…More groups reject his defection plan.
…As Jang disassociate self from Mutfwang’s defection to APC
~By Sunday S. Sule
Barring any unforeseen development, Governor Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau state will decamp from Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) to All Progressive Congress (APC) in the nearest future. And this is authoritative.
This is despite mounting opposition against the move by forces both within and outside the state chapter of the APC and even the governor’s People Democratic Party (PDP).
A credible source close to the governor told this newspaper that the plan was concretized after a meeting of the governor and his loyalists last month. This led to the rife rumors of the governor’s defection alongside decampees from the PDP, LP and NNPP, including Senator I.D Gyang, General Sura (Rtd) among others who were received into the APC at the Polo ground few weeks ago.
The Vice President Kashim Shettima was expected to have received the Governor into the APC at the event but failed to attend the function when it became clear that the governor had shelved the plan for a future date due to the high scale politicking and opposition to his move. The rumor may have also been a strategy to test the waters some watchers of the situation say.
Although Governor Mutfwang is said to have budgeted and spent billions of naira so far to water the ground for him in APC, the opposition is vehement and unrelenting.
This source also told The Headline that prior to the botched defection, the governor had informed the former Governor, Senator Jonah David Jang, widely acclaimed to be his political god-father to intimate him of the defection plan and reasons, which include need for a viable platform for his second term ambition, since the PDP is in an intractable crisis at all levels.
Jang is said to be indifferent to the governor’s plan and was said to have told the governor, ”Since you have taken your decision, why coming to tell me?”. The former governor vowed to remain in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
The major headache of the governor who enjoys tremendous goodwill from the people even though he has nothing tangible to show as achievement since assumption of office, ”is the collapse of the PDP and its unavailability as a platform to contest the 2027 elections and the opposition from certain forces in the state chapter of the APC”, our source said.
However, it is this goodwill that supporters of the governor’s defection like the Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga led North-Central APC forum is using it as reason for their support.
They argue that though the governor has no visible projects and achievements in the state but with the money now accruing to the state, he would have enormous financial muscle for the APC campaign and the unwavering goodwill of the people will also be a lot of political capital to the party and President Bola Tinubu. That is why they have kept assuring the President of 6 million votes in 2027 general elections in the North Central states.
Backers of the move within the APC also say the governor defection will help the fortunes of the party which has dwindled even from the time of former governor Lalong.
Mr. Danboyi (surname withheld) is one of the prominent members of the APC in the state, supporting Governor Mutfwang defection to the party said.
”Agreed Governor Mutfwang has not achieved much in the state in terms of development, infrastructure or project. But we will not be playing the opposition to bother ourselves with his record of achievement and all that. What cannot be denied is his goodwill and enormous resources at his disposal to fund his campaign, the party and President Tinubu’s re-election campaign.”
It will be recalled that the APC lost the governorship election to Governor Mutfwang of the PDP and the presidency in the state to the Labor Party in the 2023 general election.
Already the state chapter of the APC is split into those in support of the governor’s defection and those against the move. This is apart from alleged fallout between Senator Simon Lalong and the national chairman of the APC that has led to internal wrangling in the state chapter, which is now divided into at least two major factions, Nentawe/Doro and Lalong factions.
However, those against the governor’s plan to defect to the APC are growing by numbers each day. APC former councilors from across the 17 local government councils in the state who alleged that the governor unconstitutionally sacked them upon his assumption of office, held a press conference recently rejecting the governor’s planned move to their party. Similarly, the women wing of the state chapter of the party recently held a demonstration opposing the plan, insisting ”our no is no”.
“Mutfwang, is a non-performing governor looking for sanctuary to save his imminent defeat. We don’t want him”, one of the former councilor from Jos North L.G.A told this newspaper. “He may just be needing us to save his second term ambition. I doubt of any genuine interest in our party. He would just use the APC to salvage his doomed second term project. So our party will risk destruction on the Plateau after 2031 if we bring him in. You know if he comes to the party now, he would become the leader of the party in the state. His loyalty and commitment is suspect”, he continued.
The state chapter of the All Progressive Congress (APC) is said to be vehement in its opposition to Governor Mutfwang joining its fold. Sources close to the party told this newspaper that like the now national chairman of the party Professor Nentawe Yiltwada, who was its governorship candidate in the 2023 general elections, it would not forgive the governor for the campaign of calumny against the party and its then candidate in the run-up to the elections.
During the 2023 electioneering period, Mutfwang is said to have on several campaign grounds told the electorates then, that the APC was a Muslim party and pro-caliphate. This according to them generated hate for the party and its governorship candidate in a largely Christian Plateau State and caused their loss. The governor is said to have made several unguarded statements against the party. “Even his recent unsubstantiated claims that he was being begged and pressured to join the APC by unnamed persons is to malign us”, a chieftain of the APC in the state also told us.
Few weeks ago, a group of PDP members and supporters joined the fray, this time they are pleading with the APC in the state to accept Mutfwang into the APC. At a rally held in Jos, members of the group carried placards with inscriptions; such as ”APC, please accept our governor”, ”Allow Mutfwang to join” etc.
A member of the group said ”We are begging the APC leaders in Plateau State to allow Governor Caleb Mutfwang to joint their party”. According to Miss Talatu Dung, ”Since the governor wants to join the APC, they should welcome him. This is about Plateau, not party rivalry”, she also pleaded at the rally.
Already, Governor Ademola Adeleke of Osun State, who shares the same fate of rejection by the APC, as Mutfwang in his state, have resigned from the PDP after failing to participate in the party’s primaries and have defected to the Accord Party (AP).
Among those also opposed to the governor Mutfwang joining the APC are some of his close associates who fell out with him and joined the APC. They alleged that after working so hard and putting their resources to make him Governor, he abandoned them for some other persons, one of whom they say has become the de-facto governor. It will also be recalled that Hon. Latep Dabang, alias the ‘Masquerade’, grassroots mobilizer, and retired General John Sura and many other close associates of the governor have decamped to the APC.
A stakeholder from APC who doesn’t want his name in print told this newspaper that, ”Mutfwang’s plan to join our great party through the back door is impossible. Mutfwang has approached the President, intimating him of his plan to join the party but President Tinubu told him he doesn’t want get himself involved, saying, if really he wants to belong to APC he should go back to his state and do the needful through the appropriate channel”, he stated.
There are those who also fear that Governor Mutfwang moving over to the APC and taking over the structures of the party will sound a death knell on their own political ambitions and so they would rather have him out of the APC.
The political atmosphere on the Plateau remains fluid and the governor’s fate appears to hang in a balance.
If Governor Caleb Mutfwang fails to secure a second term in 2027, as the APC is determined to stop him, he will be the first governor who failed to secure a second term in the state since 1999.
