Plateau State Governor, Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, seems to be burdened by the challenges of warding off the APC’s efforts to reclaim the state and managing the fallout from the crisis within the PDP, as echoes of defection chime around him, LEO SOBECHI reports.

To a great extent, the rain of instability and crisis of confidence beating down on the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) could be said to have started in Plateau State, a North-Central stronghold. It all began in the lead-up to the 2003 general elections, when former governor Fidelis Tapgun was appointed Director General of the Obasanjo/Atiku Campaign Organisation.

Caught in the thick of the wrangling between President Olusegun Obasanjo and Vice President Atiku Abubakar within the PDP, Tapgun, then Nigeria’s Ambassador to Kenya was thrust into the crossfire. While Atiku preferred a different stakeholder to lead the presidential campaign, President Obasanjo, aware of Tapgun’s closeness to Atiku, counted on his integrity and charged him to serve with the fear of God.

Although Obasanjo was re-elected for a second term, Tapgun reportedly declined the offer of the PDP gubernatorial ticket, citing the zoning arrangement brokered by influential party leaders like the former national chairman, Solomon Lar.
However, in 2015, the outgoing Governor Jonah Jang succeeded in imposing Senator Gyang Pwajok on the PDP, a move that triggered massive discontent within the state chapter. Some disgruntled party faithful switched camps to the All Progressives Congress (APC) and other parties.

The imposition of Pwajok was exacerbated by the fact that Jang was misleading President Goodluck Jonathan about the true state of affairs in Plateau. Stakeholders who attempted to paint a more accurate picture, especially concerning Pwajok’s lack of grassroots appeal, were screened out in Abuja.
Given Jonathan’s failure to seek alternative accounts and his reliance on the falsehoods passed on by Jang and the Berom cabal, former Governor Joshua Dariye led his supporters to the APC, where the former Speaker of the House of Assembly during his tenure, Simon Bako Lalong, secured the party’s ticket.

Emboldened by anti-party activities from wounded PDP stakeholders, Lalong and the APC defeated Pwajok, winning 564,913 votes against PDP’s 520,627. Despite its stature as a core PDP state, Plateau fell to the newly minted progressive amalgam, the APC.

Notable PDP stakeholders in the state maintain that Tapgun’s principled stance in favour of power rotation among the three senatorial districts, rather than exploiting his closeness to Obasanjo, opened the door for the imposition of the unpopular Jang on the party.

Taking his perceived political naivety to an absurd level, Jang’s evasive manoeuvres around former President Jonathan, alongside the imposition of another Berom man from the same Jos North area, destroyed any pretence that the PDP was inclusive.

However, due to former Governor Dariye’s failed attempt to foist his loyalist on the Labour Party (LP) for the 2023 governorship, the PDP managed to snatch a slim victory from the menacing APC. What could have yielded an upset via LP’s electoral ambush ended up favouring the PDP.

After failing to secure the APC ticket for his preferred candidate, Dr. Patrick, Dariye reportedly instructed his supporters to seek the Labour Party ticket. But upon joining LP, they discovered the party had already nominated Yohanna Margif as its candidate.

Using the PDP’s old playbook, the new entrants orchestrated a fresh straw poll, which produced Dakum as the winner, in line with the expectations of the APC transplants. Margif, infuriated by the invalidation of his nomination process, dragged LP and Dakum through the courts.

As the litigation, which passed through the trial, appellate, and Supreme Court, dragged on and eventually ended in Dakum’s favour, the LP’s momentum waned. Disillusioned voters retraced their steps back to the PDP.

With a slim margin of 43,899 votes, the PDP defeated the APC. Caleb Mutfwang and Josephine Piyo overcame Nentanwe Yilwatda and Pam Bot-mang with 525,299 votes to APC’s 481,400. That electoral dashboard was mirrored in the State Assembly polls.

Having won 10 of the 17 local government areas in the state, the PDP stamped its authority in the state constituency elections. The party secured a commanding majority with 16 seats, while the ruling APC won seven and the Young Progressives Party (YPP) took one seat from Pankshin North.

Similar to the prolonged litigation that ruled LP out of competitive participation in the governorship race, not long after the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared Mutfwang the winner, APC’s Yilwatda raced to the Election Petition Tribunal, alleging that the PDP candidate was improperly nominated under the Electoral Act 2022.

However, in a ruling delivered by Justice Rita Irele-Ifijeh, the tribunal held that the PDP had demonstrated that it conducted a repeat congress on September 25, 2021, in compliance with the order of the Jos High Court, presided over by Justice S. P. Gang.

Consequently, the tribunal ruled that the issues raised by the petitioner were pre-election matters and emphasised that neither the APC nor its candidate had legal standing to challenge the competence of PDP’s internal processes.

Dissatisfied, the APC and Yilwatda approached the Court of Appeal, where they secured a temporary reprieve in December 2023. But Governor Mutfwang appealed the judgment.

In January 2024, the Supreme Court not only overturned the Appeal Court’s ruling but also underscored that neither the tribunal nor the Court of Appeal had the jurisdiction to determine the validity of a party’s candidate.

Justice Emmanuel Agim declared: “Matters of the National Executive Council and administration of a political party are internal affairs and cannot be entertained by the tribunal or the Court of Appeal.

“The whole case is a clear abuse of the court process. The court below erred by voiding the petitioner’s election. In the circumstances, the election and return of the appellant as governor of Plateau State is hereby restored.”

It was gathered that Yilwatda’s pursuit of the legal challenge was spurred by favourable court rulings that had earlier overturned the PDP’s gains in the 2023 National and State Assembly elections in Plateau.

Former Governor Simon Lalong, appointed Minister of Employment by President Bola Tinubu, was among those who benefited from such court rulings. The courts significantly undermined the PDP’s dominance in the State House of Assembly, where it had held 16 seats.

With the looming threat of impeachment, Governor Mutfwang clung to hope as he awaited the Supreme Court’s decision to restore his fragile mandate.
Beyond the legal wrangling, the governor found himself torn between delivering his mandate and fending off the APC’s expansionist ambitions, buoyed by their newfound legislative majority in the 24-member House.

Caught in that dilemma, The Guardian learned that Mutfwang entered into a soft accord with lawmakers, what Plateau citizens describe as a memorandum of costly appeasement.

“I wish you could come to Jos and see for yourself. There is nothing happening in the state by way of development. Governor Caleb Mutfwang has spent the last two years trying to secure his skin and political future from APC,” said Iliya Binplam, a PDP member.

However, Plateau State Commissioner for Information, Joyce Ramnap, praised the governor’s developmental strides. She said the governor has challenged citizens, especially journalists, to scrutinise his administration, adding that in areas such as road construction, transport re-engineering, health infrastructure, agricultural reform, and social welfare, he has performed commendably.

“The people have no doubt they’ve been touched in many areas of need. All this has happened despite the mindless, unprovoked attacks in some of our communities,” Ramnap stated.

According to Saleh Zazzaga, Chairman of the APC North Central Forum, the group’s adoption of Mutfwang’s Green Cap Movement for the 2027 governorship race is recognition of the governor’s performance.

“Although Mutfwang belongs to the PDP, we believe he is performing well and must be supported to succeed. Similarly, we are endorsing our President, Bola Tinubu, for 2027 because of his exceptional performance,” Zazzaga told journalists.

However, perceiving the North Central APC’s endorsement as an attempt to reopen old wounds, the Plateau State chapter of the party distanced itself from the move.

A group within the party, the APC-Like Minds Political Forum (APC-LMPF), denounced Zazzaga’s perceived anti-party conduct, insisting that his group lacked the mandate to adopt Mutfwang’s Green Cap Movement for a second term.

Dismissing Zazzaga’s political forum as an unregistered platform, the APC-LMPF, through its National Secretary, Alhaji Habibu Musa Sati, stated: “Zazzaga’s stance was declared without the consent of the APC at any level.

“That malicious and reckless endorsement is not only self-serving, but also capable of derailing APC’s united efforts towards the next election cycle,” Sati added.

Although Zazzaga later clarified that his remarks were misrepresented, he maintained that the intent was not to engage in anti-party conduct, but rather to encourage Mutfwang to consider defecting to the APC ahead of the 2027 general elections.

As the back-and-forth within the APC continued, some PDP stakeholders began interpreting the endorsement as a potential precursor to Mutfwang’s defection to the ruling party.

Annoyed by the distraction, the Mangu-born lawyer-turned-politician stated that he had no plans to abandon the PDP, asserting that the people of Plateau regard the PDP as their trusted political platform.

Speaking through his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere, Governor Mutfwang dismissed as “false and laughable” the suggestion that he was contemplating leaving the PDP for the APC.

Bere stated: “This orchestrated falsehood, crafted by certain individuals and executed by mischief-makers, is aimed at creating division between the governor and the leadership of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), as well as his dedicated supporters in Plateau State.

“The governor firmly upholds the party’s values and the trust placed in him by the people of Plateau State who overwhelmingly elected him in the 2023 elections under the PDP.”