Plateau State Governor Simon Lalong yesterday dismissed the protests against his acceptance of the position of the Director General of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Organisation. The governor said the Pope had not told him it is a bad assignment.
Addressing State House correspondents after a meeting with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa in Abuja, Lalong also denied ever lobbying to run as the vice presidential candidate of the party.
The governor, who said he was in Abuja to thank President Buhari for approving the University of Jos (UNIJOS) as a National Cancer Centre, added that being an ardent member of the Catholic faith, even the Pope was not angry with his decision to accept the campaign job.
A group, under the aegis of Concern Christians on the Plateau (CCP), had staged a rally in Abuja where they urged Lalong to reject the APC campaign job.
The protesters threatened that Christians in his state would not support him in “the suspicious engagement or assignment”.
But Lalong, who maintained that he respects his faith as a Christian, said he was elected governor for people of all faith and non-believers as well.
The governor stressed that since politics is about interest, he remained a member of the APC and would not engage in anti-party activities.
He said on his return to Jos, the state capital, following his appointment as the party’s campaign DG, the state chapter of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) welcomed him.
Lalong said he was not sure where those who claimed to be Christians and opposed his appointment were coming from.
“You said CAN Plateau; it’s not CAN Plateau. I don’t think so. It’s another group of people. CAN Plateau did not come out. I came back home and CAN welcomed me at the airport. The next day, I addressed stakeholders of Plateau State and I told them why I’m accepting it, and there was jubilation. All of them accepted.
“So, if you see people talking about me rejecting… I’ve accepted already. I told them. Some of them are already keying into it. I have accepted already. It’s not an issue. I’m a Christian. I said it and some people are misinterpreting it: that I said I was not a Christian.
“If you see my TVC interview, I said I was born a Catholic, Baptised a Catholic, confirmed a Catholic. I went through missionary schools. Yes, I was taught by mission. I respect my being a Christian. I’ve been given the highest award by the Pope. I still hold that award, the highest Papal award, Knight of St. Gregory’s the Great. I have it. One day, if you want, I’ll wear my uniform and come here,” he said.
Source: The Nation
