APC controls 28 states as Plateau gov defects
Opposition parties in the country lost further ground on Friday following the defection of the Plateau State Governor, Caleb Mutfwang, to the All Progressives Congress.
Mutfwang’s defection comes on the heels of a similar move by Rivers State Governor, Siminalayi Fubara, who joined the ruling party on December 9.
Kano State Governor, Abba Yusuf, was also said to be on the verge of joining the APC following a protracted crisis within the New Nigeria Peoples Party.
The Kano State chapter of the APC, which confirmed the governor’s imminent exit, said he was expected to join the party in the coming days.
Findings by Saturday PUNCH showed that Mutfwang’s defection have extended the APC’s dominance to 28 states, including four that were previously considered strongholds of the Peoples Democratic Party.
With Governor Yusuf’s planned defection, which may happen on Monday, the APC is expected to extend its influence to 29 states, fuelling concerns over the country’s drift towards a one-party state.
The defection has also left the PDP with four states: Oyo, Bauchi, Zamfara and Adamawa with the All Progressives Grand Alliance, Labour Party and Accord Party controlling the remaining three states.
The recent defections are said to have swept the major South-East and South-South states, particularly Rivers, Akwa-Ibom, Enugu, Bayelsa, Imo and Delta into the APC fold, forcing the PDP to lose its age-long strongholds ahead of 2027.
Mutfwang promises Tinubu one million votes
While receiving his APC membership card on Friday, Mutfwang pledged to deliver one million more votes for President Bola Tinubu in the 2027 elections.
The governor got his APC membership card from the state chairman of the party, Rufus Bature, during a ceremony which took place at the Rayfield Government House in Jos.
Speaking at the ceremony, the governor expressed his commitment to Tinubu’s leadership and re-election.
He said, “One thing I declared to Mr President when I first met him on the 3rd of June, 2023, is that I am committed to his presidency and his re-election. Today, I want to affirm that I am a believer in his leadership.
“Things may not have met everybody’s expectations, but I know his determination to fix the challenges of Nigeria, and I am ready to embark on that journey.
“I believe that the step I am taking today will ensure that my counsel to him is no longer taken as that of an outsider, but as one from the inside — by design — to ensure that when conversations are held about national development, Plateau is well represented.”
Emphasising the importance of unity, the governor said, “I believe that Plateau will be the leader of this union, and those who are left behind in the PDP are not my enemies. They are my friends and my brothers.
“We will respect our elders, we will cherish our women, we will encourage our young people, and all disadvantaged groups — we will make sure we carry everyone along.”
The governor attributed his journey to God’s plan, saying, “God is a miracle worker. Who would have thought that Honourable Yusuf Gagdi and I would be sitting on the same bench?”
Presenting the membership card, Bature said the governor had fulfilled all conditions for membership, and the party was happy to welcome him.
The event was attended by several APC chieftains, including two former governors Joshua Dariye and Simon Lalong, as well as Minister of Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Reduction, Bernard Doro, among others.
We’re not worried — Opposition
Meanwhile, the PDP and NNPP have dismissed claims that the wave of defections signifies the loss of opposition strongholds, insisting that political dominance can only be determined through elections.
Speaking with newsmen, the PDP spokesperson, Ini Ememobong, said the defection of governors and lawmakers would not automatically translate to the collapse of party strongholds.
“Governors are defecting, senators are defecting. It doesn’t mean that the stronghold is no longer a stronghold. What it simply means is that individuals who had the mandate of the party are moving,” he said.
Ememobong stressed that “democracy is a game of numbers,” adding that “you can only determine that at the next election.”
He argued that strongholds are defined at the polls, not by defections, noting that “politics is continuous assessment. Election is the examination, and the result of the election is what determines who has won what.”
He cited the 2023 elections, saying, “In the presidential election, Labour Party won Lagos State, even though it was an APC domain,” while the PDP also won states governed by the APC.
Ememobong further expressed concern over the moral implications of defections, stating that defecting officeholders carry “a moral burden” because “the certificate of return they carry bears the name of a party,” adding that voters entered into “a social contract” with the party, not individuals.
On fears of a one-party state, he maintained that “the APC does not have 28 states; rather, 28 states are controlled by members of the APC,” insisting that only another election can determine whether such defections truly reflect the will of the people.
The NNPP also said it was not worried by the planned defection of Kano State Governor Abba Yusuf to the ruling APC.
Speculation has intensified in recent days that Yusuf has concluded plans to leave the NNPP alongside members of the Kano State House of Assembly, several local government chairmen, and some federal lawmakers from the state.
The talks gained momentum after a video that went viral on Sunday showed the governor’s Director of Protocol, Abdullahi Rogo, declaring that political appointees and loyalists had resolved to follow Yusuf to the APC.
Rogo also claimed that influential figures within the Kwankwasiyya Movement in Rogo Local Government Area had agreed that both Yusuf and the movement’s leader, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, should defect from the NNPP.
Following the announcement, Kwankwaso, the party’s presidential candidate in the 2023 election, on Monday summoned the Speaker of the Kano State House of Assembly, Jibril Falgore, and other party leaders to an emergency meeting, amid concerns over a possible collapse of his political structure in the state.
But speaking with Saturday PUNCH, the National Publicity Secretary of the party, Ladipo Johnson, said the party was not yet at the point of panic, stressing that consultations were ongoing and clarity would emerge soon.
“We are not at the stage of being worried yet. So, we are at that stage where we are looking inwards and finding out what is really going on.
“Definitely, there are people talking about the issues at hand, but I’m sure that in the next few days, Nigerians will know the direction of the majority of the members of the party in this regard. So, we are not yet worried,” Johnson said.
He described the situation as a normal feature of democratic politics, especially as elections draw closer.
Also speaking, the factional National Secretary of the party, Oginni Olaposi, insisted that the planned defection would have no impact on the NNPP.
Olaposi claimed that Governor Yusuf had already been suspended and was no longer a member of the party.
He also alleged that the party had expelled Kwankwaso, claiming that both Kwankwaso and Governor Yusuf were now “party-less” and acting out of political survival.
He said, “Abbah Yusuf is free to go wherever he wants to be because he is more of a liability to our party; he is no longer an asset. His leaving now will not affect us in any way because the party has been in existence for over 22 years. If they leave, some other good people will come into the NNPP.”
They are playing politics without ideology. So, they are not someone to be trusted. So, nobody is jittery about their planned defection.
“Enough of this grandstanding and telling stories, they are going today, they are going tomorrow. Let them go wherever they want to go. Nobody is bothered about it,” Olaposi said.
He warned political parties allegedly courting the governor and his allies to be cautious, accusing Governor Yusuf and Kwankwaso of lacking ideology and loyalty.
NNPP dissolves Kano execution
Meanwhile, the National Working Committee of the NNPP has dissolved its Kano State Executive, as well as all local government and ward leaders, ahead of the defection of the state governor to the APC.
Johnson stated in a Friday release that the NWC had plan to establish a caretaker committee soon.
