The People’s Democratic Party though plagued by internal strife and crisis remains the most dominant political party. The All Progressives Congress (APC) is as good as non-existent in the state. APC has not been able to put itself together to hold any meaningful meeting in the state.

Unlike the APC however, during the 2011 general elections, the major opposition party which ran against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the Labour Party (LP) which fielded former deputy governor Mr. Pauline Tallen as its gubernatorial candidate, and Senator Joshua Dariye as its candidate for the Plateau Central zone. At that time, most of the stalwarts that made up the Labour Party were aggrieved members of the PDP, who had accused Governor Jonah Jang of not carrying them along in the affairs of the party and so they defected to the Labour Party to contest against him.

The People’s Democratic Party though plagued by internal strife and crisis remains the most dominant political party. The All Progressives Congress (APC) is as good as non-existent in the state. APC has not been able to put itself together to hold any meaningful meeting in the state.

Unlike the APC however, during the 2011 general elections, the major opposition party which ran against the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was the Labour Party (LP) which fielded former deputy governor Mr. Pauline Tallen as its gubernatorial candidate, and Senator Joshua Dariye as its candidate for the Plateau Central zone. At that time, most of the stalwarts that made up the Labour Party were aggrieved members of the PDP, who had accused Governor Jonah Jang of not carrying them along in the affairs of the party and so they defected to the Labour Party to contest against him.

Tallen had alleged that she was oppressed by her boss, and that her office was made redundant by her principal who was never carrying her along, and would not consult with her in the running of government. And knowing that she was not going to get a platform in PDP to contest against her boss, she defected to LP to pursue her aspiration, which failed woefully.

For Dariye, he had had a long drawn political battle with Jonah Jang when he twice defeated Jang in the 1999 and 2004 polls –elections that were generally believed to have been won by Jang. Jang therefore did not allow him to get a platform in PDP to pursue his senatorial ambition when he (Dariye) returned to the party after his impeachment was nullified by the Supreme Court. So he got a platform in LP, contested and won into the senate, representing Plateau Central.

This group of politicians, that is, Dariye, Tallen, and the likes of former governor, Fidelis Tapgun, Jimmy Cheto, General John Shagaya, and Architect Pam Dung Gyang made up the LP opposition against the PDP in Plateau in the 2011 elections. But nearly all of them have individually returned to PDP after they lost the elections thereby rendering the LP weak, desolate, and in fact, dead in the state.
Dariye, though has not officially defected to the PDP, but he relates more with the party than his LP. Tallen also has not officially returned to PDP in the state, but she is most of the times in Abuja, and allegedly seen together with the First Lady, Mrs. Patience Jonathan, in nearly all her functions, an indication that she might be working her way back to the PDP.

The other opposition parties like the ANPP, ACN, APGA and DPP, which also fielded candidates in the 2011 elections in the state, have since their defeat in the elections gone to sleep. They are the parties that eventually merged to form the APC in other states. For instance, Chief Damishi Sango, who flagged for ANPP has since gone back to PDP to be reconsidered by Jang. Chief Chris Giwa, the gubernatorial candidate for ACN has since fizzled into the air since his defeat. General Jeremiah Useni, the leader of DPP has remained adamant in his party and has warned the few candidates that were elected on the platform of his party in the state to steer clear of APC as he does not believe in the party. He would rather prefer that they defect to PDP. For instance he recently issued a stern warning to Sulieman Kwande –the lawmaker representing Jos North/Bassa federal constituency to declare for the PDP and not the LP, a decision which Suleiman Kwande resisted vehemently.
These developments have completely put the APC in a state of inertia. General Shagaya and former Minister of State for Information, Alhaji Salisu Nakande, who attempted to garner support for the APC soon realised that they’ve lost followership in the state, as no one seems to take them seriously.

As it stands today, PDP is the only party that has a voice in Plateau. But the PDP, as it were, is battling with internal crises that may soon or later render it impotent. This is because most of those who have returned to the party are not necessarily at peace with Jang, who is the leader of the party. They prefer to operate from the national headquarters of the party, thereby undermining the leadership of Jang.

Though there is no striking opposition to the PDP for now, Jang may however need to work more to contain the internal wrangling plaguing his camp if he must have a peaceful transition of power to his choice successor because the likes of Senator Nasir Mantu (former deputy Senate President), Tapgun, Tallen, Senators Victor Lar and Timothy Adudu, who are though in PDP, however operating from Abuja, may have a measure of influence on who emerges the next governor of the state.

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Analysis of the political arithmetic on the Plateau: who will be the winners and losers?