I Forgive Everyone – PLHA Deputy Speaker

By Ukandi Odey, Jos
The Deputy Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi, has declared that he has forgiven a socio-cultural group from his Garga District of Kantana state constituency who recently took issues out of context and misrepresented a position he canvassed on the floor of the House and misquoted him lavishly in an organised reaction.
Gagdi, who spoke when the executive members of the All Progressive Congress from Kantana constituency addressed the press in Jos to dismiss and debunk the claim of the group that tagged itself as ‘Concerned Citizens’ as “salacious and totally mischievous”, also said he has forgiven even those who directly or indirectly aided the action and misguided media slam of the group.
A motion of urgent public importance raised on the floor of the House bordering on security vulnerability of Kanam Local Government Area of the state put the member at logger-heads with a section of his constituency who in a skewed interpretation of the contents of the motion, claim their interests as a people were not properly represented.
Addressing a press conference in Jos recently on the issue of
“unguarded utterances by Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi”, the group expressed delight at the “opportunity to speak to the world against the unguarded utterances, fictitious, horrible and malicious allegations made against the good peaceful people of Garga District by the Rt. Hon deputy speaker and member representing Kantana constituency in the PLHA, Hon Yusuf Adamu Gagdi”.
The Concerned Citizens noted that “on January 24, 2017, the Deputy Speaker moved a motion of urgent public importance on the floor of the House seeking to declare Garga District as ‘a place of abode for Boko Haram, and claimed that Boko Haram were sighted there because we share border with Yankari Game Reserve which is linked geographically to Sambisa Forest’“.
The group regrets and laments that “these allegations are malicious, misleading, and tantamount to an attempt to dent the reputation and peace-loving profile of the good people of Garga District”.
The Concerned Citizens, in a statement signed by Ibrahim Aliyu Bawa, noted that “on January 24, 2017, the deputy speaker moved a motion of urgent public importance on the floor of the House seeking to declare Garga District as ‘a place of abode for Boko Haram, and claimed that Boko Haram were sighted there because we share border with Yankari Game Reserve which is linked geographically to Sambisa Forest’“.
In a swift riposte via a video footage of the House session for that day made available to the press, Rt Hon Yusuf Gagdi was able to debunk the claim by the ‘concerned citizens’, as the video cursorily showed that the petitioners took the motion out of context. It is clear from the video clip that in making the motion, the Honourable member only cited a case of Boko Haram elements passing through that part of North-central geo-political zone to locate their base in the extensive Sambisa forest.
Again, as part of reaction to the group’s claim and media slam,
executive members of the All Progressive congress from Kantana constituency and some elite stakeholders from the same constituency mobilised and debunked the action of the anti-deputy speaker group as baseless, mischievous, ill-informed, and cheap political blackmail calculated to deflate the rising profile of the Honourable member.