A video advertisement ostensibly put out by former Plateau governor, Senator Jonah Jang, is causing ripples and sending tongues wagging over the fate of other gubernatorial candidates, other than that other Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) for who the advert was made.
Jang, said to be a powerful force in Plateau State politics, threw his weight behind Caleb Mutfwang,a lawyer and former chairman of Mangu Local Government Area in the state.
Jang was roundly blamed for the loss of the PDP in Plateau State, because he forced an unpopular candidate, said to be his relation, on the party.
Many are elated about the video, but others are grumbling because he de-marketed others, especially the LP candidate, Dr. Patrick Dakum, who he suggested was an All Progressives Congress (APC) member at heart. Datum was of the APC before defecting to the APC for what he saw as the unfair advantage Governor Simon Lalong gave to the party’s candidate, Nentawe Yitwalda over him.
Recall that the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, carted home the largest bulk of the votes on the Plateau in the presidentialelectionwith over 466,000 votes, though the figure is hotly contested. There are those who insist he had over a million votes, giving impetus to the political ambition of Dakum.
But Mutfwang was to explain in a television interview that 80% of the votes Obi got were from PDP supporters.
His words:
said, “80 per cent of the people who voted for Peter Obi are members of the PDP. After that, they are reverting to the status quo because they only went after Mr Peter Obi because they believed in him. I can assure you that the people of Plateau State believe in us and will vote for us.
“The Peter Obi phenomenon was an expression of anger with the failure of governance, nationally. People truly want change and many people found expression in the candidature of Mr Peter Obi but beyond that, local dynamics come into play.
“With due respect, the Labour Party does not exist on the Plateau. It was a movement gathered around Mr Obi and some people tried to take advantage of that movement to key in but the National Assembly election proved which party is on ground and which party the people prefer.”
The PDP won two of the three senatorial seats and a majority of the House of Representatives seats.
Mutfwang further noted that only the ruling APC and not the LP stand a chance against the PDP in the March governorship poll.
“The contest for the governorship, If I will bring any other party to contention, it will be the APC, not the Labour Party,” he said.
