In Plateau, Elders, Youths Square Up
In this report, Seriki Adinoyi takes a look at the contest for the soul of Plateau PDP between the youths and the elders ahead of the party’s primaries to pick Governor Jonah Jang’s successor
These are no easy moments for Da Jonah David Jang, the Governor of Plateau State, who has continued to contend with raging battles over his choice of a successor. Sometimes ago, his worries were more with zoning. Now he has the groups of elders and youths in the state ganging up, each side wanting to outsmart the other. While the elders are ganging up and fronting for Jang’s deputy, Mr Ignatius Longjan, who is one of them, the youths would rather prefer a younger candidate in the person of Senator Gyang Pwajok, who they have described as intelligent, vibrant, articulate and capable of building on the foundation that Jang has laid.
The youths had reminded Jang of the promise he had made to them while he sought for their support during his campaign, that he was going to hand over powers to a younger and more vibrant generation to carry on with his redemption agenda.
But the elders are averred to this. They would rather prefer one of them to take over the mantle of leadership from Jang, against his earlier position, and had threatened to abandon the governor should he insist on handing over powers to the youths. They had also insisted that by rotation, power should shift to the southern zone of the state.
But the governor seems to be more favourably disposed to the youths, a development that has pitched him against his political associates who have been with him since the inception of his administration.
The likes of Professor Dakum Shown, Elder Bulus Dareng, Danjuma Maina, Samu’ila Makama among many others that are prominent names in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the state have since stepped aside, threatening a showdown with him. Their disagreements cut across zoning and the promise the governor made to the youths in state at the inception of his administration.
While some elders of the party in the state want power shift to Plateau South zone, the governor has tenaciously disagreed with the zoning arrangement. He had said that power will be handed over to the most qualified, competent and reliable person, who will build on the redemption achievements of his administration, irrespective of the zone the person may emerge from.
The relationship recently nose-dived with the endorsement of Senator Gyang Pwajok by the governor as his likely successor. And to spite the governor, the elders urged Longjan, who had allegedly agreed to quit politics with Jang in 2015 to jump into the race.
Jang had repeatedly declared at nearly every public function that he was going to leave office with his deputy in 2015, suggesting there was an agreement reached with Longjan. Also, Longjan on his part had kept mum on the matter in a way that further gave credence to the view that there was an understanding between them. In fact, he had in an interview granted THISDAY earlier this year said he was just waiting for May 2015 when he would pack and leave Government House for younger and more vibrant generation.
But the game suddenly changed recently, possibly at the prompting of the aggrieved elders, when Longjan, who had never argued against leaving office with Jang, came out to say there was no such agreement reached between him and Jang.
Longjan argued that Jang, who had promised to quit politics with him in 2015 has also reneged on the promise by going to pick a nomination form for the seat of Senate, and therefore has no moral standing to stop him.
As it stands, the elders have pitched their tents with Longjan against his boss, Jang, who on his part has now held up the hands of Pwajok as his favoured candidate.
The youths, of course, have thrown their weight behind Jang for chosing one of their own, Pwajok.
This division seems to have polarised PDP in the state ahead of its primary elections; the youths being on one side and the elders on the other side, with such fears that it may affect post-primaries reconciliation the party needs to defeat the opposition in the state in the general elections.
With his new friends and disciples in the youths, who are getting more vibrant by the day, and waxing stronger by the moment, Jang appears undisturbed with his former political allies re-grouping on the other side of the divide.
The youths, with their strength have since also re-grouped and are rolling out programmes in campaign for Pwajok. But the governor, in his usual character, has remained resolute, scheming quietly to have his way in the primaries. His mouthpiece are the youths, who would tirelessly paint the streets red for Pwajok.
The youths are relatively financially stable to carry on with this challenge having been empowered by Jang during these past seven years, perhaps in anticipation of this kind of challenge.
The battle ground is now set for the primaries and the die is cast. While the elders bank on their wealth of experience and political know-how to outsmart the youths, the youths on the other hand rely on their voting population and most importantly on the credibility of the candidate they are fielding.
Pwajok is a man of no mean credentials. He is a youth with requisite experience of an elder to prosecute any political battle. Having held vital positions in Jang’s government and also gone to represent the state at the National Assembly, he cannot easily be dazzled by the experience of the elders.
Aside from his rich credentials, Pwajok’s performancs in the various positions he had held in the past speak for him. The Senate President, David Mark, recently poured accolades on him when he supervised Pwajok’s donations of various items worth over N150 million to empower the people of his constituency.
Mark commended Pwajok for his empowerment programmes, his contribution on the floor of the Senate, and the peace that has returned to his constituency, noting that it was not how long a senator served in the senate that matters but the impact he was able to make within the period he served.
Personally campaigning for Pwajok, Mark pledged total support for him in any other aspiration he may have.
Pwajok, on his part, had said the empowerment of the people became necessary to reduce the rate of unemployment and to make the people of the constituency self-employed, and also to prepare them and the communities for a better and brighter future.
He said, the donation was also part of his appreciation to all those who played a role in actualising his election into the senate, adding that the people of the constituency have been the foundation for his successes during his two years in the senate, and therefore need to be appreciated.
“I will always emphasise that leadership is simply and squarely role performance of some duration, but this role must be passed unto the leader by his or her people, held in trust and exercised with requisite honesty, integrity and clarity of purpose required to stimulate and effect positive change.” he said.
He described his time in the Senate as “a journey that has been characterized by our collective efforts at peace building and reconciliation through interventions directed at addressing the series of attacks within our zone. We must realise that we are each other’s brother’s keepers regardless of what is propagated in a bid to disunite us.”
Also addressing his teaming youth supporters recently, Pwajok charged them to shun ethnic and religious sentiments and divisive tendencies and support credible and competent candidates during the 2015 general elections.
A Coalition of Young Redemption Advocates (CYRA), comprising of Commissioners, Special Advisers and other youth groups had paid him a solidarity visit in Jos.
Pwajok noted that, “It is only in this part of the world that your village, your senatorial zone and your ethnic group determine your future. As Plateau youths, we must break the barrier of ethnicity in our state to give room for credibility and competence; we must collectively work hard to give our state the best of what we have.
“We are happy that Governor Jonah David Jang did not disappoint the people of Plateau State and he believes that the young people have the capacity to deliver the state. That is why today he is a strong advocate of handing over power to the youths in 2015.”
He said, “What the governor has done is a standard and we will continue to build on it”, adding that, the Plateau youths have a future that is rushing with high speed and urged them to be prepared to summon the courage to face the challenges without fear of anyone.
Leader of the CYRA, Barrister Radzie Jugo, said that Plateau youths believe in the ability of Pwajok to lead the state to the promise land having seen his track record of performance. He added that Plateau people are yearning for continuity and can therefore not afford to support anyone who does not properly understand the vision of the redemption government of Jang.
Jugo identified Pwajok as one of the brains behind the success story of the Jang administration as he has maintained cordial and mutual relationship with the governor.
A pressure group on the Plateau, The Patriots of Plateau, in a press statement signed by its Chairman, Honourable Danjuma Golu, recently also hailed the emergence of Pwajok as the favoured PDP candidate
Golu noted that the Elders who are now aggrieved and crying foul against Jang would not have done so if their sons were the preferred candidate. “These same people agreed with Jang that power should transit to the younger generation in 2015. The truth is that most of them either want their stooges or political sons and daughters in positions of authority, nothing in the interest of Plateau people”, he noted
The statement also condemned the calls for the cancellation of what it described as a free, fair and credible ward congress of the People Democratic Party (PDP), noting that such calls are coming from politicians with selfish ambitions. “Having failed to convince Plateau people to buy into their selfish ambitions, the elders started crying foul even before the delegates’ election supervised by the National Secretariat of the PDP, were conducted.
“The truth remains and is very glaring that the PDP delegates’ elections held in Plateau State were not only free and fair but represent the wishes of the people”.
The group insisted that, “The time to engage in the politics of ideology is now and any other means of trying to convince Plateau people to buy into candidates’ ideals will be resisted. All those aspiring to rule Plateau State should be prepared to sell their candidature via programmes and policies they wish to implement if voted into office.
“Until that is done, writing petitions to the PDP National Secretariat, casting aspersions on the governor and pouring out vituperations on the governor as well as making the candidature of Sen. Gyang Pwajok is nothing more than the voice of a drowning group.”
Some aspirants, including Sir Fidelis Tapgun; Jimmy Cheto; John Alkali; Honourable John Clark; Senator Victor Lar and Dr Haruna Dabin, had petitioned the National Secretariat of the PDP, alleging unholy practices in the exercise. They had alleged that the congress committee sent to Plateau abdicated its responsibility because no congress took place in the state. Longjan also discredited the exercise.
But political observers have said it would be difficult for the National Secretariat of the party to cancel the ward congress, despite the avalanche of petitions before it, seeing that the delegation it sent to monitor the congress did not submit any report of any misdeed during the exercise.
As it stands, the elders may need to do more to square up to the challenges that have been thrown up by Jang, Pwajok and the youths, if they must make any headway in the forthcoming primaries. It is rather becoming obvious that they are beginning to lose balance before the party primaries. And analysts have attributed this to the lack of cohesion and unity of purpose among their aspirants.
The general belief is that, if all the other contenders can harmonise their aspirations and chat a common front by possibly choosing a consensus candidate, it would go a long way in salvaging their present predicament. A source close to the government recently revealed that one of the senatorial aspirants, who had been among the elders’ group has now abandoned his camp for that of Jang
As things are today, Jang still holds the ace on the Plateau and because the state is one of the few states where opposition parties are virtually not on ground, his favourite, Pwajok, is still the candidate to beat.