Security Checkpoints on Recess as Buhari Visits Plateau

By CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – Security checkpoints around the Jos-Bukuru metropolis of Plateau state have been removed in what residents have described as sheer temporary measure to ease traffic during the two-day visit of President Muhammadu Buhari.
Our correspondent observed early this morning that all the checkpoints, especially those along the Jos Mararaban Jama’a highway, one of the major projects to be commissioned by the President as he
drives into Jos from the Yakubu Gowon  International Airport, Heipang, have been cleared of the notorious sand bags and huge stones which used to sustain the barricades and blockades at the checkpoints.
Our correspondent also observed the military personnel at the checkpoints were also not at the points, and may have been redeployed for emergency duties, following heavy deployment of security personnel around the Plateau state capital to beef up security during the President’s visit.
The Commissioner of Police, Plateau State Command, Undie Adie, had earlier announced mobilization and deployment of more than 2,000 men of the Nigeria Police for the special duty of the President’s visit. Our Correspondent observed that as early as 8am, men of the Nigeria Police, complemented by other security agencies like the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps, were strategically deployed along the high way from the Hill Station Roundabout leading to the Palace of the Gbong Gwom Jos on whom the President will pay a courtesy call today, all the way to Mararaba Jama’a and the Airport at Heipang.
With a public holiday declared in the state today to enable residents turn out en masse to welcome the august visitor, there is obvious lacklustre in socio-economic activities in the state capital as most public places are closed and most residents prefer to rest in their homes.
Apart from Government restricting movement along certain major routes in the town, traffic in most of the streets are sparse, including the popular Terminus area of the Jos metropolis which is normally ever bustling as a commercial common place and gateway to the North Eastern region of Nigeria.
Some businesses and lockup shops along Ahmadu Beloo Way, Rwang Pam Street, and the Old Bukuru Park remained closed, just as operations were not at normal pitch at the Plateau Riders Park and the old fashioned Tafawa Balewa Way noted for traffic zest on a good business day.
Meanwhile, supporters of the Lalong government in Plateau state and fans of Buhari were in carnival mood already as early as 8am. At the historic overhead Bridge at the secretariat junction which is another monumental project to be commissioned by the president today, zealous fans of the President and Lalong’s foot soldiers were dutifully and gleefully on hand, sustaining a mini carnival on the bridge top as early past 8am.
There is discernible air and atmosphere of ‘welcome, Mr President’, all over Plateau state, with anxieties and concerns of the people bordering on how President Buhari’s visit will impact on enduring peace in the state, especially renewed recalcitrance and savagery of herdsmen in the state, agricultural packages such as fertilizer provision and supply, and the tempestuous issue of cattle colony, or ranching, or grazing reserve.
Residents say more than the President commissioning the Road Map to Peace document prepared by the Plateau State Peace building Agency, headed by Dr Joseph Lengman, the town hall meeting with stakeholders is the critical agenda of the President’s visit.