The name Dr. Patrick Dakum strikes a chord in the minds of many Plateau people. Many view him as very influential as far as plateau politics is concern. For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with his pedigree; he was one-time commissioner of information and later the commissioner of health during Chief Joshua Dariye’s administration. He is presently the chief executive officer of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN).

Recently an Award/Dinner was held at Hill station hotel, Jos in his honour by IHVN staff to extoll his leadership qualities. During the event his political pedigree and stellar public service record was scrutinized and debated intensely by the attendees. Some were of the opinion that he shouldn’t be dragged into the murky waters of politics because of what they described as his unblemished and forthright nature. However, others were more optimistic averring that he would be a great addition to the political scenery of the nation. One of the attendees said “I can see that this event is taking a political dimension. Please we should be careful not to inject politics into it. I am not going to allow people to rubbish the personality of my boss by dragging him into the dirty game of politics”.
However, one of the proponents, Hon. Mwansat argued that “Dr. Dakum is a political mentor to many contemporary Plateau politician and that they would support him if he chooses to run for any elective office”.

The name Dr. Patrick Dakum strikes a chord in the minds of many Plateau people. Many view him as very influential as far as plateau politics is concern. For the benefit of those who may not be familiar with his pedigree; he was one-time commissioner of information and later the commissioner of health during Chief Joshua Dariye’s administration. He is presently the chief executive officer of the Institute of Human Virology Nigeria (IHVN).

Recently an Award/Dinner was held at Hill station hotel, Jos in his honour by IHVN staff to extoll his leadership qualities. During the event his political pedigree and stellar public service record was scrutinized and debated intensely by the attendees. Some were of the opinion that he shouldn’t be dragged into the murky waters of politics because of what they described as his unblemished and forthright nature. However, others were more optimistic averring that he would be a great addition to the political scenery of the nation. One of the attendees said “I can see that this event is taking a political dimension. Please we should be careful not to inject politics into it. I am not going to allow people to rubbish the personality of my boss by dragging him into the dirty game of politics”.
However, one of the proponents, Hon. Mwansat argued that “Dr. Dakum is a political mentor to many contemporary Plateau politician and that they would support him if he chooses to run for any elective office”.

Speaking at the event, Dr. Dakum clarified that “I believe that morals come from the inside not from the outside. If you are changed from the inside, it affects the outside. If God had enabled me to maintain a particular standard, during my time as commissioner of Information and later of Health, I do not see a political position that will make me derail from my focus. I see politics as an opportunity to affect development positively not only for my people but for the nation at large. People venturing into politics ought to be morally stable and sound otherwise the paraphernalia of politics will make them what they are really not. To me, politics is a calling, a calling in the sense that you have to be convinced in your heart that this is what God wants you to do at this point in time. If God is asking me to go for an elective position, then I will go but if I am not yet convinced that this is what God want’s me to do, then I will tarry till I hear God telling me clearly. I have not heard God telling me clearly go and contest for this political position. But if tomorrow God tells me here is an opportunity, go ahead and contest then I will have no choice than to do it. I prefer to play roles that are appointive that way; you will be able to play more technical roles. Politics and its involvement is capital intensive. It is not cheap. If you are going to run for a governor, you must be ready to spend about N2 billion as a minimum; If I had that amount of money, would it not be more prudent to go to mupun land and build schools, roads, health centers etc? I doubt it, except I hear ‘thou says the lord’ loud and clear”.

On the issue of the crises rocking Plateau state Dr. Dakum responded “I am strongly faith-based. My solutions will not be outside the faith-based framework. Unless the fear of God is established in the hearts of people, it will be difficult to get lasting peace. Development will never take place in an environment where crisis is rife. The basic solution to the crisis in Plateau state is to return to the principle of the fear of God and active integration of communities.

He went on to advised plateau youths thus, “every young person must have a purpose in life. Every young person must develop that purpose into a plan. That purpose is derived from the vision of who you want to be in the future. Pursue that purpose irrespective of the hurdles you will face. Plateau youths must come to the realization that a plan that is not rooted in God is a plan that is bound to fail. It is a plan that is bound to create frustrations in life”.

By Satmak Dapar

Satmak is a news correspondent for ViewPointNigeria, he writes from Jos, Nigeria.

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Dr. Patrick Dakum: Politics cannot derail me from positively impacting lives