Politics

Joining APC amounts to betrayal of my people — Gov. Mutfwang

Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has dismissed reports claiming that he would dump the opposition People’s Democratic Party, PDP, for the All Progressives Congress, APC.

He insisted that Plateau remains a traditional PDP state, noting that dumping the party would amount to a betrayal of the people.

Reports that there have been calls on the governor by groups within the APC for him to join the party.

The calls intensified after two governors elected under the platform of the PDP recently joined the APC.

Following the defections, there have been rumours suggesting that more opposition governors, including Mr Muftwang, will also pitch tents with the ruling party.

But addressing the rumours during a media chat, Mr Mutfwang described the reports as baseless and mischievous.

He also responded to the calls by groups within the APC urging him to join the progressives’ fold, saying: “I haven’t had that conversation [of leaving PDP for APC] with anyone. The media have speculated a lot, but nothing has happened.

“There are two or three groups peddling that rumour. One group is well-intentioned. They know the APC has never really existed on the Plateau—I say that with every sense of responsibility. They’ve been in government by fraud for the past eight years.

“In 2015, they didn’t win that election. There was a wave of anger in the PDP that led to anti-party activities, but even then, the APC did not win.

“I was a local government chairman at the time. We adjourned the collation at 8 p.m. to resume the next morning. But by 2 a.m., when I woke up to urinate, I found that the results had already been declared,” he said.
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According to him, the PDP’s candidate in the 2019 general election, late Jeremiah Usaini, won the election, “but the shenanigans in the system saw someone else declared”.

He added that, “the majority of those who have led APC in Plateau carry a trust deficit. There are genuine APC members who wish we could lend our credibility to them. But Plateau politics doesn’t work like that.

“The majority of Plateau people have always been PDP—and they remain PDP. Even during the last eight years, some local governments couldn’t conduct elections out of fear of losing.”

“That’s why I have always said my political future will be decided by God and the people of Plateau State. Wherever Plateau people go, that’s where we go.

“For us, this isn’t even a matter for discussion. I am a bona fide member of the PDP. I remain so. And I’m very optimistic that very soon, the PDP crisis will be a thing of the past,” he added.

Speaking on the internal party wrangling that led to the loss of all PDP legislative seats to the APC, the governor assured that the crisis has been resolved and the party is now united.

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