R-L: Jang, Lalong.
Jang beats Lalong again as APC loses Plateau North senatorial rerun poll
By Mark Longyen
Barely a month after the Supreme Court declared former Plateau Gov Jonah Jang’s political godson, Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) as the duly elected Governor of Plateau, which ended the dream of former Gov Simon Lalong to produce his successor from his party, the APC, Jang has again gained the political upper hand in the state through the victory of Prince Pam Mwadkon of ADP, who has won Saturday’s Plateau North Senatorial rerun poll.
The two former governors have for almost 10 years now been politically, literarily on each other’s jugular in the state due to the fact that, while Jang has the PDP in his pockets, Lalong is regarded as the leader of the APC.
The rerun election was held following the Court of Appeal’s controversial nullification of the election of the former senator representing the zone, Sen Simon Mwadkwon, of the PDP and after the PDP’s logo was controversially expunged from the rerun election’s ballot paper, giving APC a glimpse of hope to snatch the zone’s Senate seat from PDP for the first time in about 25 years.
Furious and frustrated by the Appeal Court’s judgment and the decision of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), the PDP in the state, just hours before the election threw its weight behind Prince Pam Mwadkon, the candidate of the ADP.
The result of the ADP-PDP alliance was a political masterstroke orchestrated by Jang and his political spin doctors, which successfully made mince meat of Lalong’s APC, trouncing his candidate, Amb Chris Giwa, to a distant third position in the vote tally.
Prof. Nestor Monday, the Returning Officer for the election, who announced the results in the early hours of Monday, declared that Mwadkon of the ADP polled 122,442 votes to emerge winner, while Muhammad Sahalan of NNPP came a distant second position with 53,980 votes while Lalong’s political acolyte, Chris Giwa of APC managed to poll just a paltry 39,132 votes.
According to the Retuning Officer, out of the total number of registered voters from the six local governments in the zone: Jos North, Jos South, Jos East, Barkin Ladi, Bassa, and Riyom local government areas, which is 1,232,825 voters, 278,129 voters were accredited for the poll.
Prof Monday also declared that the total number of votes cast was 277,010 out of which 274,098 were valid, while 2,912 votes rejected.
He gave the breakdown of the results as follows:
– AA: 214
– ADC: 11,741
– ADP: 122,442
– APC: 39,132
– APM: 933
– LP: 33,243
– NNPP: 53,980
– MRM: 126
– PRP: 11,054
– SDP: 890
– ZLP: 343.
Mwadkon’s victory has a significant implication on the politics of Plateau State, which would reshape the political landscape, going forward.
For one, it means that the outcome of the decisions of the Court of Appeal, which surreptitiously dashed victory to virtually all APC candidates in last year’s elections in the state, like Father Christmas, has inadvertently alienated the people of Plateau State from the APC and so APC has been rejected by the people, who are ready to settle for anything but APC.
The outcome of the rerun election is also a clear indication that Jang and the PDP have taken over Plateau State from Lalong and the APC since 2023, notwithstanding all the desperate attempts by the latter, to get power back through the backdoor over the past 12 months.
This is especially true because with Mutfwang, from Plateau Central Senatorial Zone, now consolidating as Governor for the next 8 years, and given the rejection of the APC by the people, the PDP will take over the Central Zone Senatorial Seat in 2027.
Already, Plateau North Senatorial Zone, as mentioned earlier, the most populous of the state’s three senatorial zones, is Jang’s strongest stronghold and is a no-go area, a no-win zone for APC, so even if elections were conducted there one million times, PDP would triumph!
Lalong’s Plateau South Senatorial Zone is already firmly in the hands of the PDP as evident in the landslide defeat, which he suffered in the hands of a hitherto unknown Napoleon Bali, who floored him with almost 60,000 votes difference across the 6 local government areas in the zone, even when he was a sitting Governor of 8 years and Director General of the APC presidential campaign.
The 10 years battle for the soul of Plateau between Jang and Lalong has now clearly culminated in the hard reality that while Lalong has irredeemably capitulated, Jang has emerged victorious, going forward.
