Solomon Lar
Encyclopedia
Chief Solomon Daushep Lar (born April 1933) is a Nigeria
n politician who has held various offices at the National level for over 50 years.
He was a member of the first national parliament when Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
He was elected governor of Plateau State
on the Nigerian People's Party
(NPP) platform during the Nigerian Second Republic
, holding office from October 1979 until the Military coup of 31 December 1983 that brought General Muhammadu Buhari
to power.
Later, he was founding chairman of the People's Democratic Party
(PDP) which has held power since the return to democracy in 1999.
, Plateau State
in April 1933.
His father was a farmer and his mother a pottery maker.
He studied at the Sudan United Mission Primary School in Langtang, and then at the Gindiri Teachers College where he qualified to teach at the Primary School, Langtang. After two years he returned to Gindiri for the Senior Teachers Training Programme, earned his Higher Elementary Certificate and started to teach at the Senior Primary School level.
He planned to become a clergyman.
Lar was elected as a councilor to the Langtang Natives Authority in January 1959.
On 12 December 1959 he was elected to the Federal Parliament on the platform of United Middle Belt Congress
(UMBC).
He was reelected in 1964, and from then until 15 January 1966, when General Yakubu Gowon
took power in a coup, Lar was parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
.
He was also a Junior Minister in the Federal Ministry of establishments.
After the fall of the democratic government, Lar attended Ahmadu Bello University
, Zaria
, graduating in 1970 with an LLB and being called to the bar in 1971.
He established a private legal practice, and was co-founder and first National Secretary of the Nigerian Legal Aid Association.
In 1972, Lar joined the Board of Amalgamated Tin Mines of Nigeria. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Continental Bank, Member of the Nigeria Council of Legal Education and a member of the Constituent Assembly (1977–1978).
He was vice-chairman of the panel chaired by Justice Ayo Irikefe that recommended expanding from 12 to 19 states during the regime of generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.
Lar was also a Board member of the USA-based World Environmental Movement for Africa.
He was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate in 1978, and later won the governorship election in Plateau State as the first Executive Governor on 1 October 1979.
His deputy was Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma.
He was active in building infrastructure in the state including hospitals, educational institutions, rural electrification, water supplies, and roads. He introduced reforms to state employment laws, abolishing the daily pay and contract systems and introducing paid maternity leave for nursing mothers.
After the military coup in December 1983, General Muhammadu Buhari
set up military tribunals which tried all former governors. Although Lar was not found guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation, he was sentenced to 88 years in prison, first in Jos
and then in Kirikiri in Lagos
. His case was reviewed and he was released by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida
, who started another transition to democracy in 1992.
During the Nigerian Third Republic
, Lar was a supporter of the Social Democratic Party
(SDP).
He was appointed Minister of Police Affairs by the government of General Sani Abacha
, later resigning when he realized Abacha was not serious about restoring democracy.
Lar became the first National Chairman of People's Democratic Party
(PDP) in 1998, holding this position until 2002 when he handed over to Chief Barnabas Gemade.
In February 2004 he resigned as chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, handing over to Chief Tony Anenih at a caucus in Abuja.
He remained a power in the PDP until 2005, when he supported Vice President Atiku Abubakar
in his falling out with President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later supported Atiku's bid for the Presidency in 2007.
In April 2006, Lar also welcomed the decision of former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida to compete for President in the 2007 elections, saying that in a democracy anyone was entitled to run.
Lar has been described as an ardent Middle-Belter
, an active participant in the Middle Belt Forum
.
In Plateau State he championed a policy based on the idea that the state should help indigenes realize the benefits of their "emancipation" from Hausa
domination, and that the centuries-old Hausa and Jarawa
communities in Jos and Yelwa
should be relegated to non-indigene status.
In an interview in February 2009 he said that the Middle Belt was being neglected despite the great contributions it made to national unity, a reference to sacrifices in the Nigerian Civil War
. He also complained of discrimination against Christians in the North, to the extent that they could not get land to build a church.
In February 2010 Vice President Goodluck Jonathan
appointed him Chairman of the Presidential committee tasked with recommending how to prevent further violence in Jos
, the capital of Plateau State.
Nigeria
Nigeria , officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a federal constitutional republic comprising 36 states and its Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. The country is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Niger in...
n politician who has held various offices at the National level for over 50 years.
He was a member of the first national parliament when Nigeria gained independence in 1960.
He was elected governor of Plateau State
Plateau State
Plateau State is the twelfth largest state of Nigeria, and is roughly located in the center of the country. It is geographically unique in Nigeria because its boundaries totally surround the Jos Plateau, having the Jos Plateau totally in its central and northern part...
on the Nigerian People's Party
Nigerian People's Party
The Nigerian Peoples Party was one of the major political parties that contested elections in the Nigerian Second Republic. The party was made up of three major groups: the Lagos Progressives, Club 19, and the Nigerian Council of Understanding....
(NPP) platform during the Nigerian Second Republic
Nigerian Second Republic
The Second Republic was the republican government of Nigeria between 1979 and 1983 governed by the second republican constitution.- Founding :...
, holding office from October 1979 until the Military coup of 31 December 1983 that brought General Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari was a military ruler of Nigeria and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections...
to power.
Later, he was founding chairman of the People's Democratic Party
People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)
The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...
(PDP) which has held power since the return to democracy in 1999.
Birth and early career
Lar was born in Pongaa, LangtangLangtang, Nigeria
Langtang is a town in Plateau State, Nigeria. The town is connected to Shendam, Kanam and Wase through paved roads. It has the local government secretariat situated at the heart of the town...
, Plateau State
Plateau State
Plateau State is the twelfth largest state of Nigeria, and is roughly located in the center of the country. It is geographically unique in Nigeria because its boundaries totally surround the Jos Plateau, having the Jos Plateau totally in its central and northern part...
in April 1933.
His father was a farmer and his mother a pottery maker.
He studied at the Sudan United Mission Primary School in Langtang, and then at the Gindiri Teachers College where he qualified to teach at the Primary School, Langtang. After two years he returned to Gindiri for the Senior Teachers Training Programme, earned his Higher Elementary Certificate and started to teach at the Senior Primary School level.
He planned to become a clergyman.
Lar was elected as a councilor to the Langtang Natives Authority in January 1959.
On 12 December 1959 he was elected to the Federal Parliament on the platform of United Middle Belt Congress
United Middle Belt Congress
United Middle Belt Congress was a political party in Nigeria during the nation's First Republic. The Party was a fusion of two major middle belt organizations, the Middle Zone League and the Middle Belt Peoples' Party...
(UMBC).
He was reelected in 1964, and from then until 15 January 1966, when General Yakubu Gowon
Yakubu Gowon
General Yakubu "Jack" Dan-Yumma Gowon was the head of state of Nigeria from 1966 to 1975. He took power after one military coup d'etat and was overthrown in another...
took power in a coup, Lar was parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Abubakar Tafawa Balewa
Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, KBE was a Nigerian politician, and the only prime minister of an independent Nigeria. Originally a trained teacher, he became a vocal leader for Northern interest as one of the few educated Nigerians of his time...
.
He was also a Junior Minister in the Federal Ministry of establishments.
After the fall of the democratic government, Lar attended Ahmadu Bello University
Ahmadu Bello University
Ahmadu Bello University is the largest university in Nigeria and second largest in Africa, second only to Cairo University, Egypt. It is situated in Zaria. It was founded on October 4, 1962 as the University of Northern Nigeria....
, Zaria
Zaria
Zaria may refer to:*Zaria, a city in Kaduna State, Nigeria*Zaria , or Zoria, the Slavic goddess of beauty*Countess Zaria of Orange-Nassau, Jonkvrouwe van Amsberg, a member of the Dutch royal family...
, graduating in 1970 with an LLB and being called to the bar in 1971.
He established a private legal practice, and was co-founder and first National Secretary of the Nigerian Legal Aid Association.
In 1972, Lar joined the Board of Amalgamated Tin Mines of Nigeria. He became Chairman of the Board of Directors of African Continental Bank, Member of the Nigeria Council of Legal Education and a member of the Constituent Assembly (1977–1978).
He was vice-chairman of the panel chaired by Justice Ayo Irikefe that recommended expanding from 12 to 19 states during the regime of generals Murtala Muhammed and Olusegun Obasanjo.
Lar was also a Board member of the USA-based World Environmental Movement for Africa.
Second and Third Republics
At the start of the Second Republic, Lar was a co-founder of the Nigerian People's Party.He was nominated as the party’s presidential candidate in 1978, and later won the governorship election in Plateau State as the first Executive Governor on 1 October 1979.
His deputy was Alhaji Aliyu Akwe Doma.
He was active in building infrastructure in the state including hospitals, educational institutions, rural electrification, water supplies, and roads. He introduced reforms to state employment laws, abolishing the daily pay and contract systems and introducing paid maternity leave for nursing mothers.
After the military coup in December 1983, General Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari
Muhammadu Buhari was a military ruler of Nigeria and an unsuccessful candidate for president in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections...
set up military tribunals which tried all former governors. Although Lar was not found guilty of embezzlement or misappropriation, he was sentenced to 88 years in prison, first in Jos
Jos
Jos is a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.The city has a population of about 1.5 million residents. Popularly called "J-town" or "Jesus Our Saviour" by the residents, it is the administrative capital of Plateau State....
and then in Kirikiri in Lagos
Lagos
Lagos is a port and the most populous conurbation in Nigeria. With a population of 7,937,932, it is currently the third most populous city in Africa after Cairo and Kinshasa, and currently estimated to be the second fastest growing city in Africa...
. His case was reviewed and he was released by the regime of General Ibrahim Babangida
Ibrahim Babangida
General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida CFR DSS mni , popularly known as IBB, was a Nigerian Army officer and military ruler of Nigeria...
, who started another transition to democracy in 1992.
During the Nigerian Third Republic
Nigerian Third Republic
The Third Republic was the planned republican government of Nigeria in 1993 which was to be governed by the Third Republican constitution.- Founding :...
, Lar was a supporter of the Social Democratic Party
Social Democratic Party (Nigeria)
The Social Democratic Party of Nigeria, popularly known as SDP, was a political party created to encompass the ideals of a center left political organization. It was one of the products of a democracy project by former President Ibrahim Babangida to have two detribalized political parties, one a...
(SDP).
He was appointed Minister of Police Affairs by the government of General Sani Abacha
Sani Abacha
General Sani Abacha was a Nigerian military leader and politician. A Kanuri from Borno by tribe, he was born and brought up in Kano, Nigeria. He was the de facto President of Nigeria from 1993 to 1998....
, later resigning when he realized Abacha was not serious about restoring democracy.
Fourth Republic
In the transition to the Nigerian Fourth RepublicNigerian Fourth Republic
The Fourth Republic is the republican government of Nigeria. Since 1999 it has governed the country according to the fourth republican constitution. It was in many ways a revival of the Second Republic, which was in place between 1979 and 1983 and suffers many of the same problems, such as multiple...
Lar became the first National Chairman of People's Democratic Party
People's Democratic Party (Nigeria)
The People's Democratic Party is a political party in Nigeria. Its policies generally lie towards the right wing of the political spectrum. It has won every single Presidential elections since 1999, namely: 1999, 2003, 2007, and 2011, and is the dominant party in the Fourth Republic.-History:In...
(PDP) in 1998, holding this position until 2002 when he handed over to Chief Barnabas Gemade.
In February 2004 he resigned as chairman of the PDP Board of Trustees, handing over to Chief Tony Anenih at a caucus in Abuja.
He remained a power in the PDP until 2005, when he supported Vice President Atiku Abubakar
Atiku Abubakar
Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, alias Turakin Adamawa, GCON was the Vice-President of Nigeria from 1999 to 2007. He is a Muslim native of Adamawa State, and was an influential member of the ruling People's Democratic Party until 2006 when he switched affiliation to the Action Congress party...
in his falling out with President Olusegun Obasanjo, and later supported Atiku's bid for the Presidency in 2007.
In April 2006, Lar also welcomed the decision of former Military President, General Ibrahim Babangida to compete for President in the 2007 elections, saying that in a democracy anyone was entitled to run.
Lar has been described as an ardent Middle-Belter
Middle Belt
The Middle Belt is a human geographical term designating the region of central Nigeria populated largely by minority ethnic groups and stretching across the country longitudinally. The Middle Belt is indeterminate in that it lacks designated "borders" and is charactized by a heterogeneity and...
, an active participant in the Middle Belt Forum
Middle Belt Forum
The Middle Belt Forum is a regional socio-political group in Nigeria that promotes the interests of the people of the Middle Belt region, a loosely-defined area between the Moslem and Hausa-dominated North and the predominantly Christian Igbo and Yoruba areas of the Southeast and Southwest. The...
.
In Plateau State he championed a policy based on the idea that the state should help indigenes realize the benefits of their "emancipation" from Hausa
Hausa people
The Hausa are one of the largest ethnic groups in West Africa. They are a Sahelian people chiefly located in northern Nigeria and southeastern Niger, but having significant numbers living in regions of Cameroon, Ghana, Cote d'Ivoire, Chad and Sudan...
domination, and that the centuries-old Hausa and Jarawa
Jarawa
Jarawa may refer to:* Jarawa people , one of the indigenous peoples of the Andaman Islands; also their language* Jarawa , a Berber tribal confederacy that flourished in northwest Africa during the seventh century CE....
communities in Jos and Yelwa
Yelwa
Yelwa is a town in Kebbi State, Nigeria on the Niger River and the A1 highway. It is the site of the Yelwa massacre.The Scottish explorer Mungo Park, the first westerner to see the Niger River, died here....
should be relegated to non-indigene status.
In an interview in February 2009 he said that the Middle Belt was being neglected despite the great contributions it made to national unity, a reference to sacrifices in the Nigerian Civil War
Nigerian Civil War
The Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967–15 January 1970, was a political conflict caused by the attempted secession of the southeastern provinces of Nigeria as the self-proclaimed Republic of Biafra...
. He also complained of discrimination against Christians in the North, to the extent that they could not get land to build a church.
In February 2010 Vice President Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan, GCFR, BNER, GCON is the 14th Head of State and current President of Nigeria.He was Governor of Bayelsa State from 9 December 2005 to 28 May 2007, and was sworn in as Vice President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria on 29 May 2007. Jonathan is a member of the...
appointed him Chairman of the Presidential committee tasked with recommending how to prevent further violence in Jos
Jos
Jos is a city in the Middle Belt of Nigeria.The city has a population of about 1.5 million residents. Popularly called "J-town" or "Jesus Our Saviour" by the residents, it is the administrative capital of Plateau State....
, the capital of Plateau State.