December 14, (THEWILL) — Governor Caleb Mutfwang’s defection from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the governing All Progressives Congress, APC, is “a done deal.” That is the sense in which the governor’s Special Adviser on Politics and Special Duties, Rt. Hon. Istyfanus Mwansat is being widely quoted in political circles in the state to have conveyed his principal’s unstoppable crossover.
But in another, deeper sense, it shows the web of intrigues, power play and manoeuvring that has been at play while the rumoured defection of the governor lasted.
At a point in time, it was the APC women’s wing and the youth wing that demonstrated publicly against the defection of the governor because the party is not a “dumping ground for politicians running from a crisis they created…”
Just as groups within the APC in the state have risen to oppose his admission into the party, so too have a coalition of PDP members from all the 17 local government areas demonstrated in support of the governor’s defection from their party.
Recently in Jos, a group led by Christopher Danjem marched through the major streets of the state capital before arriving at Government House in Rayfield, where they were received by Jeremiah Satmark, the Chief of Staff to governor Mutfwang. The CoS who received and promised to delivered their letter of support to the governor stated that Mutfwang had “consistently stated that only two forces—God and the people of Plateau State—would determine his political future.”
But as of press time on Saturday, doubts had given way to the certainty that Governor Mutfwang had finally pitched his tent with the APC, as he looks good to bid for a second term in office on its platform, come 2027.
This development has put paid to weeks of speculations and tension in the state during which power brokers and dealers weighed their options, tested their strength and battle for control of the state APC party structure.
APC NATIONAL CHAIRMAN, YILTWADA, SENATOR LALONG, GOVERNOR MUTFWANG
The campaign against Governor Mutfwang’s defection to the APC has the politics of 2027 written all over it at the state and national levels.
At the state level, APC National Chairman, Professor Nentawe Yiltwada and Senator Simon Lalong, the immediate past two-term governor of the state on the platform of the APC, are the leaders of the party in the state. At one point or the other, both of them had engaged Governor Mutfwang politically and lost in a manner that left the fight for another day.
In a state that the APC had controlled for eight years, it was given that its governorship candidate, Yiltwada would easily be elected, more so when incumbent governor Lalong packed more punch by becoming the Director-General of Tinubu/Shettima Campaign Council for the 2023 presidential election. Yilwatda’s surprise defeat by the Governor Mutfwang was as dramatic as it was a rude awakening in power relations.
Before becoming governor, Mutfwang had been a political thorn in the flesh of his predecessor, Lalong for many years during which as one of the 16 PDP local government Chairmen who were sacked from office by Lalong in 2015 and replaced with Interim Management Committees, he became the spokesperson of the sacked chairmen in their prolonged legal battle against the governor. Winning the governorship in the 2023 election was bad enough for his rivals, who now want to defect to the APC and lord it over them had been posing a challenge to Governor Mutfwang. He had to face resistance.
THEWILL gathered that Yiltwada literally relocated to Jos where he has been acting more like the state Chairman of the party as part of his plan to monitor and stop the admission of the governor into the APC.
Admitting the governor into the party was another contest which outcome he wanted to determine on his own terms. At stake is the leadership and control of the party structure in the state, which Mutfwang’s admission into the party would alter in his favour. The existing political structure makes governors leaders of the party structure in their states.
The show of desperation to stop a possible defection of Mutfwang into the APC climaxed at a meeting of Plateau APC stakeholders recently at the party’s Kalwa House State secretariat and presided over by Yilwatda. As national chairman and convener of the stakeholders meeting, he is said to have got a former National Assistant Secretary of the party, Festus Fuanter, to move the motion that ended in the State APC rejecting and forbidding a possible Mutfwang membership enlistment.
The tension and attendant intrigues and intricacies persisted and subsisted in the state chapter of the party, leading eventually to cracks and the rise of splinter camps loyal either to Prof Yilwatda or a former governor, now Senator Simon Bako Lalong or the State Party Chairman, Rufus Bature. It was only then that the opposition against the governor’s defection began to weaken and paved the way for his acceptance in the party.
Dependable party sources confided in this newspaper that the governor’s decision to defect from the PDP to the APC has shattered the ambition of some APC big wigs who are eying the governorship ticket for 2027.
The State APC chairman, Rufus Bature is said to be ready to welcome the governor into the party because there are several advantages attached to the move, including the macro effect that it will transmit the status of the APC in the state into the ruling party.
Concerned Plateau APC legacy members accused certain APC stalwarts of actively working to block Governor Mutfwang from joining the ruling party. Speaking at a press briefing in Jos, the group led by Emmanuel Dankasa said, “Without doubt, the protesters are persons known to the leadership of the APC in Plateau State. But whether such individuals are card-carrying members of the APC is a fact that needs to be investigated and if found to be so, they should be punished with sanctions that are proportional to their actions”.
In fact, the Youths Political Movement of Nigeria, YPMN, and the North Central APC Forum have openly accused Yilwatda of blocking the defection of Governor Mutfwang to the APC.
According to the Forum’s Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, Yilwatda has been “deepening divisions within Plateau State and the wider region and was prioritising personal political interests over party growth by blocking the governor’s defection to protect his 2027 political ambitions.”
YILWATDA REACTS
In his reaction, Prof. Yilwatda, dismissed claims that he is preventing Plateau State Governor Mutfwang and his Osun counterpart, Ademola Adeleke from joining the party.
In a statement released on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 the APC Chairman described the “allegations as baseless, misleading and deliberately crafted to undermine his longstanding commitment to broad-based political inclusion.
Describing the YPMN claim as “pure fiction,” he explained that under his leadership, “the party has registered more than 500,000 new members nationwide through a combined ward-based and digital mobilisation process that has strengthened grassroots visibility and accessibility.”
According to him, both governors have held cordial and constructive discussions with the party’s national leadership, noting that in line with APC procedures, all necessary frameworks for their smooth and dignified integration remain fully active should they formally declare for the party.
He said, “The APC notes that this allegation is the latest in a series of sponsored attacks targeting the National Chairman’s integrity and strategic leadership ahead of the 2027 general election. These coordinated attempts to sow mistrust are being pushed by fringe elements with questionable ties to the party.
“Their intention is to create the false impression of internal division and obstruct the Chairman’s ongoing reforms. Prof. Nentawe Yilwatda is not blocking anyone; the doors of the APC remain open, active, and welcoming.”
Yilwatda therefore urged members, supporters and the Nigerian public to disregard such distractions, stressing that the APC remains united, forward-looking and firmly committed to accommodating all Nigerians of goodwill who wish to join its progressive fold.
THE NATIONAL IMPLICATION
The 2027 political implication of Mutfwang’s defection at the national level is connected to developments surrounding the vice presidential ticket of the APC.
Apart from the unending fuss in the PDP, which has led to continued serial defection by its governors, some stakeholders in the state confided in THEWILL that Mutfwang’s strong preference to join the APC is tied to certain perspectives and possibilities.
According to these sources, the issue of Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket is still lingering and troubling the Christian sentiment. This, the sources claim, was the dominant issue for determination in the conversation between Northern Christian Leaders and President Bola Tinubu on October 8, 2025 when he was in Jos for the burial of Yilwatda’s mother.
Yet to be independently verified reports from the meeting indicate that the President accepted to assuage the Christian community in the country by pledging to look into the possibility of conceding the vice presidential position to them to underscore his respect and regards for their interests.
Ironically, the current diplomatic face-off between Nigeria and the US over alleged Christian genocide and her designation as a “Country of Particular Concern” have raised the stakes of this political permutation of a Christian-Muslim ticket ahead of 2027. To underscore the point, THEWILL recalls that recently in Gombe State, a Coalition of APC Support Groups, North-East sub-region, declared that the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Yakubu Dogara, was the best person to be picked as Tinubu’s running mate. Dogara is a Christian from the Sayawa group in Bauchi State.
“At such a time as this, when efforts are on to build a brighter Nigeria, unity and impactful political representation and religious harmony, Dogara is the most qualified person to lead,” the coalition stated.
Party sources say with the African Democratic Congress, ADC, phenomena in the North, the North Central is becoming a choice for the President to source for not just a VP but a successor in 2031.
With Governor Mutfwang in the APC, the choice of a Christian as Vice President, will become easier, according to party sources. Both the governor and Dogara fit into the prevailing narrative of the political middle belt, comprising 14 states, to pitch for that position in 2027.
