Gathering storm in Plateau Assembly

ISAAC SHOBAYO writes on the fresh pressure on the All Progressives Congress (APC) members in the Plateau State House of Assembly to lead the House since it has the majority in the House.

After months of respite, the controversies surrounding the leadership of the Plateau State House of Assembly are being rekindled over the push by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the state to compel its members in the House to take over the leadership of the Assembly presently being occupied by a lone Young Progressive Party (YPP) member, Honourable Gabriel Dewan.

The Speaker was thrust into the spotlight by the Appeal Court judgment, which sacked all the 16 elected Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) members of the House on the premise that the party that fielded them for the 2023 elections lacked political structures. Meanwhile, all APC members, who finished second in the election, were either returned or ordered to run again, with the exception of the PDP.

Amidst confusion, the sacked PDP Speaker resigned to fate, while Dewan was elected to preside over the affairs of the Assembly with seven lawmakers as members. Those declared winners were kept in limbo for months, despite entreaties from various quarters for the lawmakers to be sworn in by the speaker. There was the growing fear that the APC lawmakers might set out to impeach the governor.

When they were eventually sworn in, the general expectation was that the lawmakers would turn the table in their favour by removing the speaker and electing one of them precisely, from the southern zone, based on the zoning arrangement on ground. A source close to the APC said members of the party, especially the stalwarts, were disappointed that the lawmakers could not take advantage of their numerical strength to effect change in the leadership of the House. The source further disclosed that the Plateau APC leadership, in recent times, called its members in the House to meetings on the need to sack the speaker, saying that having a lone YPP member as speaker is an embarrassment to the party and its stalwarts. The source declared: “We have become a laughing stock; people both within and outside the state keep asking us why our lawmaker cannot deploy their strength to take over the leadership.”

It was learnt that the national leadership of the party also intervened in this regard, telling the lawmakers to do what it called the needful. The party reportedly expressed shock that the 22 lawmakers should be comfortable having a lone member of YPP as the speaker of the House.

This recent development in the Assembly has sparked a heated political discourse in the state. A stalwart of the party from the Kanam local government area of the state, Bashir Danlami, said members of the party were being mocked even by the party in government in the state.

Many members of the APC in the state are also taken aback by the posture of the lawmakers. An Abuja-based APC member, who is from Plateau,  but did not want his name in print, said politics is a game of numbers and that it has never happened anywhere in the world, where a legislative arm of government is being led by the minority, especially a political party with just one member.”This is an aberration; this cannot happen anywhere. From the national to the state Assembly in Nigeria, Plateau is the only state where a minority party lords it over the majority, and the latter is comfortable. This is more than meets the eye,” he declared.

The chairman of APC in the state, Honourable Rufus Bature, is also disturbed about the development. He said he could not imagine that the 22 members, who are APC out of the 24-member House, could tolerate such an undemocratic practice and chose to play a second fiddle in the Assembly where they are in the majority. “In a democracy, the majority will always have their ways, the minority their say. But if by numerical strength of the House the APC has 22 members, YPP one, and Labour Party one, and YPP member is the one presiding over the affairs of the House, it is undemocratic. All they need to do is move for a motion to change the leadership.

“It is either the Speaker asked to resign or be voted out at the plenary. The party is not instigating disorder or violence removal, but that is the practice everywhere; Plateau State cannot be an exception.

“As the chairman of the party in the state, we have discussed severally with our members in the House on this issue. It is left for them to see what should be done; we are not trying to cause a problem in the House; we are just saying the right thing should be done. We have become a laughingstock based on this development. It is abnormal and absurd,” he said.

He said the power-sharing formula, which is based on rotation or zoning of major political offices amongst the state’s three senatorial zones, has been distorted by the House scenarios, adding that it has never occurred in Plateau state history for the Speaker and the Governor to come from the same senatorial district. He warned that the present configuration might have negative consequences on the political arrangement in the state in the long run if not properly addressed and readjusted before it backfires. “Apart from the issue of majority and minority in the house, the present arrangement where both the governor and the speaker come from the same zone has distorted the gentleman political arrangement on the ground for a long time, especially since the inception of this political dispensation. Governor Caleb Nutfwang needs to wade in and as well to address structural imbalance to avoid future problems.”

The chairman of the Plateau State House of Assembly Committee on Information, Hon. Mathew Kwarpo, said the 22 APC members are intact and remain indivisible, saying the leadership transition would evolve at the right time without being coerced to do it. According to him, it is a genuine and clarion call by the leadership of the All Progressive Congress in the state. Kwarpo said that the imbalance is feasible and that stability is necessary for the House and state as a whole, adding that any attempt to upset the status quo without using tact might affect the prevailing peace in the state. “It was a clarion call from the Plateau State APC Chairman, Hon. Rufus Bature. He argued that the Speaker should come from the majority party in the House. Currently, the Speaker is from the YPP, a minority party. So, the APC Chairman requested that leadership should change and go to the APC majority. However, at the party level, discussions are ongoing. Other parties, including the PDP and YPP, have responded that this situation is a result of court judgments.

“As a House, we will remain coordinated and patient. At the right time, I know the APC will take charge of the leadership. Yesterday, during his birthday, the governor appealed for calm. There was a lot of social media hype regarding the speaker’s future. The governor’s appeal was simple: be patient and allow the process to unfold naturally. The Court of Appeal judgment changed the House’s leadership structure. It will take a gradual process to realign things properly. Even the Speaker himself has acknowledged that he will one day give way to the majority party. I strongly believe that the change should not be rushed or done in a way that would destabilise the state. If you look at what is happening in Rivers State and other states, we do not want that kind of crisis.

“We want an amicable leadership transition so that members can focus on executing projects in their constituencies. The 23 members in the House are mature, reasonable people. They understand that change must happen—but it should happen at the right time and in the right way. It could be today, tomorrow—I cannot say exactly when. However, I know that when it happens, it will be in consultation with key stakeholders, including the Governor. Even though they may not directly influence our decisions, their input will help maintain peace and unity in the House.” He said it is easy to remove the speaker within a twinkle of an eye, but that the members would not employ force to prevent a breakdown of law and order.

Observers of Plateau State politics have been asking why APC members in the House, who have everything to their advantage, particularly in terms of numbers, are not eager to assume leadership. Analysts hypothesised that the lawmakers body language reflected the earlier implication that they had signed and zealously agreed before they were sworn in, together with an ingrained political romanticism with the executive arms.

Another conundrum is why the southern senatorial district Assembly members who had been angling for the dealership abruptly put their dreams on hold when there is a good opportunity they might easily explore to actualise their dreams.

The members appear to be at a crossroads. The party’s state and national leadership, along with a few influential members, are mounting pressure on them to assume control of the House, but the executive arms led by Governor Caleb Nutfwang want the status quo maintained, probably for fear of the unknown. Another school of thought contend that the lawmakers who appear to be having a cordial relationship with the executive may be reluctant to take any action that does not align with the governor’s perspective. Already, there are speculations that some of the lawmakers are being courted to join PDP. Nevertheless, the speaker appears to be on a narrow line.

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