Plateau Governor Caleb Mutfwang has clarified that his decision to address a grieving crowd from an Armored Personnel Carrier (APC) was a strategic move to manage a volatile atmosphere.
Appearing on Channels Television’s Politics Today this Friday, Mutfwang, a lawyer and former council chairman, explained that the elevated platform was necessary for effective communication following the tragic Palm Sunday attack in Jos.
He dismissed suggestions that he was in personal danger, emphasizing that the height of the vehicle simply allowed him to be heard more clearly by the large, emotional gathering.
He said: “From the height I stood, part of the reason they put me in the ATC was for me to gain height in order to address the crowd.
“As I addressed the crowd and they were comfortable that I had arrived, that’s why they were saying, ‘come, come,’ assuring me that I could come and that there was no harm.
“Therefore, it was easy for the security personnel to accept my insistence on moving into the crowd.”
Mutfwang also criticised what he described as misleading social media narratives, saying clips shared online failed to reflect the full extent of his engagement, including efforts to calm residents and assess the situation.
The governor revealed that he was in Abuja attending official engagements when news of the attack broke, adding that he immediately arranged to return to Plateau State.
According to him, he rushed to the scene after learning that residents had insisted on seeing him before allowing the evacuation of victims.
“If not for mischief, why are people not focusing on where I spent 90 per cent of the time with the crowd, seeing the corpses, appealing to people, calming people?.
“You could see that social media can take a small portion and misrepresent it completely.
“I was in Abuja, you remember, at the back of the APC National Convention, and then I had a very high-level security consultation on Sunday evening with some of the top security chiefs.
“We were discussing some of the things we need to do going forward when the news filtered that this had happened.
“As early as 7 a.m., the presidential air fleet released a plane for me to return home. I wanted to drive straight to the scene because the crowd had said unless they see the governor, they are not going to allow those corpses to be evacuated,” the governor also said.
Mutfwang, however, restated his commitment to the people of Plateau, thanking them for their trust and pledging continued leadership in difficult times.
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