PDP’s loss at centre boosts APC’s chances in Plateau

The victory recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, analysts say, has affected political leanings in Plateau State.Political pundits argue that the party’s victory at the national level has not only given Plateau APC refreshing confidence but also endeared the party to politicians and electorate, who […]

The victory recorded by the All Progressives Congress (APC) during the March 28 presidential and National Assembly elections, analysts say, has affected political leanings in Plateau State.
Political pundits argue that the party’s victory at the national level has not only given Plateau APC refreshing confidence but also endeared the party to politicians and electorate, who believe in being where the action is. Many believe that APC could replicate its victory in Plateau State.
In what appears as a major jolt for ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tuesday, Ambassador Bagudu Hirse, governorship candidate of Labour Party (LP), stepped down his ambition in favour of his APC counterpart, Barrister Simon Lalong.
Bagudu, who stormed the Nigerian Union of Journalists (NUJ) Centre in Jos to make his decision known, did so with members of his campaign team, pledging to make all his supporters vote Lalong  in tomorrow’s governorship election.
“It will be foolhardy for any politician to see the wind of change blowing across the country and go against it,” Hirse, a former minister of state for foreign affairs, said in reference to the emergence of Muhammadu Buhari as president-elect.
The Hirse’s entourage to the press briefing included a female governorship candidate, Mrs Elizabeth Yirse of the Mega Progressive Peoples Party (MPPP), who is barely known to many, including journalists, before the media event. She announced the withdrawal of her candidature in favour of Lalong.
Wednesday became the turn of some community leaders spread across the state to rush to the press centre to declare their support for Lalong, a former speaker of the House of Assembly. They said he is the man to support for tomorrow’s election.
Representatives of 20 of the over 50 ethnic communities making up the state, signed a statement under the auspices of Plateau Unity Forum. Spokesman of the group, Sani Mu’azu, urged members in the villages to vote Lalong.
Plateau State has been a PDP state, which has repeatedly won the governorship elections since the return of democracy in 1999 when Joshua Dariye became governor and got re-elected in 2003. After Dariye’s eight years, incumbent governor Jonah Jang took over and got another mandate in 2011.
However, analysts say that the path to the Plateau Government House may not be easy for the PDP this time. The party’s woes began last year when outgoing Jang was accused of making plans to anoint Senator Gyang Pwajok, from Plateau North, like himself, as his preferred successor and stood his grounds even when it became widely known that the forces against his choice were many and determined to oppose Pwajok.
The APC, however, will have to do battle. Jang, for good or bad, has shown himself to be one who fights to the end. APC elements are already alleging plans by Jang to rig the elections.
Those speaking for Jang have been working hard to knock the allegations to pieces, but rigging is not necessarily the only way to victory for PDP even during hard times such as now.
Although it cannot be said now who, between Lalong and Pwajok will win tomorrow’s election, analysts say that the APC looks likely to have the upper hand, because of the gains it has made through defections into it before and after the March 28 polls.