In this piece, Seriki Adinoyi examines the rationale, intrigues and consequences of the All Progressives Congress pre-empting the defection move by Governor Caleb Mutfwang on the Plateau.
A recent stakeholders’ meeting of the All Progressives Congress (APC) on the Plateau during which attendees resolved to reject possible defection plan of Governor Caleb Mutfwang to the party has drawn mixed reactions from political observers in the state.
The meeting which was attended by APC National Chairman, Professor NentaweYilwatda; former Governor of the state, Senator Simon Lalong; erstwhile Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon Idris Wase; former Governor Joshua Dariye; a former Minister, Dame Pauline Tallen; Managing Director/CEO of the North Central Development Commission, Dr. Cyril YiltsenTsenyil; serving and former lawmakers, and hundreds of party faithful resolved to permanently close the door against Mutfwang.
Announcing the resolution, Yilwatda, who contested and lost the 2023 governorship election to Mutfwang, called on a former Deputy National Secretary of the APC, Festus Fuanter, to move a motion on the issue.
Fuanter later said: “We don’t want anybody coming to our party. You do your thing, and we’ll do ours. Having put that behind us, I want the media to make it very clear that we are unanimous in our resolve to win the 2027 elections decisively. We don’t need support from any other party. If their 2023 election campaign director and other defectors are already here, we have nothing to fear. We have people from all zones in the state, and APC is a winning team.”
While some see the decision as curious and born out of bitterness from past defeats in 2023 general elections in which Yilwatda lost woefully to Mutfwang, others have described the move as intriguing and very strategic to ensure that the Governor’s reign is brought to an end in 2027.
Either way, the APC must be careful not to shoot itself on the foot. Absolute power, they say, corrupts absolutely.
Proponents of the resolution believe that with Yilwatda now on the high seat of the APC with enormous powers at his disposal, it was high time he took his revenge on the Governor. They have however cautioned the APC national chairman to tread carefully reminding him that pride goes before a fall.
They believe that leaders must learn to keep the past behind them to be able to forge ahead, as those who constantly live in the past are unable to see the beauty of the future.
Reacting to the curious resolution of the stakeholders meeting, a support group within the ruling APC, Renewed Hope Advocates of Nigeria (RHAN) cautioned Yilwatda not to allow his “personal hatred for Governor Caleb Mutfwang over his defeat in 2023 to endanger President Bola Tinubu’s 2027 re-election prospects on the Plateau.”
In a statement by the National Coordinator of RHAN, Prince Miaphen, the group expressed “deep concern” that while the President and the APC national leadership were busy reaching out to opposition governors across the federation, Yilwatda on the other hand is busy closing doors against a Governor.
Decrying the outcome of the meeting as reckless, Miaphen also said the decision was self-serving and politically suicidal.
He said, “At a stakeholders’ meeting recently held in Jos and presided over by the National Chairman of APC himself, a motion was not only moved but unanimously adopted to bar the incumbent Governor of Plateau State, Caleb Mutfwang, from joining the APC.
“The same meeting that enthusiastically endorsed President Tinubu’s second term bid paradoxically decided to block a sitting governor who could have been one of his strongest electoral assets in the North Central region.”
According to Miaphen, the decision “exposes the growing disconnect between the Plateau APC leadership and the President’s national vision”, warning that “any political strategy that alienates Plateau’s sitting governor is both short-sighted and dangerous to the party’s national interest.”
He noted that under Tinubu, Nigeria has witnessed unprecedented political inclusivity, citing the alignment of governors from Cross River, Ebonyi, and Enugu states as examples of the President’s bridge-building strategy.
He described Nentawe’s actions as a “dangerous contradiction” that calls into question his political maturity and loyalty to the President’s Renewed Hope Agenda.”
Rhan also reminded the President of the bitter lessons of 2023, when the APC lost Plateau despite having former Governor Simon Lalong as a sitting Governor and Director-General of Tinubu’s campaign.
Although the Governor on his part has repeatedly dismissed defection speculations, reaffirming his loyalty to his party, the stakeholders’ “fears” stem from recent gale of defections in which two of Mutfwang’s colleagues, Enugu State Governor, Peter Mbah and his Bayelsa counterpart, DouyeDiri dumped the PDP to join the APC, and also with many reports suggesting that Taraba State Governor, AgbuKefas may do same.
Director of Press and Public Affairs to Governor Mutfwang, GyangBere, has described the development as laughable, wondering why the stakeholders have suddenly developed migraine over what does not exist. He added that the stakeholders are running when no one is after them.
Bere said, “To whom did the governor make an attempt to join APC? Who among the APC members did Mutfwang approach to join the party? I learned that they made a comment that Mutfwang is sitting on a stolen mandate. During the 2023 election, how many members of the House of Assembly did the APC have? How many National Assembly seats did they win, if not for the court?
“As far as we are concerned, the people of Plateau State are with Governor Mutfwang. They believe in him because he has restored confidence and good governance in the state. There’s no local government or senatorial zone in Plateau where the governor’s footprints are not seen.
“We know very well that the people of Plateau are with Governor Mutfwang, and he has made it clear that his political movement is determined by God and the people of Plateau State. So, we don’t want to join issues with anybody. The governor knows what he’s doing and remains with the people of Plateau. He holds them in high esteem and he’s very assured of victory in 2027. There’s no one that can overturn what God has planned for the Governor ahead of the 2027 election.”
According to Bere, the APC should be excited if the Governor decides to grace the party by joining the fold, stressing that he has the capacity to win the 2027 election with or without switching parties, reminding the APC that the power to choose the Governor still rests with Plateau electorate.
He added that as much as the Governor has enormous respect for President Tinubu and the First Lady over their show of love to the state in the past two years, he was not going to allow himself to be intimidated by some unstable stakeholders who will soon be divided into shreds by their own selfish ambitions.
He said rather than joining issues with some amorphous stakeholders, the Governor has decided to focus on how to better the lots of the people he governs and indeed the electorate that will decide their next Governor.
Mutfwang’s camp has described the stakeholders decision as proud and haughty, noting that as a sitting Governor who has raised the bars with his immense performance on the Plateau in the past two years, Mutwang cannot be dismissed with a wave of hand.
The Governor’s supporters reminded the stakeholders that even with Senator Simon Lalong on the seat as Governor with enormous powers in his hand, and also as the Director General of President Tinubu Presidential Campaign Organisation in 2023 elections, the APC still lost out in both the governorship and presidential elections despite all the support the party got from its national headquarters.
They observed that Lalong did not only loose the governorship seat to the PDP but also failed to secure the Senate seat for Plateau South senatorial zone until the court snatched it from the PDP and handed it to him on a platter of gold. They also reminded Tallen that as a then Minister, she was not under any form of sedation when Mutfwang swept votes from her doorsteps.
“This goes to show how much Plateau electorate possess a mind of their own. They are the one who will again decide who their next Governor will be”, they assured.
Pundits on the Plateau have also warned the APC of self-aggrandizements, noting that these stakeholders were all there, and indeed with the power of the incumbency in their hands, when Mutfwang from the opposition went ahead to trash them.
Also reacting, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Plateau State denied any plan by Governor Mutfwang to defect, describing the claim as baseless.
The party’s Southern Zonal Chairman, Hon. Simon Domle, said “Governor Mutfwang has never attempted and will never attempt to decamp to the APC because there’s nothing to gain there. Mutfwang doesn’t need to join the APC to win elections. The governor didn’t seek acceptance into the APC, let alone being rejected.
“APC as a party is just a vehicle standing on a flat tyre in Plateau State. If a vehicle is standing on a flat tyre and you are driving it, the vehicle is not going anywhere. That vehicle will soon be condemned because the tyre cannot carry you, and it will make a lot of noise.
“What is the sense in saying a sitting governor who won his election legitimately has been rejected by another party? As far as this governor is concerned, a performing governor, he is not even listening to the noise the APC is making. It’s an empty claim that will not happen. Plateau has PDP as its political inheritance. The governor is not moving anywhere.”
All eyes are now on Mutfwang to pull the surprise string.
