5 July 2009
(Page 2 of 2)
After the six months emergency period, Dariye returned to his seat as governor only to be caught in a web of money laundering scandal. The scam and other charges of financial impropriety led to his controversial impeachment and the swearing in of his Deputy, Chief Michael Botmang.
Few months to the 2007 general elections, the Supreme Court upheld the judgment of the Appeal Court which declared Botmang's Government illegal. Today, Dariye, in similar fashion as former Governor Ayodele Fayose is desperately seeking political relevance in Plateau.
Since, neither the State Government under Jonah Jang nor the State PDP executive under Professor Dakum Shown appears ready to play ball, Dariye has found solace in the opposing camp of the so-called Emmanuel Magni-led faction of the PDP in the state. The spokesman of the faction, Mr. Sylvanus Namang announced with glee last week that Dariye in the Magni fold. His joining the 'rebels' was celebrated by the faction as the biggest thing that had happened to its feeble political fortunes since it declared itself a parallel party in the state. But wise public opinion in Plateau State still wonders whether Dariye, the "moral burden" (according to Mr. Namang), is not actually the faction's albatross, the final nail on its coffin.
The former governor could turn out to be a moral burden for the pretentious Magni faction rather than asset for the camp. Dariye's record while in office, bore no trace of what to write home about. Remember the case of the "Group of Eight" legislators that impeached him in 2006, his cat and mouse with the EFCC especially during the tenure of Mr. Michael Botmang as governor. Botmang, Dariye's erstwhile Deputy became governor after his principal was ignominiously impeached by the Group of Eight.
While Dariye fought to reclaim his seat from Botmang, one of the arrowheads the latter used to checkmate him was Namang. Namang issued several press statements informing the wary public that "Dariye will never return to power." Botmang's Commissioner for Information at that time took Dariye to the cleaners berating him of stealing public money and being saddled with "a moral burden" to reclaim his "mandate.
Two years out of power, a lot has changed and Dariye has found himself in the same boat as Namang, the camp of opposition within the house of PDP. Dariye's unseen allies in the opposing camp include the likes of former Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu and former Minister of Sports, Hon. Damishi Sango.
Mantu and Dariye are back together in the Magni-faction, putting behind them their past bitter acrimony that cost the state so much and whose ripple effects are still evident. But the question arises as to how the people of Plateau State put behind them the colossal waste of public resources and squandered opportunities the senseless rivalry between the two had cost them. What about the personal misery, both in loss property and life, which the people suffered including a six-month humiliating state of emergency?
As for Magni, the party faction leader himself, he needs to come clean on his own motivation for the breakaway. He must have a reason for such an odd assemblage of characters.
Within just two years, Governor Jang has almost transformed the face of Plateau State beyond recognition. He clearly has the confidence of his people who seem ready to swim or sink with him.
The political difficulty of the Magni-led faction is also Magni's personal dilemma; how he or his faction can convince the people to vote for anyone else come 2011. Jang, by his accomplishments, is currently enjoying high rating among the majority of the people in Plateau.
Hope Dariye will not box himself into a politically suicidal corner in Plateau like Fayose did in Ekiti.
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