The late Prof. Sonnie Tyoden
By Pamson Musa
Prof. Sonnie Tyoden, the immediate past Deputy Governor of Plateau is dead.
He was aged 74, barely four months to his 75th birthday.
A family source who confirmed the death to Periscope International under anonymity said the politician died in Jos in the early hours of Sunday morning.
He said that the deceased had been battling with blood cancer for which he was flown abroad in 2024 for treatment.
Tyoden was the state’s Deputy Governor from May 29, 2015 to May 29, 2023.
He served under the administration of the immediate past Gov Simon Lalong, now Plateau South Senator.
The duo first won the election in 2015, and got re-elected for a second term in office in 2019, ending the tenure in 2023.
The Lalong/Tyoden joint ticket was on the platform of the then ruling party in the state, the All Progressives Congress, APC, before the PDP swept its way back to power in 2023 under incumbent Gov Caleb Mutfwang.
Tyoden was one of the aggrieved aspirants who contested the controversial APC governorship primary election in the state in 2022, which was allegedly rigged in favor of Lalong’s protégé, Dr Nentawe Yilwatda, who went on to lose to PDP’s Mutfwang in the general elections.
Born on September 22, 1950, the erudite Professor of Political Science, obtained a B.Sc in Political Science from Nigeria’s premier University of Ibadan; M.Sc in International Relations and PhD in Political Economy, both from the University of Lancaster, UK.
The deceased academic cum politician was also the Vice Chancellor of the University of Jos from June 12, 2006 to June 11, 2011.
The late Prof Tyoden is survived by a wife and four children.
