during this year’s Eid-El Kabir festival.

“Government wishes to disabuse the minds of the people against the unnecessary attention that it has drawn, as it is a mere case of making a mountain out of an anthill. The State Government would like to warn the public to beware of harbingers of negative insinuations and pessimists who see nothing good in any action of the government.

“Plateau State has 17 local government areas and this amounts to spending a meager sum of over N2 million for the welfare of all the Muslim Ummah in each LGA. It is at the discretion of the government to decide what constitutes the welfare of the people and how much it should commit to it at any time and, in any case making the figure public was in line with the government’s policy of transparency, without any intention to blow its own trumpet.”

He noted that the statements arise against the backdrop of the current financial challenges but added “this was done in the typical Plateau spirit with the benevolent intention of treating Christians and Muslims in the state equally, as what is good for the goose is also good for the gander.”

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Plateau Defends 40 million Sallah Expenditure