President Bola Tinubu has pledged to rebuild communities in Plateau State ravaged by years of sectarian violence and facilitate the return of displaced residents to their homes.
Speaking at the All Progressives Congress North-Central rally on Saturday, Tinubu said the Federal Government would work with the Plateau State Government, traditional rulers and community leaders to support reconstruction and resettlement.
“I got the report from the governor, and I saw hope in the faces of our people. It is now that we can rebuild, and I assure those displaced that we will rebuild your communities and bring you back,” he said.
Tinubu said the government was strengthening security operations and improving coordination among security agencies. He added that 1,000 forest guards recruited by his administration were undergoing training and that surveillance cameras had been procured.
“We are reinforcing security deployment and strengthening coordination and rapid response. One thousand forest guards are undergoing training right now,” he said.
“You will feel them, you will see them, and you will feel secure in your villages and communities. The surveillance cameras have already been procured, as I promised. They will further strengthen early detection and early-warning security operations.”
The President said he had directed security agencies to take decisive action and called for stability and prosperity in place of continued violence.
“What we should be getting is stability and prosperity, not crises. Our government was not elected to inflict wounds on one another or to bury people. We have to lift people up from penury to prosperity,” he said.
Tinubu also called on residents to embrace peaceful coexistence, saying unity, fairness and mutual respect were vital to the state’s future.
He commended the Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Dr Bernard Doro, for supporting vulnerable people and displaced families.
“I appreciate the contribution of your son, Dr Bernard Doro, to this important responsibility. Doro is doing a very good job identifying the vulnerable and the neediest and stretching the hand of humanity to them,” he said.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima praised Tinubu’s economic policies, saying the President had taken difficult decisions that helped avert an economic collapse.
“We were on the verge of collapse. We were on the road to Caracas, but our President had the courage and conviction to take far-reaching decisions that have saved the economy from collapse,” Shettima said.
He described Tinubu as a transformational leader and said Nigeria’s economy was now on a sounder footing. Shettima also said the country’s foreign reserves were close to $60 billion.
Shettima urged residents to support Tinubu and Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang in the 2027 elections.
“I urge you, I beseech you, I implore you, on January 16 next year, to rally around our great leader. I want you to vote for our President. I want you to vote for our governor,” he said.
APC National Chairman Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda said Plateau leaders were firmly behind Tinubu, describing him as a “promise keeper”. He cited road projects, military deployments and security command centres as examples of the President’s commitments to the state.
“Your Excellency, we are with you 100 per cent. Your Excellency, you are a promise keeper. All the promises you made for Plateau State, you kept them,” Yilwatda said.
He also declared support for Mutfwang’s re-election, describing the governor as a former schoolmate, friend and brother.
“We will stand with him and support him on the Plateau. We will deliver him in February to repeat again for a second term as the governor of Plateau State,” he said.
Mutfwang said Tinubu had inherited a country in severe difficulty but had begun moving it towards recovery through his administration’s policies. He also declared Plateau State’s support for the President’s re-election bid.
“You met Nigeria in the intensive care unit, and through the policies you have administered, like a drug, you have been able to bring Nigeria out of the intensive care unit. We are now in recovery,” the governor said.
Mutfwang said students at tertiary institutions in Plateau had received more than N11 billion through the Nigerian Education Loan Fund (NELFUND) scheme. He also thanked the Federal Government for approving road projects, including the Akwanga–Jos and Jos–Shendam routes.
The governor said his administration had established an employment hub expected to create work for 2,000 young people, as well as a technology hub to support security operations.
“We have created an employment hub for 2,000 young people who will be working in America and Europe from the comfort of their homes here in Jos. We have also created another hub for technology so that we can deploy effective technology for the detection of criminals,” he said.
He added that his government had procured additional buses to ease transport difficulties in the state.
Earlier, Yilwatda presented the APC flag to the party’s governorship candidates across the North-Central states. Parts of Jos and Bukuru were closed to traffic as Tinubu travelled to Zaria Road Stadium, the venue of the rally.
