Syntax help please

I can't for the life of me figure out what's wrong with this syntax. I get
the following error when i try and create this function.

*ERROR: syntax error at or near "$2" at character 15
QUERY: SELECT $1 $2 := $3 || $4 || $5
CONTEXT: SQL statement in PL/PgSQL function "fcn_gen_statement" near line
24*

here's what i am trying to create:

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fcn_gen_statement(p_type varchar,
p_where varchar,
p_newonly numeric)
RETURNS varchar AS $$

DECLARE
c_select varchar(64) := 'select count(distinct m.id) ';
c_from varchar(64) := 'from job m ';
c_newonly_from varchar(128) := 'from (select id, min(date_created) as
date_created '||
'from hr '||
'group_by id) m ';
v_from varchar(512);
v_where varchar(512);
v_stmt varchar(2048);

BEGIN
if p_newonly = 1 then
v_from := c_newonly_from;
else
v_from := c_from;
end if;

if upper(p_type) = 'NEW' then
v_stmt := c_select || v_from || p_where;
elsif upper(p_type) = 'OLD' then
v_from := c_from ;
v_where := p_where
v_stmt := c_select || v_from || v_where;
elsif upper(p_type) = 'LAST_JOB' then
v_from := v_from ||
', (select distinct job_id ' ||
'from job_log' ||
'where status = 10) d ';
v_where := p_where ||
'and m.id = d.job_id ';
v_stmt := c_select || v_from || v_where;
elsif upper(p_type) = 'NEW_JOB' then
v_from := v_from ||
', (select distinct job_id ' ||
'from job_log' ||
'where status = 12) d ';
v_where := p_where ||
'and m.id = d.job_id ';
v_stmt := c_select || v_from || v_where;

end if;
return (v_stmt);
END;
$$ LANGUAGE plpgsql;