Tribute to a living legend, Baba Jonah David Jang at 75

The posters announcing his intention to contest for president first tip-toed to the threshold, clinging loosely on the precipice sometime in 2017.

Like a rodent out to survey the environment, the few steps were just enough for assessment.

The posters were unclaimed and lacked attribution, simply surfacing on their own.

Torrents of reactions followed; the bird had called the rain, and the heavens opened up with showers.

The torrents of reaction turned out to be a Tsunami, it submerged the handbills and posters but further watered the speculation.

In the twinkle of an eye, the surreal text began to register in the physical.

But those who know, knew that nothing is surreal in politics; the more unbelievable it seemed, the more it should be believed.

Few months after, the unbelievable became the belief, all vestiges of doubt vanished and wham! the man said it himself, he is running for president in 2019; those who wish to contest for the seat of the Plateau North senatorial zone where he sat can do so, he has decided to move on.

The development can better be described in the words of the inimitable 1st Republic politician, Kingsley Ozurumba Mbadiwe, who said “when the come comes to become, the unbecome, must become.”

The come came to become for Jang and the drive for the presidency got more serious.

He did contest the primary and succeeded in making a strong statement for the youths in Plateau. It was his own way of saying, ‘fear not, no matter the odds.”

When Jang first ventured into politics, he won the hearts of many with his simplicity, boldness and candour. He also had integrity. After rising to the rank of an Air Commodore and serving as military governor in two states, he was not known to live an ostentatious life.

He owned no big business premises. he drove no flashy cars. His children attended public schools, he had no fat bank account.

The love of the people made him the most popular candidate in Plateau in 1998.

A cabal denied him the ticket of the PDP which many believed he won.

The cabal were merciless. They voted against the people.They pretended there was a “network problem’ and handed the call to another who they saw as more pliable.

Jang did not relent. He bore no grudges. Those that did not want him may have succeeded in denying him his right at that moment, but they did not succeed in blindfolding him or the people.

He had seen the connection the people have with him and he knew it was only a matter of time for his appointment with destiny.

He moved to the ANPP reluctantly, it was the only way he could overcome those that stood in his way.

And as they say in Chemistry, water would always find its level. Again he was set to win, but the votes from Wase washed his hope.

Jang saw the abracadabra, how the rabbit was pulled out of the hat, but did not weep or blame anyone, he did not ask his people to react; bid his time he did, and kept faith with fate.

The chicken came home to roost when those that thought they could stop him fell out with the powers that be and the same powers looking for a credible politician that could stand the test of time, ordered him back to the PDP.

Reluctantly, Jang went back to a party he had sworn never to have anything to do with.

“If Mr. president asked me to go back to the PDP, who am I? he was reported to have said in obedience.

But even then, there were those who wanted to stop him.

He knew it. As an old soldier, he could sense dnager even if it was lurking some thousands of miles away. Conspiracy was thick in the air. Daggers were hidden in the cloaks of the elders.

The retired air officer who was eager to help his people experience what development was all about, struck a chord in the hearts of the people when he, in an emotion laden voice, asked of what benefit it would be to an elderly man like him ‘who was close to his grave’ to plunder the wealth of the state.

The words resonated with the people. Those who stole their wealth were young people who were not counting their days. An elderly man who had such opportunities in the past when he was much younger but did not steal is not likely to start doing so at a ripe age.

There were so many things the funds coming to the state could be used for. Those that stole had exhibited the worst form of insensitivity. They were callous. The people were living in penury. The people of Plateau needed help. Jang looked like one who could help.

This moved many to like him, he became the fraction below the sum which when divided by the sum on it and multiplied by the whole gives the percentage.

His frugal nature standing below, divided by the opulence of his predecessor, multiplied by the number of people in the state cancelled the obscenity of stealth and equaled only one thing, prudence.

The moment Jang entered the Rwang Pam stadium in December 2006 for the PDP primary that cold evening, his instinct as an air officer told him there was danger. He set out to bind the forces of darkness flying about the vicinity.

He knelt down and prayed.

Other aspirants had relied on the size of their wealth and on power of the chariots with which they had ridden to the venue to see them through.

But his hopes were not placed on the horses and chariots. It was on the Divine.

The Physical manifestation of that prayer first turned out to be one Solomon Dalung, who was an agent to one of the aspirants, Jimmy Cheto.

Dalung wearing his Che Guavara fatigue that cold morning, raised an alarm, that things were not going right at the Rwang Pam Stadium and that there was fire on the mountain! The forces could not stand the young man who was trying to pour sand in their garri. He was led out of the stadium by the security forces. Forces that were there to safeguard democracy were the very ones leading the voice of caution away. But the harm had been done. Sufficiently.

At this point, Jang remembered his previous experiences, he saw the same forces trying to rig him out and by reflex did the only thing he could do in what appeared a helpless situation, he wept.

He was not weeping for himself, he was weeping for Plateau and the forces of darkness that always stood against its progress.

Here was a man who had the mental blueprint and the courage to apply them to better the lot of the people of the state about to be denied his appointment with destiny. The tears touched the nerve of the soil as it hit the floor of the stadium. Nature understood and deployed its elements to work with him.

From there, light began to overcome darkness, the rays of the sun did not smite by day, neither did the light of the moon by night; Jang triumphed.

He did not have money, he presented himself raw and natural to the people; he did not have connections, not that he needed any, the connection between him and the people was enough; he did not have the physical height of other aspirants, but what he lacked in height was made up for by Grace and grace saw him through.

He scored the highest number of votes at the primary.

But there was a problem. he did not score beyond the 50 percent required to be so declared in the first round.

His knees on the turgid floor of the Rwang Pam stadium must have pressed the right button. Again, the intervention was divine.

The powers that be overruled themselves and decided it was needless having a rerun. A retired general delivered the message.

Jang was the man of the moment, the round peg in the round hole the party had been looking for who possessed the knack to transform into square if the hole changed shape had come.

The hole did not change shape and Jang went ahead to win the 2007 Plateau governorship elections.

“Sai Jang! “Sai Jang!! “The people cried in jubilation. “Che Jang! “Che Jang!!” Market women also cried the cry of joy running in different directions on the morning the results were declared.

They wanted to say ‘Sai Jang, but what came put of their mouths was ‘Che Jang!’ The accent which changed the diction was not intended but it accentuated the emotion of the women who wanted to relive the good old days when taps were running, electricity power passed to their homes and there was enough security for them to go out and do their businesses without fear.

They remembered the days of JD Gomwalk, when projects sprang from very nook and cranny of the state to the days of Solomon Lar when new frontiers were opened up.

Students leapt for joy, going as high as the law of gravity could allow them; it was celebration in all parts of Plateau; the man who would redeem the state had come.

He identified the need of the people and turned it to be the mantra of his administration; Redemption, he said; he was out to redeem. His 11 point agenda said it all.

His government was out to redeem. it was not on voyage of discovery, it was not on a fault finding mission, it had no engineers to re-engineer, the problem of Plateau was not mechanical, it was physical. Plateau already had the human and material potentials, all that was needed was to harness them was to provide the right leadership. The years wasted were regrettable but redemption had come.

Few months after the man got working, it elicited a song which lyric had refused to die till date; Ba da baki ba, sai da zuciya!

Within months of taking over as governor, Plateau saw what it had never imagined could happen.

Bulldozers, earth moving machines, cranes and graders were everywhere and Jos which had all these while looked like a little more than a glorified local government headquarters began to wear new look.

The roads began to look like the ones in the Federal Capital Territory with street lights escorting road users to and fro the nooks and crannies of the town.

The rural areas were not left out, bridges were built to link communities hitherto cut off from civilization.

(To be continued)

Happy Birthday Baba Jang, ba da baki ba, sai da zuciya!