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By Jude Owuamanam
Mr. Isaac Wadak is a chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party. In this interview, he says that Governor Caleb Mutfwang, is gradually putting all the challenges behind him and putting Plateau on the right track to reconciliation and development.
The tribunal has just confirmed the election of Governor Muftwang, what are your impressions about the judgment?
Well, the thrust of the judgment is very clear and I will speak based on the grounds the petitioners presented for which the court threw out. Number one is the issue of structure. The petitioners approached the court, praying it to nullify Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s election on the ground that as at the time he (Mutfwang) contested the election, he was not qualified because the party, the Peoples Democratic Party had no structure; that he was nominated by the party at the time it had no properly constituted state executive council. The tribunal in its wisdom, and following precedence ruled that the petitioners had no right to interfere in the internal affairs of another party; that the issue of party structure is a pre-election matter, which the tribunal has no business to meddle into. That was why the court called the petitioners meddlesome interlopers. In one of my earlier interviews with you, I remember telling you that this issue had already been established by some superior courts in the land; I had said that may be the petitioners just wanted to test the water. And I have been proved right. The second issue they canvassed was on the issue of over voting and that the PDP did not have the votes given to it by INEC, which the court did not have problems throwing out because the petitioners could not substantiate their claims. So the tribunal wisely ruled that they were on a wild goose chase. To me the decision of the court was ground breaking. It brought quite a lot of reliefs to the people of Plateau State. Don’t forget that the emergence of Caleb Mutfwang was received with a lot of joy in Plateau State. It was as if they have finally got somebody who they really believed would restore the dignity of Plateau man and bring back the glory and common heritage of Plateau people, which for many years have been eroded. So the decision of the tribunal increased the people’s confidence in the electoral process and the judiciary. So, this decision of the court catapulted the confidence of the Plateau people and the people are happy that their votes counted. You see people are saying that this is the irony of the whole thing. If it were the issue of over voting, that’s what they should be talking about and not about structure. So, by now they should have known that PDP is Plateau and Plateau is PDP.
There are two tribunals adjudicating on the election in Plateau – the National and State Assembly Elections Petitions Tribunal and the Governorship election petition tribunal – but it’s supposed to be one but for the sake of speedy dispensation of justice, the tribunals were split. That presupposes that they are of cognate jurisdiction. But you find them giving contradictory judgments. While the Mohammed Tukur-led panel in some of its judgments on the issue of structure said PDP had no structure and it on that basis the party lost some legislative seats. On the second hand, the Justice Rotimi Williams-led tribunal affirmed that the PDP had structure and therefore ruled that Mutfwang was validly elected.
Why do you think there are these contradicting judgments knowing full well that the petitioners hinged their arguments on the issue of structure?
You see that’s the problem the judiciary is creating. I am not a lawyer, but I have common sense and one would have been seriously worried and disturbed by this kind of judgment. When we heard that the tribunal was split because of the exigencies of the quantum of petitions, we thought that they should be in unison because from what we heard, all the documents, pieces of evidence and so on and so forth were the same and were issued to both tribunal one and tribunal two. And so we are shocked that this kind of decision was taken by the other tribunal one. This is the issue that has to do with the judiciary themselves. I think that there should be some in house cleansing of the judiciary because it has really put the public in confusion as to why there should be conflicting decisions emanating from the two tribunals.
In the set up of the tribunals, is one supposed to be higher than the other or are they of cognate jurisdiction?
In the course of your questioning, you said the tribunal was split because of exigencies and convenience that presupposes that they should be of the same level. So why they should they be of different level?
This issue of structure or no structure has really caused the party a lot. First PDP was exempt from participating in the 2021 local government election and also the zonal convention of the party in Makurdi, Benue. What has this judgment done to this issue of structure as far as the party is concerned.
In fact, the PDP has suffered a lot of harm from this issue of structure. First we were not able to participate in the local government election and again in the zonal convention of the party. It’s very painful what we went through. The fact that we were not able to participate in the local government election meant that we were not able to repair the damage that it has caused because if we had participated in that election, it would have led to rest this issue of structure or no structure. So the PDP could not have just sat down and watched how we lost in the local government election. How we lost out in the zonal election of the party in Makurdi and think that should not leave things like that up to this last election. So all things were made possible to make sure that we block all the loopholes. Our legal team were up and doing to ensure that all things were taken care of before we went into this election. And we are happy that all the judgment were given after the congress we held at Langfield. It was very successful and even Hon Bitrus Kaze congratulated the eventual winner, Chris Hassan. So that foreclosed the issue of structure. We are surprised that the petitioners were still talking about the issue of structure when we have taken care of.
You said that Kaze congratulated Hassan after the election. So what now happened after that because Kaze had been quoted as saying that he never congratulated Hassan?
To the best of my knowledge, I am not aware that Kaze said that he never congratulated Hassan because it was recorded and the video was everywhere.
Now that the court has clarified this issue of structure by upholding the election of Governor Caleb Mutfwang, what is next? Are you going to set up reconciliation committee to reconcile the Kazes, the Jeremiah Usenis and so on, whose actions led to this present situation?
To me I thought that participating in that congress that was held and Kaze congratulating the winner, to me, I think that the issue of structure had been laid to rest. And that factitionalisation of the party had been settled at that time. So if up till now people are having a different idea or having a faction apart from what we have, I mean they are not fair. That election was free and fair. People contested; some won and some lost. So after the election, I don’t think the next thing is to go and create another faction.
Do you think that there are some external influences in the PDP crisis?
External influences? I don’t think so; it’s just an internal affair of the party
What would have been the motivating factor in this crisis?
Power play that’s all. Now that all is over, let’s come together and work for the people of Plateau. Let’s put all our differences and personal ego aside, and come together for the unity of the state. Plateau people have realized their mistakes and have resolved to move forward.
Now after 100 days, what do you consider the constraints and achievements of Mutfwang?
The challenges are enormous and I can tell you that I am a member of the handover committee. The debt we inherited from the past administration was enormous; initially, we thought that it was about N200 billion but now over N307 billon. We also inherited months of unpaid salaries but within the hundred days we have been able to work out the issue of salary arrears. The security issues have been very big burden and have posed a lot of distraction. Don’t forget again, the tribunal is another distraction. But we have started having these issues behind us; the tribunal is over and the court has affirmed the will of the people. We have started tackling the issue of security and now we are enjoying relative peace. The governor has greatly improved the state of urban roads as Jos is now wearing a new look. In the transport sector, the Jos – Bukuru railway project will soon come on stream. This will greatly reduce the transportation problem in the state. In the area of agriculture, the government has cleared about 25, 000 hectres of land and had procured 200 trucks of fertilizer for distribution to the farmers. The government is also intensifying efforts on off season farming so that we can have food all year round. On the whole, Plateau is on the road to total recovery and with Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang on the saddle, be rest assured that the good old days that made Plateau home of peace and tourism is on the way.
