By Beatrice Gondyi
President Bola Tinubu has asked Plateau residents to back his re-election in 2027, offering improved security as the centrepiece of his appeal, with surveillance cameras and 1,000 trained forest guards set to be deployed in the state.
The President made the pitch on Saturday at the APC North-Central campaign rally held at the Zaria Road Stadium in Jos, where he urged voters to support him, Governor Caleb Mutfwang and other party candidates in the coming elections.
He said the surveillance cameras earlier promised to Plateau had arrived in the country and would be installed shortly, while the 1,000 forest guards recruited by the Federal Government were being trained before deployment. The guards, he explained, will work alongside existing security agencies by keeping watch over forests and other flashpoints.
The pledges come against a backdrop of unrelenting insecurity in Plateau, where communities have endured attacks, displacement and other threats.
Tinubu also appealed for unity and peaceful coexistence among Nigerians of all faiths and ethnic groups, saying the country’s diversity should be a source of collective strength rather than division.
Vice-President Kashim Shettima attributed the progress recorded in Plateau and elsewhere to Tinubu’s “transformational and courageous leadership.”
Shettima lauded Plateau residents for their contributions to national development in education, agriculture, the military, trade, culture and sports, calling them “a gift to the nation.” He asked them to renew the APC’s mandate by voting for Tinubu, Mutfwang and other party candidates.
Senate President Godswill Akpabio told the rally that state police creation was in the works as part of broader moves to tighten security nationwide.
APC National Chairman Nentawe Yilwatda listed the Federal Government’s security commitments to Plateau to include surveillance cameras, forest guards, two army battalions, a brigade and four security command centres. He described Tinubu as a “promise keeper” and argued that federal projects and security interventions justified a fresh mandate in 2027.
Governor Mutfwang thanked the President for federal support in roads, education and healthcare, saying closer state-federal cooperation would speed up development. He outlined efforts to tackle unemployment, transport and insecurity, including a plan to connect about 2,000 young people with remote jobs for organisations in the United States and Europe, and a technology-driven command centre for crime detection. Additional CNG buses, he said, were being rolled out to ease movement.
While conceding that security challenges persist, the governor expressed confidence that sustained intervention would allow displaced residents to return home.
Senator Abdulaziz Yari, Director-General of the Presidential Campaign Council, praised the administration’s economic management and argued that higher federal revenue would give governments more room to fund infrastructure and public services.
House of Representatives Speaker Tajudeen Abbas urged voters to return Tinubu and Mutfwang, asking them to weigh the projects of past administrations against those of the current governments.
Former governors Joshua Dariye and Simon Lalong, ex-Deputy Speaker Ahmed Wase and former Deputy Governor Pauline Tallen also declared support for Tinubu, pointing to federal projects in the state and the appointment of Plateau indigenes to key national roles, including Yilwatda’s rise to APC national chairman.
Yilwatda handed APC flags to re-election-seeking governors and to the party’s governorship candidates in Nasarawa and Kwara, Aliyu Wadada and Yakubu Danladi, urging them to see the flags as a symbol of responsibility.
The rally drew serving and former governors, ministers, lawmakers and presidential aides.
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