Plateau: Significance of Lalong’s victory

The gubernatorial election in Plateaus State was one of the most keenly contested, and generated several commentaries in the media for many reasons, chief of which is the nature of the emergence of Senator Pwajok as candidate of the PDP. Apart from allegations that he was a stooge of outgoing Governor Jonah Jang, other contentions […]

The gubernatorial election in Plateaus State was one of the most keenly contested, and generated several commentaries in the media for many reasons, chief of which is the nature of the emergence of Senator Pwajok as candidate of the PDP.
Apart from allegations that he was a stooge of outgoing Governor Jonah Jang, other contentions were that he was blood relations of Jang. One fact is however clear; his emergence as candidate of the PDP from the northern zone rather than the southern zone not only fractured the party leading to a horde of defections but polarized the state.
Although zoning as a policy may not be explicitly enshrined in the PDP constitution, many people however expected that for fairness and inclusiveness, the governorship slot should have been given to the southern zone. I was one of the first to publicly call for the governorship slot to be left to the southern zone (see Daily Trust).
Since this was jettisoned, and with emergence of Mr Lalong, from southern zone as the candidate of the APC; Senator Pwajok was now pitted not only against PDP adherents of zoning, but also many others who felt that the Berom as an ethnic group to which both Sen. Pwajok and outgoing Governor Jang belong, should have allowed another ethnic group to occupy the office, in view of the plural nature of Plateau State. It was not about Senator Pwajok, who as an individual, can be described as one of the finest brains on the Plateau but it was the manner of his emergence and in Nigerian party politics, this cannot be ignored because the process is as important as the candidate.
Thus, Senator Pwajok’s defeat by Mr Lalong has raised several significant lessons which, in my view, may alter the nature of politics on the Plateau in the future.
The first lesson is that no one ethnic group has the capacity or the numbers to decide who should become the governor of Plateau State. During the electioneering, there were all manner of accusations and so-called boastings that the single largest ethnic group in the state could decide who would win the state’s governorship election. But the Lalong victory was based on a strategy of cobbling together all ethnic groups on the Plateau and, by doing this, it demonstrated that all ethnic groups resident in Plateau State need each other and must learn to respect each other and co-exist with one other. This is the surest way that we can unite the state and enthrone lasting peace after decades of ethno-religious crises and polarized communities.
A second lesson from the victory is the fact that though money plays a very significant role in Nigerian politics, there is now a limit to how much victory it can “buy” for you.
In terms of funding, the Senator Pwajok campaign dwarfed Mr Lalong’s by a very wide margin.   Apart from enjoying the backing of a well-oiled PDP campaign machinery, with all the resources from Abuja, Senator Pwajok was backed to the hilt by outgoing Governor Jang, along with the attendant government machinery. In addition Pwajok, being a serving Senator had additional advantages which cannot be compared to those of Mr Lalong who left public office in 2007 and has been in private legal consultancy since then.
Going by the number of billboards, posters, campaign vehicles, adverts etc, Senator Pwajok was everywhere, all over the state, when compared to Mr Lalong, who virtually had no billboard, but only few posters and flyers.
And yet the people voted for Mr Lalong, thereby demonstrating that the average electorate in Plateau State, like in other parts of Nigeria, has now become more politically aware and savvy and may no longer be swayed by issues of yesterday. From now going forward, we cannot take people for granted.
Thirdly, Lalong’s triumph has shown the rising power of volunteerism in Nigerian politics. Because of the large influx of money in Nigerian politics, especially in the last decade, most people are used to “kayan aiki”, i.e. financial resources, before they go out to campaign. PDP as a party almost made it a culture. However, a significant number of people that worked in the Lalong campaign were unpaid volunteers, especially the youth and unpaid public servants, who gave their time and meagre resources for a cause they strongly believed in. For them, the Lalong project represented a fight against a growing Du village political dynasty, something alien to the Plateau man, thus reinforcing the position that when people believe in a cause, they can go to any length to fight for it.
As Mr Lalong prepares to take up the challenge of leading a fractured Plateau State after Jonah Jang, it is my hope that these lessons can provide a backdrop for some of his policy initiates.

Gomos, OFR, a former Secretary to the Plateau State Government, wrote from Jos <[email protected]>;