Plateau State’s politics has evolved far beyond the conventional Peoples Democratic Party – All Progressives Congress rivalry.
What began as a party struggle has now morphed into a deeper contest between a political godfather and his protégé, with former Governor Jonah Jang and Governor Caleb Mutfwang at the centre of a rapidly shifting power equation.
Mr Mutfwang’s defection from the PDP to the APC has not only realigned party structures in the state but has also ruptured a political alliance that shaped Plateau politics for over a decade.
From godfather to dissenter
Mr Jang, a former governor and senator, is widely seen as the figure behind Mr Mutfwang’s rise.
It was under Mr Jang’s political machinery that Mr Mutfwang emerged as a leading contender in the PDP and eventually clinched the party’s governorship ticket for the 2023 elections.
His victory, after eight years of APC dominance, was celebrated as a PDP comeback engineered by Mr Jang’s political network. But that alliance has since fractured.
At a recent PDP stakeholders’ meeting in Jos, Mr Jang was the most vocal critic of his former protégé. Framing the governor’s defection as a betrayal of the party and grassroots support, he warned against conflating elite defections with popular legitimacy.
“Nigeria is the only country I know where someone is elected on the platform of one party and carries that party’s mandate to another party. That mandate does not belong to the individual. It belongs to the party and the people,” Mr Jang said.
Tracing the PDP’s origins to the struggle against military rule, he cited the G-18 and G-34 groups that challenged the Abacha regime.
“The PDP is the only political party in Nigeria that was not formed through a merger. If you go to any village, you will hear the name PDP. Other parties are makeshift arrangements,” he said.
Despite defections, Mr Jang insisted the PDP remains relevant. “There will be no carcass of PDP. The carcasses will belong to other parties,” he added, noting that attempts at a one-party state would undermine decades of democratic sacrifices.
Echoing him, a PDP chieftain and former minister, Bagudu Hirse, attributed the party’s turbulence to the selfish interests of a few rather than structural weaknesses.
“Plateau is a PDP state. Unity is our only path to recovery,” he said as party local government chairpersons reaffirmed loyalty to the party, pledging to intensify grassroots mobilisation.
Mutfwang’s recalculation
Governor Mutfwang has defended his defection as a strategic move to align Plateau with the party controlling the federal government.
Since his switch, commissioners, aides, and local government appointees have joined the APC, boosting the party’s administrative footprint. To the APC, securing a sitting governor is a major electoral breakthrough.
Kefiano: the PDP’s resilient voice
Amid the godfather–protégé fallout, Kefas Kefiano has emerged as a central PDP voice. Having finished second in the governorship primary that produced Mr Mutfwang in 2022, Mr Kefiano is a major stakeholder in the party’s future.
Speaking with PREMIUM TIMES, he rejected claims that defections signal a collapse of the PDP.
He said, “Those who left with the governor are not party officials. They are mainly his appointees, commissioners, special advisers and aides, who owe their positions to the government, not to the party structure.”
He further argued that the PDP’s electoral strength was undermined not at the polls, but in the courts. “The people who won elections on the platform of the PDP had their victories overturned at the Appeal Court and the mandates handed over to the APC. This is not a rejection of the PDP by the people.”
According to Mr Kefiano, the defections reflect elite calculations ahead of 2027 rather than a collapse of grassroots support.
“Between 90 and 95 per cent of those leaving are appointees and political office holders,” he said. “That is common in our political system, but it does not define the PDP.”
He recalled Plateau’s history of political independence. “This state has never followed individuals blindly. Politics here is driven by the will of the people, not by platforms imposed from above.”
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Mr Kefiano ruled out his own return to the APC, accusing the ruling party of benefiting from judicial reversals of electoral victories.
“I cannot associate with a party that has benefited from what I see as stolen mandates,” he said. “I supported candidates who clearly won elections but lost through court decisions.”
APC claims momentum
However, the official APC has dismissed the PDP’s arguments as a denial. Party officials insist that Mr Mutfwang’s defection signals a broader shift in political confidence.
Sylvanus Damter, an APC official in Plateau, said the party’s growing influence was driven by access to federal power and capacity to deliver development.
“Plateau cannot afford political isolation,” he said, describing the defections as evidence that “the tide has turned.”
A defining moment for Plateau
As Plateau moves closer to 2027, the political contest is increasingly defined by personalities as much as parties, a godfather defending his legacy, a governor recalibrating his power base, and a former primary runner-up positioning himself as a central PDP figure.
For now, Plateau remains suspended between loyalty and realignment, with the fallout between Mr Jang and Governor Mutfwang shaping not just party fortunes, but the state’s political identity itself.
