CITIZENS COMPASS —Simon Lalong, Minister fot Labour and Employment, has picked up his certificate of return as Senator representing Plateau South.
This may signal his resignation as a minister in the President Bola Tinubu administration.
The minister picked up his certificate of return from the INEC national commissioner, Mohammed Haruna at the commission’s headquarters on Thursday afternoon.
However, sources disclosed that the minister was yet to make up his mind on resignation as such a move was laced with poignant political implications.
It was learnt that Lalong may have picked up the certificate of return as a symbol of the victory he won in court recently.
However, the decision to resign and take up the Senate seat according to a source had yet to be concluded.
The Independent of National Electoral Commission (INEC) had declared Napoleon Bali of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as winner of the election after polling more than 144,000 votes to the 95,000 votes polled by Lalong.
Dissatisfied with the outcome of the elections, Lalong had headed for the tribunal, which ruled in his favour on the claim that PDP did not have a structure in Plateau State.
The assertion of the tribunal was against the Supreme Court injunction against tribunals encroaching into pre-election matters and despite PDP claims that it obeyed the court order to repeat the congresses were equally dismissed by the court of appeal which voided the votes of the PDP and returned Lalong to power.
However, a source close to the minister disclosed that he was burdened with taking a decision which may affect the party on the plateau.
Sources close to the minister disclosed that whatever decision Lalong takes may positively or negatively affect the APC on the plateau.
“Should he decide not to resign it will lead to a re-election and you know our situation there,” a confidant of the minister said in reflection of the fact that Lalong lost the Senate election by a wide margin last February.
With a PDP administration in control of the state now the chances of the party winning the seat would be less likely.
That decision it was gathered may be the decisive reason should Lalong go ahead to step down from the cabinet and help preserve the Senate seat for the APC.
Besides, Lalong has in his few months as minister been at odds with organized Labour and resignation could also open a political solution to resolve the bad blood with labour.
