(Martha Agas, NAN)
Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau has threatened to relocate government properties from host communities to other areas, following the invasion of the facilities by hoodlums in the aftermath of the #EndSARS protests.
Lalong made the threat after an assessment tour of the state to ascertain the level of damage of some public and private properties perpetuated by the miscreants.
News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Governor was accompanied on the visit by members of the Plateau Caucus in the National Assembly who were in the state to commiserate with him over the incident.
He said host communities should be responsible for the protection of public properties in their domain, and cautioned them against their destruction.
He said he would convene a meeting with community leaders on the matter.
“If a community does not want the facilities, we will move them to another community,” the Governor said.
He said the action would ensure the protection of the facilities, as their destruction was going to stall the progress of the state and the future of the youths.
He said the massive destruction of properties was done by hoodlums, as the #EndSARS protesters were only advocating for reforms in the Police Force.
“There is nobody that will tell me that this was an #EndSARS action; this is an action meant to destabilise Plateau; to completely condemn and destroy Plateau.
“I see criminality and that is what has happened in Plateau, but we are not discouraged, government is a continuum, hence we would do our best for the good and the innocent people,” he said.
The Governor urged those who looted government properties to return them within three days, warning that he had the capacity to fish out the perpetrators.
The Deputy Speaker, House of Representatives, Ahmed Idris, while condemning the destruction of the properties, also said communities should be responsible for protection of public properties located in their domains.
NAN reports that the Governor visited the warehouses of the State Emergency Management Agency (SEMA), National Emergency and Management Agency (NEMA) and the Jos International Breweries (JIB) to assess the level of destruction caused by the arsonists.
Other places he visited included the State Water Board, Plateau Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Agency (PRUWASSA) and the residence of the former Speaker House of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, which were also vandalised by the hoodlums.
