Twenty four hours after the election of a Speaker for the Plateau State House of Assembly was stalled, the House unanimously elected Hon. Peter Azi of the APC, representing Jos North-West as Speaker, while, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi of the PDP, representing Kantana Constituency emerged as his Deputy.

Despite PDP’s slim dominance in the House that is 13 to APC’s 11; Hon. Istifanus Mwansat who was contesting against Hon. Azi, stepped down for the APC candidate.

Also for the position of the Deputy Speaker, the PDP member who had yesterday voted for the APC, which led to the tie of 12 to 12; Hon. Amos Kumtul contested against Hon. Yusuf Gagdi, and was defeated by 13 to 10 votes.

Viewpointnigeria gathered that the lawmakers reached a consensus that Hon. Azi be elected, because he is from the Northern Zone of the State, while Hon. Mwansat hails from Plateau Central, and the seat has been zoned to the North.

In his acceptance speech, the Speaker Hon. Azi, promise to carry all members along, irrespective of party affiliation.

He assured of a cordial working relationship between the legislature and executive for the development of the State.

ViewPointNigeria Analysis 

Given what happened at the national assembly (with Saraki and Dogara) yesterday, Gov. Lalong aptly called-off the election of speaker to forestall any chance of PDP pulling a fast one or winning the election in the second round of voting, after the tactical voting by Hon. Amos Kumtul for Azi, the APC candidate.

Between yesterday evening and today, several meetings were held between key PDP stalwarts and APC representatives in order to broker a way forward. Specifically, APC reached out to all PDP lawmakers wooing them with promises of political favours etc.

PDP members were adamant on the need to produce the speaker, in the spirit of political balance and in order not to curtail their individual political careers. But Lalong’s emmiseries (led by several high profile politicians) were said to be so compelling and fortuitous and were able to prevail on the lawmakers, prompting them to compromise.

As it stands, even though PDP has 13 members, it has given the speakership to the APC and has opted to take the lower profile Deputy Speakership position. This is the first time in Plateau history that such an arrangement has happened. And demonstrates the strong bond between Gov. Lalong of the APC and high profile individuals like Chief Joshua Dariye, Fidelis Tapgun, Yahaya Kwande etc (who were instrumental in brokering the deal).

The question on most people’s minds then is – what happens in 2019 when these individuals wish to seek re-election (out of 24 lawmakers in the house, 21 are new members).

At that time, will PDP still have the clout to pull the electorate to its corner or will it become a forgotten party in the minds of the electorate? How will the Lalong (APC) and Dariye (PDP), Tapgun (PDP) relationship foster? Will they continue to defy party lines and work together by cooperating politically or shall we expect a fall-out as 2019 nears?

As it stands, PDP appears to have done a massive favour for Simon Lalong and APC and it remains unclear how long this will continue, given that it still the majority in the house. If the relationship turns sour, then expect to see PDP use it numerical strength in the House to begin impeachment proceedings against the new speaker.

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Peter Azi elected Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly