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Democracy According To Solomon Lar By Ponjul Wuyep
One name that stands out in Nigerian politics is Chief Solomon Lar. He has navigated the political landscape from the local, state to national scene. His journey in politics started since the first republic, when he became councilor for his native Langtang Local government in early post independence days.
He was a member of the Northern House of Assembly, then a member of the Federal Parliament and later Junior Minister in the coalition government in Lagos in 1964. He became a state governor in 1979, A Federal Minister in 1997 and he was elected the National Chairman of the PDP in 1999. By 2003, after his chairmanship of the party, he became the chairman, Board of Trustees of the PDP.
As a politician, Chief Solomon Lar has a clear understanding of what democracy should be. By definition, it is supposed to be a rule of the majority by the majority for the majority. But a critical look at the antecedents of the Plateau politician will reveal that in over 40 years, Chief Solomon Lar had redefined democracy to suit himself - a rule of the minority at the expense of the majority.
Chief Solomon Lar started out as a teacher and worked under Mr Ezekiel Yusuf, a fellow Taroh, as his headmaster. That was in the late 50s. At the expense of Yusuf, who was the most qualified, Lar got elected into the Northern House of Assembly and subsequently, the Federal parliament. He could not boast of any development that he influenced for Benue Plateau State. What did it matter? This was democracy according to Chief Lar.
Between 1979 and 1983, when he ruled as governor of Plateau State, Chief Solomon Lar appointed Dr Mamven, a fellow tribesman from Langtang as the Plateau State Head of Civil Service. By the civil service rules, that was okay because Dr Mamven was the most senior Permanent Secretary, but Lar did not compensate this in other areas of appointments. He also appointed Mr. Ezekiel Yusuf as the CEO of Jos International Breweries (JIB), ahead of more qualified hands like Rankin Wophill, also a manager in JIB. Wophill had resigned as Assistant General Manager from UAC to help nurture the new brewery.
Chief Lar had 12 commissioners in his cabinet. 4 of them were tribesmen from his native Langtang area, one of the 14 LGCs of the State. It should be recalled that at the time, Plateau state comprised of present Nasarawa state. He saw no fault with his formula. Why should he? This was democracy according to Chief Solomon Lar.
As chairman of the PDP’ Chief Solomon Lar influenced a number of appointments at the party secretariat. We do not have the correct statistics of how many people got jobs through his influence, but we can tell that majority were Tarohs, fellow tribesmen from his native Langtang North LGC. Plateau state has 17 local Government Councils, but by his distribution, some were denied representation. But why should this pain anyone? Moreover, this was democracy according to Chief Lar. Nothing had to be fair.
After his chairmanship of the party, he ascended to the Chairmanship of its Board of Trustees. He was close to the president then and had cultivated his brand of democracy-the one he is fighting to restore now.
After the 2003 elections, Mr. President was rewarding the party ‘generals’ in his army- campaigners and party-faithfuls who worked hard to return power to the PDP. Solomon was approached with two positions for Plateau state – Ministerial or presidential adviser and a country Ambassador. He gave both to his family members - daughter and wife respectively, in the name of Plateau state. This was democracy according Solomon Lar.
Having lost out the Board of Trustees chairmanship to Tony Anenih, Chief Lar found solace in Joshua Dariye, the impeached governor of Plateau state. During the primaries of 2003, against popular demand, Lar ensured that Dariye became the party falg bearer and further worked to return Dariye after the general elections. This was in spite of protests by people as a result of Dariye’s leadership failure and inglorious roles in the 2001 religious crisis that destabilized Jos.
Dariye was popular with the promising phrase “we’ll leave the state better than we met it", just like Chief Lar’s ‘emancipation’ slogan of 1979. Of course Dariye did, with Lar’s support. I say this because as an elder statesman, Lar saw no need to caution the ailing governor over his looting appetite. But what did Plateau state people expect? This was democracy according to Solomon Lar.
In 2004, when Dariye’s poor leadership pointed to an impending crisis, what did Lar do to change things? His daughter made presidential adviser in Abuja, while his wife made Ambassador. Lar was shuttling on diplomatic tickets, enjoying the diplomatic immunity or enjoying the immunity of the presidium, living out of crisis reach either in Abuja or in Holland, not caring what was happening back in his home state. And so, when the emergency rule came mid 2004, Lar was one of the first to cry foul at it. They attributed the imposition of state of emergency to Dariye’s association to Atiku Abubakar.
We don’t know if this was true or if Lar benefited from Dariye’s looting, or if Dariye used Lar’s script to run the state, but Lar, as an elder statesman and easily the most outstanding political voice on the Plateau, didn’t do anything about Dariye’s misrule as well. This makes us to question the genuineness of Lar’s outcry. But what do we expect; Lar is a man with his brand of democracy.
After Gov. Dariye was impeached, Chief Lar cried foul again. He also blamed Obasanjo for getting his wife and daughter out, claiming it was a vendetta against him because of his stand on issues in the PDP. Nigerians should be weary of politicians like Mr. Emancipator, who do nothing when things are going right for them, even at the expense of the majority of the people they represent; but start threatening fire and brimstone when they ‘re losing out.
Well with no other sources of income outside politicking, we can understand why it is both painful and frightening to them to be left out in the cold. But this is Democracy! Where nothing has to be fair.
Ponjul Wuyep 114, 3rd Avenue Federal Low Cost, Jos
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