By; SUNDAY ODE, Abuja.
Plateau Governor, Simon Lalong has said that the uproar that greeted the ambassadorial nomination of the former Minister of Science and Technology. Mrs Pauline Tallen, forced her to reject the offer.
Governor Lalung while fielding questions from State House correspondents after a meeting of the All Progressives Governors Forum with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, said there was a general feeling that Tallen’s area had benefited enough from federal appointments.
The former Minister whose nomination was announced last Friday along with 46 others, had cited ill health of her husband as the reason she declined the offer.
Governor Lalung said: “Well, it’s not only about her husband; I think is the dimension of Plateau politics because I had already made complains to Mr. President that appointments should not be concentrated in one zone. And so, all these appointments came again from one zone, in that particular zone.
“So the complains that are coming from our state is not about her own personal interest, it is the fact that two ambassadorial appointments are coming from the same zone that we had complained.
“That is my zone. We had complained that the next appointment should go to the other zones, the central and the northern zone. And so when that appointment came, the kind of uproar that followed that appointment also necessitated an intervention.
“And I think as a matured politician, she stepped down and sacrificed that for the people of Plateau. We are still working on a replacement for that. It is not a big issue but at times a little consultation would have solved that problem because these are issues in the interest of the state.
“So you can’t have two appointments, very key appointments like that coming from a particular zone that is already overloaded with appointments. All the federal appointments are from the southern zone, so it would not be fair.
“So it is the issue of fairness. Now we are approaching Mr. President to consider fairness and appoint people from those areas that do not have representation.”
