Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, has attributed Nigeria’s ongoing security crisis to the actions and inaction of the country’s elite.
Speaking on Wednesday at a stakeholder forum titled “Dialogue on Community Policing as a Panacea for Insecurity in Nigeria: The Case of Plateau State,” the governor accused influential individuals of stoking division and communal tensions for personal or political gain.
Mutfwang argued that the elite hold the power to end the nation’s insecurity but have failed to do so due to a lack of commitment and deliberate leadership.
“My theory, is that more than anybody else, the challenges of insecurity in Nigeria, is an elite created problem. When the elite conspire to lead the people in the wrong direction, we will continue to have this perennial crisis,” Mutfwang said.
“Many atimes, you’ll find that even when the poisoning of the mind begins in the community, when the elite takes leadership, and say it must stop, they’ll address it adequately and it will stop.
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“But when the elite fan the embers of hate, they are the people that do their analysis, that begin to spew knowledge information and poison the mind of ordinary people, then it will be sustained.”
Governor Mutfwang urged Nigeria’s elite to take greater responsibility in advancing messages that encourage peace and national unity, particularly amid the country’s ongoing security challenges.
He reaffirmed his commitment to breaking down what he described as “artificial barriers of faith and ethnicity,” which he believes have long obstructed unity and progress in Plateau State.
Mutfwang also asserted that no administration since Nigeria’s return to democracy in 1999 has done more to promote peace and cohesion in the state than his own.
“As I stand before you today, I want to reiterate that I came into government with a firm resolve to restore lasting peace to Plateau. That is why I have deliberately sought to bridge the divides we’ve built across religion and ethnicity,” Mutfwang said.
“Yet, as recent as yesterday, I received reports of being labeled in certain influential circles. Still, I beat my chest and say, without fear of contradiction, that I have done more than any governor since 1999 in building peace and unity on the Plateau.”
