Even though Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State is one of President Goodluck Jonathan’s closest allies and confidants, his hard stance and policies on not allowing defector back to the PDP fold may have begun to affect that close relationship.

It can be report that since the beginning of Jang’s governorship tenure in 2007, it has been near-impossible for any of his aides or associates to disclose their political ambition. Attempts to do such have always incurred the wrath and ire of the Governor. Which explains why most politicians in his cabinet who may harbour political ambitions have always denied any interest and kept the ambitions close to their chest -those who damned the consequences and demonstrated their interest found themselves shut out and cast to the lions. Most politicians who have any interest end up simply following the Governor to politician functions and prayer meetings with the hope that the interest they are showing in prayers and Godly events can sway his interest in their favour.

Even though Governor Jonah Jang of Plateau State is one of President Goodluck Jonathan’s closest allies and confidants, his hard stance and policies on not allowing defector back to the PDP fold may have begun to affect that close relationship.

It can be report that since the beginning of Jang’s governorship tenure in 2007, it has been near-impossible for any of his aides or associates to disclose their political ambition. Attempts to do such have always incurred the wrath and ire of the Governor. Which explains why most politicians in his cabinet who may harbour political ambitions have always denied any interest and kept the ambitions close to their chest -those who damned the consequences and demonstrated their interest found themselves shut out and cast to the lions. Most politicians who have any interest end up simply following the Governor to politician functions and prayer meetings with the hope that the interest they are showing in prayers and Godly events can sway his interest in their favour.

Recently, the strict posture of the governor extended to the national secretariat of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). In fact, it is no longer a secret that the governor may have fallen out with the President following Jang’s refusal to receive some political bigwigs in the state, who earlier abandoned the party due to one reason or another, are now back in the party’s fold. These politicians include, former governors Fidelis Tapgun and Joshua Dariye; and former Deputy Governor, Dame Pauline Tallen.

“We have not seen former Senate Deputy President, Ibrahim Mantu, attending any PDP functions or meetings in the state. The same distance is kept by former governorship aspirants on the platform of PDP, such as, John Alkali, Jimmy Cheto and former ministers Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande (Information) and Ambassador Bagudu Hirse (Foreign Affairs),” a source in the party said. “These people have their support base and accepting them will boost both presidential and governorship chances of the party in the 2015 general elections.”

It was, however, gathered that the governor’s position is that, if they want to come back, they should come through the front door and not the back, as they want to do. Coming to the party through the front door, according to him, means that they should go to their wards, to their local governments, to the zones and from there to the state party for final acceptance. Some of these people find it difficult to toe that line.

“Those affected feel they had worked for the party at various levels, and as such, see this as an affront to their personalities,” the source said.

It is on the basis of the rift between the governor and the intending decampees that the state chairman of PDP, Dr. Haruna Dabin, whose tenure ends in February 2016, was suspended.

According to the source, Dabin’s sin was that he was in support of the idea that those who wanted to come back to PDP’s fold should be allowed to do that, a move that angered the leader of the party in the state.

The suspended chairman has accepted in fate, expressing his desire to contest election into the office of governor of the state in 2015.
A cold war had been brewing between the duo, specifically when Jang began to suspect that Dabin, who was supposed to be the umpire in the party governorship primaries, was also interested in the race as a contestant.

It was further gathered that the embattled chairman was recently told by Jang when he went to inform him of his intention to run for the 2015 governorship that he should resign his position as chairman, but Dabin refused, claiming that such a call on him was unconstitutional.

Addressing journalists at the Nigeria Union of Journalist (NUJ), Press Centre in Jos, Dabin said, “despite the efforts to illegally remove me from office for daring to express my aspiration to seek the governorship seat in 2015 some months back, I have insisted on standing by what is right because of my conviction that the demands of leadership may require that I may some time stand alone in the face of conflict, public opinion or crisis because of what I believe in, no matter what the consequences may be.

“I believe that God Almighty alone gives power and He gives it to whoever He desires and at the time that He decides. I am expressing my desire to be available to contest election into the office of Governor of Plateau state out of a deep personal conviction that as a Christian I have heard the word of the Lord for season and I am running with it, one step at a time.”

He said, “my tenure saw the transparent handling of the party’s finances such that accounts of the party were audited at the end of my first tenure and a measure of accounting procedures and documentation were achieved. Plateau State has been confronted by a myriad of crises almost from the coming of the fourth republic in 1999 and this crisis were not necessarily politically motivated, but always had a political colouration. Any leader in the state today, who is not mindful that the peace we enjoy now is fragile, and thus, will indulge in self serving activities that will be inimical to the overall interest of the peace and progress, is not worthy of the position he or she occupies, given that the PDP is the most critical stakeholder for peace, progress and democracy in the state, it means that whatever is not done rightly in the party will definitely rob off on the entire state.”

According to him, “Because of my love for democracy, I will not do anything to jeopardise our great fortunes and standing. I must put on record my profound appreciation to the current National Chairman, members of the National Working Committee and all officers of the party at the state and in all the local government areas and our teeming supporters, for the dependable resolve to uphold the provisions of the constitution of our great party as this gives hope and confidence to all members that our party will not only defend democratic tenets in the country at all times, but also defend its internal democracy.”

Dabin said that it was necessary to restrain from making comments at a point in time not that he was press shy, hence his reticence to publicly open up to the media as to whether his suspension was the outcome of his intention to run for the seat of the governor or whether he was averse to any zoning to the Plateau North again after Governor Jonah Jang must have ended his tenure in 2015.

He said that his refusal to comment at that time was strategic so as not to overheat the system. “As a very dutiful Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) man, I must exhaust all avenues for reconciliation, for resolution in the party before I take any step. That is why I have been very quiet.

“It is true and it is incontrovertible that it was after I had gone to express a personal conviction that I sensed God had laid on my heart, that when the time comes, I desire to contest election into the office of Governor of Plateau State. That was the onset of whatever was the seeming storm in a teacup that was brewed in PDP on the Plateau. But for me it was a very small thing.

“I told the Governor who naturally is my leader, one that I have supported since the beginning. In fact, I am proud to say that I am one of the longest, maybe the only standing surviving supporter and defender of Governor Jang since 1998 to the present. There maybe conflict between being the state chairman and governorship aspirant. And I said I didn’t see any conflict because the constitution of our great party, gives room, if you want to resign on personal grounds, you can do so by giving 30 days notice through the appropriate executive committee and take a bow.

“But if you are resigning for the purposes of contesting elections, then when guidelines are released, then the guidelines will stipulate when such officers will leave office. I have a copy of such guidelines that were just released last week here with me. And on the second page of the timetable serial eleven of the list of activities, says the last day for resignation/retirement of public officers/political appointees/civil servants and party officials who are aspirants, the activities of resignation/retirement, the date is October 20, 2014.”

BUT the source said that looking at what is going on, the President is sympathetic to the course of the decampees because he believes that accepting them will boost the party’s chances in the 2015 elections. The President, according to the source, is to come to Plateau State and be given an overwhelming reception, while at the same time, receive those decampees and then commission the governor’s already executed projects, such as the new Government House at Little Rayfield, Jos, the Deputy Governor’s Office and Lodge and the Plateau Board of Internal Revenue House.

The source said that it is in the governor’s opinion that the President should just come and quietly cut the tapes to commission the projects without much ceremony. The governor had argued that he gave the President one million votes in 2011, and he still believes that he can do it again with or without the decampees.

The source revealed that as the governor continues his search for who to succeed him, three candidates were said to have been presented to the national secretariat of the party on a tentative basis, which the party allegedly turned down, saying that the 2015 governorship flag bearer of the party should be allowed to emerge through elected primaries and not nomination.

There is equally crisis regarding the rotation policy of the party. Jang is from the Plateau North Senatorial Zone and he has almost spent his eight years as a governor. The governorship has gone round the three senatorial zones of the state by the reason of the gentleman agreement guiding the party. This means that the seat of the governor is supposed to start again from the Southern zone that had the first shot after the military left the political scene in 1979, which produced the late Chief Solomon Lar as the first civilian governor of the state.

Though the military intervened in 1983 after Lar had spent four years in office and was even re-elected for the second tenure. It was believed that the south had had its turn. In 1999, Dariye won the governorship election after the military left. Dariye spent eight years. He comes from the Plateau Central Zone of the state and Jang is on the verge of completing his eight-year tenure come May 29, 2015.

Plateau North wants the governor’s slot again to begin from them after Jang, which will make the North have 16 uninterrupted years, if it is allowed. And this is causing a lot of problems in the party where some staunch members have threatened to abandon the party if the cycle should start from Plateau North that would have just finished their eight years in 2015.
Whither APC

IT is this internal squabble in PDP that APC is cashing in on. It is not that APC is strong enough to win, but it is cashing in on the crisis engulfing PDP. Unfortunately for the party, the APC is equally facing its own crisis, as the former caretaker committee chairman in the state, Brigadier-General John Shagaya (rtd), and his secretary, Alhaji Ibrahim Dasuki Nakande, were peremptorily dropped and replaced with Dr. Letep Dabang, a one time chairman of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) during the regime of Dariye.

Dabang’s leadership has been beset with petitions to the national secretariat of the party in Abuja, which the national officials are currently looking into. It was alleged that Dabang is not a true APC member from the outset. It was alleged that he was too close to a sitting senator who emerged victorious on the platform of the Labour Party (LP).

Dabang is still optimistic of his party’s victory in 2015. He said the problem bedevilling the party is normal and surmountable. According to him, the party is fully rooted in the state, adding that it was their desire to wrest power from the ruling PDP in the state.
He said his party has zoned the governorship to the South; deputyship to Central, while the Speakership will come from North.

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Cold War Between Jang Vs Dariye, Tallen, Useni, Tapgun and Others Rattles Presidency