Gyang Dalyop Datong (20 February 1959 – 8 July 2012) was a Nigerian senator who represented the People's Democratic Party (PDP) in

Plateau State Plateau is a northern states of Nigeria, Nigerian state. It is located in the north-central geopolitical zone of Nigeria and includes a range of hills surrounding the Jos Plateau. Plateau State is described as "The Home of Peace and Tourism". Th ...

. He became a member of the

Nigerian Senate The Senate is the upper chamber of Nigeria's bicameral legislature, the National Assembly. The National Assembly (popularly referred to as NASS) is the nation's legislature and has the power to make laws, as summarized in chapter one, sectio ...

in 2007. On 12 April 2003, he was elected to the 5th House of Representatives on the platform of the ANPP defeating his closest rival James Vwi of the

PDP PDP may refer to: Computing and technology * Packet Data Protocol in wireless GPRS/HSDPA networks * Parallel distributed processing in Connectionism#Parallel distributed processing, connectionism * Plasma display panel * Policy Decision Point in t ...

. He represented Barkin Ladi/Riyom Federal Constituency from 2003 to 2007. Datong died on 8 July 2012 while attending a mass funeral of people who had been killed by

Fulani The Fula, Fulani, or Fulɓe people are an ethnic group in Sahara, Sahel and West Africa, widely dispersed across the region. Inhabiting many countries, they live mainly in West Africa and northern parts of Central Africa, South Sudan, Darfur, ...

herdsmen in Maase area of

Riyom Riyom is a Local Government Area in Plateau State, Nigeria. It was carved out of the old Barkin Ladi Local Government Area on 1 October 1996 by the government of General Sani Abacha. It is headquartered in the town of Riyom to the north of the ar ...

local government in Plateau State. The people at the funeral were attacked by gunmen thought to also be Fulani.

Background

Datong was born on 20 February 1959. He has an MBBS from the

University of Jos The University of Jos, abbreviated as Unijos, is a federal university in Jos, Plateau State, central Nigeria. History What became the University of Jos was established in November 1971 from the satellite campus of the University of Ibadan. T ...

and an MPH from the

University of Ghana The University of Ghana is a public university located in Accra, Ghana. It is the oldest public university in the country. The university was founded in 1948 as the University College of the Gold Coast in the British colony of the Gold Coast ...

Legon Legon , a suburb of the Ghanaian city Accra, is situated about north-east of the city center in the Ayawaso West Municipal District, a district in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana. Legon is home to the main campus of the University of Ghana. ...

. He was a medical director of Vom Christian Hospital. He was a member of the

House of Representatives of Nigeria The House of Representatives (also called Green Chamber) is the lower chamber of Nigeria's bicameral National Assembly of Nigeria, National Assembly. The Senate of Nigeria, Senate is the upper chamber. The Green Chamber has 360 members who ar ...

in the 5th (2003–2007) Assembly, representing the Barkin Ladi and Riyom constituency. In October 2004, he donated books, pens and chalk to secondary schools in Plateau State and announced scholarship awards for 40 students.

Senate career

Gyang Dalyop Datong was elected to the National Senate for the Plateau North constituency in 2007, decisively defeating the previous Deputy Senate President, Alhaji Ibrahim Mantu. He was appointed to committees on States & Local Government, Health, Gas, Environment, Drugs Narcotics Anti Corruption and Aviation In November 2007, he donated five billboards carrying various road traffic cautious to the Federal Road Safety Commission worth N600,000.00. In a July 2008 interview, the senator described the 40 years of military rule as a period where there was no progress, and said that in just eight years of democracy the country had made more progress. In September 2008, Datong called for appointment of a health minister some months after Adenike Grange and Gabriel Adukwu were sacked because of concerns about their financial dealings when in office. As vice-chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, he spoke out the lack of a national Health framework and indicated that the Senate was working on the Health Bill. In January 2009, after the impeachment of the former Speaker of the Plateau State Assembly, Emmanuel Go'ar, Datong said the party accepted the change in the leadership of the House under Istifanus Mwansat.

References

1959 births 2012 deaths People from Plateau State Peoples Democratic Party members of the Senate (Nigeria) Senators of the 7th National Assembly (Nigeria) Members of the 5th National Assembly (Nigeria) Senators of the 6th National Assembly (Nigeria) {{PlateauNG-politician-stub