With the presumption that the immediate past governor of Plateau State, Simon Lalong may have resolved to opt for a seat in the Senate instead of his current ministerial position, ISAAC SHOBAYO writes on the jostle to replace him in the cabinet of President Bola Tinubu.
The recent judgment of the Appeal Court regarding the Plateau South Senatorial Election, where Senator Napoleon Bali of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was sacked and the Minister of Labour and Employment, Governor Simon Lalong, affirmed as the winner of the senatorial election, has altered the political equations in the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State. Though former Governor Lalong has not openly declared his next line of action, either to jettison the ministerial position and go to the Senate or remain as a minister, his collection of Certificates of Return from the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) last week has fueled speculations that he might settle for the Senate.
The delay in making public his final decision on the matter is keeping most party members in suspense. But one source close to the governor claimed Lalong was not in haste to make a pronouncement because of the political exigencies, especially the much-awaited Supreme Court judgment. The source said: “Lalong is one of the major stakeholders in APC both at the state and national levels; he has to consult the president and leadership of the party at the national level on his next line of action. He cannot just take decisions on his own; more so, meticulous action needs to be taken to avoid unnecessary wrangling within the party.”
At the home front, APC chieftains have been advancing various reasons to justify why a particular individual or zone should take over from the minister. Different groups and individuals have been dropping names of those they feel could step into Lalong’s shoes as the minister. To avoid the current struggle for the slot, stakeholders of the party in the state have stepped consultations and meeting to address the issue. They said they are determined to prevent the matter from snowballing into a crisis, as indications showed that the APC is highly hopeful on the outcome of the Supreme Court matter, which might deliver its verdict next month.
The publicity secretary of the party in the state, Slyvanus Namang, is optimistic that his party the APC will win at the Supreme Court and that Professor Goshwe Yilwada will be sworn in as governor of Plateau. He dismissed the notion that the issue of who becomes a minister is generating tension and controversies. He added that the matter would soon be resolved.
Nonetheless, controversy is trailing the issue of the particular senatorial district and individual that should step into the shoes of Lalong as minister. A former member of the House of Representatives and Special Assistant to former President Olusegun Obasanjo, Honourable Lumumba Dah Adeh, suggested that the slot should be reserved for the governorship candidate of the APC in the last election, Professor Nentawe, until he declares otherwise. Adeh argues that the interest of the APC and its growth should be the watchword rather than any selfish interest. “By saying this, I am not unaware that he is currently the governor-elect, having won at the Appeal Court, and that Nentawe is only a step away from occupying the exalted position.
While we are hopeful that the Supreme Court will dispense with the governorship case in our favor, we would be showing the candidate the immense respect and honor he deserves if we defer to him in terms of making a nomination to that exalted office. Despite our high hopes that the case will go in our favour, we will be setting the pace in selflessness and promotion of party unity if we accord the candidate his due respect and call on the President not to make an appointment to that office but to wait for the outcome of the Supreme Court verdict in the governorship case, so that in the unlikely event that the case does not favour us, (God forbid) the party would be able to compensate Nentawe with the ministerial position for his tenacity and doggedness, which have rubbed positively on the party, leading to its good performance at the 2023 election. He further argued that the central zone has been the most marginalised in terms of ministerial positions since 1999.
In contrast, Honourable Haruna Longkat, who is an APC stalwart in Shendam and former SA to former Governor Joshua Chibi Dariye, expressed confidence in the judiciary, adding that the APC would win at the Supreme Court and Professor Nentawe Yilwada would be sworn in as governor of Plateau State.
However, he added that it would be wrong to have the minister come from the same zone as the governor despite the fact that the central senatorial zone has had the least ministerial slot among the three zones. Also, the coordinator, Kanam Progressive Youths, Honourable Ali Abdullahi, posited that a professor of law, Saleh Mohammed Galadima, from the Kanam local government area of the state, should be considered for the ministerial slot. He said Galadima has the requisite experience as a member of the Federal Executive Council in Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s cabinet. A former commissioner in the Lalong administration who craved to remain anonymous, said on a scale of balance, equity, and justice, the slot should be zoned to the Central district, which has produced one minister, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse in this dispensation as against the southern district, which has produced Dame Pauline Fallen twice as minister, Ambassador Fidelis Tapgun, Mrs Josephine Tapgun, Mr Solomon Dalung, and the incumbent minister of Labour and, Mr Simon Lalong, and the Northern zone, which has equally produced Chief Damishi Sango, the late Ishaya Aku, Emma Azi, Alhaji Dasuki Nakande, and Mrs Serah Ochepe. The former commissioner claimed that since the inception of this democratic dispensation, the central has been sidelined from federal appointments. He said it was time to redress the imbalance. “There is nothing wrong if, at the end of the day, the APC gubernatorial candidate wins at the Supreme Court and the ministerial slot is given to the Central Zone. There are clear instances of this in the past in Plateau State where both the governor and minister were from the same zone,” he said. He appealed to APC leader in the state, ex-Governor Lalong, who he described as a forthright leader, to consider the political configuration of Plateau and other relevant factors in his input into the choice of his successor.
In the opinion of some pundits, Lalong, as the leader of the party in the state and a few others, hold the ace over who becomes the minister. However, there are forces within the party also working assiduously to position their cronies for the job. These forces are using their individual connections at the centre.
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