OPEN LETTER TO JETHRO AKUN, RAYFIELD, JOS

Dear Sir,

APOLOGIZE TO DAFFO, RON/KULERE & PLATEAU STATE TO KEEP YOUR NAME.

To start with, I am perhaps the most insignificant of all people deserving of your attention especially on a matter like this. However, I am compelled to bare my mind given that no one seems bold enough among the influential persons in the great Ron/Kulere Kingdom to go public on the issue.

Sir, since the 8th March 2018 comments you made at the town-hall meeting organized with President Muhammadu Buhari, you will agree that the narrative concerning you and a host of others in the political scene has been rather on the negative. This is really unfortunate as unhealthy as it is, especially given your antecedence as a seasoned politician of repute and a fine opinion molder.

I have personally admired your courage and focus in the pursuit of life goals. No wonder the chasms of achievements to your name. Indeed, not many people get the privilege of ascending to the positions that you’ve attained in your political pursuits. You have been a Chairman of the erstwhile Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State and have headed the association of microfinance banks in Nigeria, aside the numerous federal and state appointments you have earned due to your political dexterity. This is why I’m not surprised that you are the Saf Ma Bwol (Sarkin Yaki) of Ron/Kulere, about the most exalted advisory position in the traditional council of Ron/Kulere Chiefdom. Permit me to also note that you have done exceedingly great by establishing the Global College of Education, Jos.

I am indeed proud to share sociocultural similarities with you. I believe there are millions of people out there who share my belief that Plateau and indeed Nigeria needs more people like you.

It is rather unfortunate that you didn’t achieve your aspirations to run for governor of Plateau state in the runoff to the 2015 elections. Perhaps you would have brought your wealth of experience into the governance of plateau state. Many like me wished you had made it through to the general elections. However, Sir, those wishes belong to the era before the onset of Fulani labeled attacks on the good, hospitable, peaceful and productive people of Daffo, the very district from which you hail.

When the attacks started on January 24, 2018 at Farundonghai, many including my humble self-expected that men of strong vision, character, courage, and influence like you would rise up to the challenge of defending the sociological, psychological and physiological interests of the people. After all, you are the Saf Ma Bwol, the adviser to the traditional council, who coordinates all issues of security. Unfortunately, when a meeting of stakeholders of Daffo District was summoned on February 3, 2018 in Daffo central primary school after the Farundonghai attacks, you clearly demonstrated that your personal ambition was more valuable than the lives of the people under torment; four people were killed by gunshots, two were severely injured by gunshots, two are still missing, over fifty houses were razed by fire and an assortment of assets were either looted or burnt to ashes!!!.

It is surprising that instead of fighting for what the people are yearning for, you have been more particular about the traditional stool occupied by your younger brother, Da Jonathan Sunday Akun, a position he has occupied since January 6, 1999. This same stool you had turned down until it became somewhat clear that you could leverage the stool to ascend to the position of the Paramount ruler of Ron/Kulere, the Saf Ron/Kulere. Ironically, the stool of the Saf Ron/Kulere became vacant about two years ago by an assassination of Da Lazarus A. Agai, the erstwhile incumbent to which you have surprisingly kept mute all this while!!!

Sir, it is unbelievable that while your full blooded younger brother, the Galadiman Daffo was risking his life openly agitating for the Fulani herders from the village to embrace peace, you were busy personalizing issues at the 3rd February 2018 meeting, saying he had grown rich and stubborn. As if that was not enough, you went ahead to invite the Fulani to a meeting in your house in Jos on the 7th of February 2018 after the Daffo meeting where you were alleged to have discussed issues that seem to not bring succor to the prevailing situation. The same thing happened in your Jos residence on Saturday 10th March 2018 after the Thursday 8th March 2018 propaganda you made in favour of Simon Lalong and Muhammadu Buhari during a town hall meeting.

Come to think of it, Sir, you were not supposed to be the one to speak on behalf of the elders of plateau state, but when you ceased the opportunity, you failed to raise your voice for the yearnings of the communities of people traumatized by the massive carnages of 24th January & 8th March 2018. I hope you now appreciate the damage that sudden change that resulted in you speaking has brought for the entire strata of Bokkos LGA, plateau state and the APC in general. Time will tell of the degree of this damage. This is aside the fact that your inability to bring to bear the realities of the carnage in your land, and your very ancestral native village, Ganda, in Daffo for that matter. Rather than crying out loud, over eight villages that were being razed by fire with almost 7,000 people being evicted from their ancestral homes beside those killed and injured, you were glibly singing praise songs together with your political clone, Joshua Dariye.

Fortunately or unfortunately Sir, Joshua Dariye has attempted making atonement for his supposed sins by issuing a written press statement condemning the attacks. You on the other hand have not, whether or not you still remember that you can no longer visit or sleep in your village due to insecurity. The narratives making the rounds blaming your brother, Da Jonathan Sunday Akun, are stoked by no one but you, and amount to nothing but a decoy that no sensible person can take serious. Instead, they have the tendency to further dent your image as it is likely to be perceived to be emanating from the conflict you have with your brother. This is not healthy and it calls for urgent steps from you. The longer you allow these narratives to continue whether against you as they already loom since your meeting with Buhari or against your brother with whom you are believed to be aggrieved, the implication remains that you could lose your reputation being an elder statesman and an older person who is expected to lead the way for reconciliation with a younger full blooded brother, no matter the issues at stake.

Sir, I advise that to save your hard earned reputation, you need to come out clean by apologizing to the people right from your ancestral land all through to plateau state, and initiating a move for reconciliation with your brother as a first step towards reconciling the warring groups in Plateau. You must also be seen to be firm in speaking out in favour of the people, whose voices, votes and material support have propelled you to the heights of life that you’ve accomplished, if you must continue to enjoy their respect and support. You should also show a good example to the upcoming generation of leaders in Nigeria by living a life worthy of an elder both publicly and privately as many of them innocently look up to you and could end up emulating your values and transferring same to future generations.

Thank you and God bless.

Yours humbly,

Aginai Joseph Akushai,
Plateau State University,
Bokkos, Nigeria.

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Aginai Joseph write Chief Jethro Akun, Asks Him to Apologize to Bokkos People for Comment at Buhari’s Town Hall Meeting in Jos