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From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
The very old rivalry that usually brews between the national chairman of a ruling political party and the governor of his home state is perhaps beginning to rear its ugly head again, judging by the frosty relationship between the governor of Plateau State, Caleb Muftwang, and the national chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Nentawe Goshwe Yelwatda.
At the centre of the cold war is the governor’s speculated planned defection from his troubled political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), to the APC, and Yelwatda’s rumoured disapproval of it and consistent manipulative efforts to block the proposed defection.
From all indications, what is playing out in the Plateau war of attrition between Yelwatda and his governor, Muftwang, political analysts noted, is capable of escalating the already fragile insecurity in the Plateau and polarising the political stakeholders in the state if it continues unchecked.
However, what is playing out in the Plateau is historically a replay of the similar deadly and destructive face-off which transpired between former APC national chairman, Comrade Senator Adams Oshiomhole, and his estranged, erstwhile political godson and the immediate past governor of Edo State, Godwin Obaseki, in the build-up to the 2020 off-cycle state governorship election.
Daily Sun recalls that the squabbles had culminated in the Oshiomhole-led APC National Working Committee (NWC) denying the then Edo incumbent governor the party’s re-election ticket, forcing him to defect, pick the ticket of the PDP, the political platform that contentiously guaranteed his re-election against all odds.
More curious was that even after denying Obaseki the APC re-election ticket, disqualifying him from participating in the party’s primary election based on an allegation of presentation of a fake graduation certificate from the University of Ibadan, Oshiomhole still threatened legal action against him should the then state opposition party, the PDP, field him as its candidate for the governorship election.
Despite enjoying a rancour-free reign as the state governor under the same circumstances when Chief John Odigie-Oyegun was at the helm of affairs as the APC national chairman, Oshiomhole still took the animosity against Obaseki, the godson, too far when he threw his political weight and machinery to support then APC candidate, Izy-Iyamu, who contested against Obaseki as the PDP candidate.
Oshiomhole, had, while threatening legal action, noted: “Fortunate enough, it was the PDP that exposed him in 2016. PDP filed a case at the Federal High Court, amplifying every forgery segment in his certificate. APC just managed to escape that because PDP filed out of time, and the case was struck out.
“Now, the case has life, so when they field him, we will be at the Court of law to adopt what PDP filed before the court against him with additional evidence we now have against him. So, we can’t wait to have PDP field him as their candidate,” Oshiomhole had threatened then.
From the unfolding drama between the incumbent APC national chairman, Yelwatda, and the Plateau governor, Muftwang, it is gradually becoming obvious that thunder is likely to strike twice on a particular spot.
Already, many interested stakeholders, individuals, groups, and Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) aligning in defence of the gladiators they are loyal to have contributed in heightening the political tension through levelling allegations and counter allegations to particularly discredit or urge the governor not to join or to join the APC ahead of the forthcoming 2027 general elections.
The raging battle is understandable due to multiple factors and prevailing political realities in the state. The first of these could be psychological carryover of animosity and bitter rivalry between them, having contested against each other in the 2023 Plateau governorship election.
And the second is the apparent anxiety of who will be the overall political boss in calling the shot as the leader of the party in the state, and perhaps how Yilwatda will have to endorse the governor for the second term in 2027.
Interestingly, the stakeholders are already expectedly overheating the polity, raising the political temperature both at the state and national levels with their fierce battle at the warfront where they have taken the rift to an overwhelming and disturbing magnitude to justify and absolve each of their masters of any complicity.
Only last week, miffed by the increasing speculation that Yilwatda has become the cog in the wheel of progress in the governor’s defecting to the APC, party’s support groups had declared terrifying battle, squaring up against each other in defence of the gladiators they are loyal to.
A forum under the auspices of APC Youth Solidarity Network (APC-YSN) had, while drawing the first blood, issued a two-week resignation ultimatum to the party’s national chairman, warning him to be ready for the mother of all protests against him should he fail to retrace his step. They want him to endorse the governor’s move to join the ruling party.
In a statement signed by its national coordinator, Comrade Danesi Momoh Prince, the APC support group claimed that Yilwatda has failed the leadership test in all ramifications, arguing that under his chairmanship, APC’s popularity has continued to wane and vanish on a daily basis.
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The group also warned that his leadership incompetence is posing a big danger to the re-election bid of President Bola Tinubu, explaining that “Yilwatda boasts that more governors are joining the APC, which is adding to its popularity. But the truth is: If governors’ defection to the APC makes it more popular, why is he blocking and refusing his own Governor, Caleb, from joining our party?
“He has criticised his governor, the man who defeated him in the 2023 governorship election, as having no political value and therefore should not be allowed to join the APC. His actions have exposed the danger of assembling governors without electoral value. But in truth, there is no governor in Nigeria today who does not have electoral value.
“Therefore, for the national chairman of the ruling party to think so, he does not understand the political terrain of Nigeria and should be relieved immediately. In fact, he is still largely a political neophyte for that kind of heavy political responsibilities on the shoulders of a chairman of the ruling party.
“It is obvious that he has no charisma, capacity or clout to command respect even among party members. Since he assumed office, the National Secretary, Senator Surajudeen Ajibola Bashiru has been the one in charge of the party’s affairs.
“We make bold to say that if Nentanwe fails to resign within two weeks, we shall mobilise thousands of APC supporters to shut down the national secretariat and demand his exit,” the APC forum warned.
However, in an apparent response to the threats from the forum, another support group under the auspices of Northern Nigeria Youth Leaders Forum had dispelled the claim that Yilwatda is preventing the Plateau State first citizen from joining the party.
National Leader of the group, Murtala Muhammed Gamji, who refuted the claims at a press conference in Abuja, had argued that since Yilwatda assumed office, he has worked assiduously to attract more members to the party, stressing that he cannot be responsible for stalling the defection of his own state governor in the party.
“That can never be possible. The national chairman has a record as a gentleman, a professional, and a democrat. This is somebody who needs people to come to the party, and I heard the governor saying it face-to-face to people that he is under immense pressure both from outside and inside, urging him to join the APC.
“But this lazy guy, the people that late Muhammadu Buhari called lazy youths, are saying that somebody is stopping the governor, while the governor said they are pressuring him to come into the APC, yet Momoh is saying that it is our national chairman that is stopping him.
“No, our chairman cannot do that, and the governor himself has not said that. He has not said that somebody is stopping him. So, you can see how Delta, Enugu, Bayelsa, other states, and big political office holders are defecting into our party in droves. A lot of senators, House of Representatives members, and other ordinary people are trooping into the APC because of the kind of humble leadership of Yilwatda.
“We disagree with him. Nobody is stopping the governor. The governor is welcome. We are in a democracy, and the national chairman is a democrat,” Gamji noted.
And issuing a counter threat, Gamji warned that, “Any group or individual calling on our national chairman to resign or planning to embark on a protest will be fiercely resisted. First of all, Prince Momoh is not a member of the APC. We read together at ABU Zaria. He is from Auchi in Edo State. He is a member of PDP, and they have even sanctioned him in Auchi as a PDP member in Edo State.
“We don’t know his reason or his concern about our noble chairman. But we know that there were people behind him. Some people are trying to temper or jeopardise the success of this great party under the leadership of Professor Yilwatda,” the group warned.
Curiously, there is apparently more to it than the current political situation playing out in the state. It is obviously a quagmire that may consume any of the gladiators.
The anomie he may be currently battling include satisfying the desire of the political godfathers in the state like the immediate past governor of the state, Senator Simon Lalong among others to fend off the governor from joining the party and obeying the instruction and directive of the presidency to harvest more governors to make the 2027 presidential election a stroll into the park.
Pundits opined that from what transpired in Delta and Enugu states for example, any national officer who tries to stand in the way of any defecting governor into the APC risks the possibility of been sacrificed.
It could even be worse, according to many political watchers for the current national chairman who has struggled to find his footings and assuming full control of the affairs of the party since assumption of office few months ago.
