Latep Dabang is a chieftain of the Plateau State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and a Special Adviser to Governor Caleb Mutfwang. In this interview with KOLADE ADEYEMI, the former chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) speaks on the genesis of the crisis within the PDP in the North Central state, the perceived conflicting appeal court rulings on separate election cases on the Plateau and other partisan issues
What is the genesis of the crisis in the PDP, particularly as it affects the primaries ahead of the last general election, which has put the party in a tight corner today?
It could be traced to the internal crisis in the year 2020, which prevented the party from participating in the local government election of 2021. On the basis that, there was no valid exco on ground to conduct the primaries that will produce the counselors and chairmanship candidates for the election. The PDP factions dragged each other to court, and the court ruled that they should go back and perfect the structure. As a result of that, they did not participate in the local government election in 2021. But, much later in the year around September, that was about the time I joined the PDP, the party ordered for a fresh congress, which was conducted at Langfield, Jos. That congress went smoothly without any rancour. I remember clearly that even one of the contestants, Bitrus Kaze who contested for the party chairmanship position with Chris Hassan congratulated him after the results were declared.
To the best of my knowledge after the Landfield Congress, I’m not aware of any PDP person that went to court to express his grievances or displeasure over what transpired at Landfield. So, we left Landfield satisfied that the court order have been obeyed by the party; we had put up a valid structure for the party. That is the best I know about what transpired at that time. But, shortly, there was then the convention, where primaries that produced the candidates for the last general election. This came in 2022, in the wake of the signing of the Electoral Act 2022 into law. Part of the amendment stipulates that only delegates will participate in the election at the primaries. I remember clearly that the national secretariat sent in a delegation that was headed by the zonal chairman to conduct the election for delegates, which later picked the candidates at the primaries ahead of the 2023 election.
Thereafter, one of the aggrieved party man who had vied for the Langtang North House of Assembly ticket, felt aggrieved and decided to challenge the matter, using the 2021 issue to say that there was no valid structure on ground. As a result, he asked the court to nullify all the primaries that the PDP conducted on the Plateau. After losing the case at the high court, he went to the Court of Appeal and also lost; the Court of Appeal ruled that there was a valid structure on ground.
So, when we are talking of lack of structure, some of us are at a loss because in the first place, my understanding of elections of this nature is that the national secretariat of the party is the one that present candidates to INEC for elections. I’m also aware that the courts have ruled several times that when it comes to the issue of conducting primaries and presentation of candidates for election, it is the national secretariat of a party that has the right to do so. When you marry that with the fact that at the second congresses that took place there was nobody that complained to the best of my knowledge, it means that there were no issues arising from that congress. I’ve heard people arguing that there was no substantial compliance; if there were no substantial compliance, who is complaining? And who is the one that is saying that there was no substantial compliance?.
These are some of the areas that have bothered us so much. And what is substantial compliance, all you hear is that 12 local governments did not participate. When you go to the nitty gritty of it, you’re talking about 12 exco; the exco of 12, local governments. The entire number of people in that exco, which ought to have participated in the congress, if you add them up, they’re not even one over 1000 of the number of people that participated in the congress. So, if you have a congress that had over 2000 people, and you’re only talking about a handful per local government times 12, how does that affect the outcome of a congress? Even if they had gone to complain? What a tribunal or a court will look at is the number of votes cast? And the number of those that did not vote? And even if all of them votes for one candidate, would it change the result? If the answer is no, you can’t order for a by election in such cases? If the answer is yes, it is only then that you can contemplate a rerun.
So, I don’t know what is meant by substantial compliance in this case? The 12 local government exco in question have not gone to complain that because they did not participate, there was no compliance with a court order. In any case, there must have been a reason why those 12 local governments did not participate. It must also be a kind of consensus among them not to participate; there must have been a reason. I say this because they didn’t complain. If they had gone to complain, I would have said maybe there was no reason. But, as it is, there must have been a genuine reason why those 12 local government excos did not participate. So, for me, it looks very strange; that something buried by a political party somewhere somehow is being resurrected to solve some people’s problems. This is the way I see it.
Many observers have questioned the the way and manner Plateau case was handled at the Court of Appeal. What’s your comment on that?
I don’t know what informed the Court of Appeal to dedicate one panel to handle Plateau cases when other states do not have privilege. It suggests that there was a vested interest to ensure that Plateau went the way it did. But, I would leave that to the court of public opinion.
It is unfortunate that we have that kind of situation. That is why quite a number of us don’t believe that there was any intention to give justice to Plateau State. Otherwise, why was the case of Plateau so special that you have to have a dedicated panel to handle all the cases?
But, a chieftain of the Plateau chapter of the PDP, Fidelis Tapgun has come out to say that the has no structure. How do you react to this?
Fidelis Tapgun, to the best of my knowledge belongs to the aggrieved party. So, he’s only saying what members of his group wants the world to believe. When I joined the PDP, what I saw on ground are two contending groups or interests: the pro-Jang and the pro-Useni groups. Tapgun belongs to the pro-Useni group. Those of us in the PDP know this but people outside the party may assume that he is speaking from a very fair and independent point of view. This is certainly not the case. He belongs to the group that challenged the outcome of the congress that led to the repeated congress. So I think they are simply following a script. So, I’m not surprised about what he’s saying.
But, are you not surprise that a member of your party’s Board of Trustee (BOT) can come up with such a comment?
This is the ugly story of politics in Nigeria. Where god fathers or certain personalities will sit down and insist that things must go their way. If it things are not done their own way, then there is no democracy. If, for instance, group A succeeded and group B fails, group B will say let’s scuttle it. That is exactly what is going on. So, the fact that he is a member of the Board of Trustees does not insulate him from this kind of attitude and behaviour in the Nigerian politics where people want to be lord to themselves; we have taken selfishness too far. It is time Nigerians tell off these kinds of self-serving politicians; we have had enough of their selfish game.
In the case of these conflicting judgments from the Court of Appeal over Plateau election cases, what do you think the NJC should do?
The body can review cases already decided by the court. But; it depends on the case in question. We are talking about election petition tribunal here, which is different from other matters. However, parties to the case has the right to approach the NJC and seek for a review of their case if they have good grounds to do so. They have lawyers, and their lawyers should know better whether the case can be reviewed or not. If the laws does not include such matters for review, that would be the end of the matter. In this case, we are believing that the Supreme Court will do the right thing.
Ironically, the current president of the Court of Appeal is from Plateau State. There are insinuations in some quarters that she may have influenced Plateau cases at that level. What’s your opinion on that?
I cannot say with confidence that the president of the Court of Appeal has any influence in Plateau cases before her. We are proud she is from Plateau State; she is our own. It is unfortunate that she found herself in that position at this critical period. It will be difficult for me to begin to cast aspersions on the personality of the president of the Court of Appeal for the simple fact that she does not sit on the appeal panel. It is a panel of Judges that sit on the appeal and decide.
But many across the country have insinuated that the enemy of Plateau State is a Plateau indigene. For instance, a situation where a special panel had to be instituted to handle Plateau election cases is suspicious. The question people are asking is, why did she dedicate one panel to handle Plateau alone, whereas that is not the case for other states? This is where the problem is? That is why people are having this feeling that there must be a smoke behind the fire.
What is your expectation from the Supreme over the governorship election case?
If all the facts at our disposal are presented and are properly analyzed the way we are seeing it, I believe that the Supreme Court should be able to distinguish between what is a pre-election matter and what is not, particularly as it concerns Plateau in this case. In other words, what we are saying is that all that took place during the PDP congress up to the point of the second congress is a pre-election matter. This is because nobody has approached any court in this country to challenge the second congress. The person who attempted it, I said was a candidate who lost out and his prayers borders on the PDP structure. But, the Court of Appeal said no; that the PDP has structure. So, if all these rulings were presented before the tribunal, and they still went ahead to do what they did, it is left for the Supreme Court, which has ruled several times on similar cases, to look at it and tell us what is the distinguishing factor that would make the case of Plateau different from the others that we have seen. It’s up to the Supreme Court. But, for me, and for those of us who may not have the legal eyes and are seeing it from the layman’s point of view, I believe that the Supreme Court will do justice.
Looking at those behind the impasse, within the PDP, talking about the personnel, what is your advice?
Well, I have always advised that we should close ranks. This is because the bottom line of whatever we are doing is to give service to the people. That is one. Two, democracy, they say is a government of the people, by the people and for the people. So, if you’re in democracy, whether it is at party level or governance level, is about the interests of the majority within the association. If the majority have spoken, whether it’s in your favour or not, you must learn to swallow it. Like in this case, they will tell you they were aggrieved and they went to court. Yes, the court have ruled that it will say there was a repeated congress where all of them participated. After that repeated congress, they have not gone anywhere to complain. If that was done, they need to tell us where and the outcome.
With what is going on at the court, how does that portray politicians on the Plateau?
It portrays us in very bad light. You have a situation where the state for the first time, probably I may be wrong or I may be right, that you have to turn out in large numbers for an election that far exceeds what has happened in the past. If you take the candidates one by one and the votes they earned in 2023 elections, compared with past elections, you can see the level of love and concern and commitment on the part of the people of Plateau State towards the PDP and its candidates. If you take Napoleon Bali who contested for the Plateau South senatorial seat, he won his election with a gap of over 57,100 votes. If you go into history, I’m not aware of any senatorial candidates that have won an election with such a margin. Secondly, if you take Governor Mutfwang, it is the same story. He got such a massive support from the people of Plateau State. It is the same for all the PDP candidates, including Isaac Kwallu, Bagos and Madkwon. You can see massive for the first time; it is like people put in their heart in it. And suddenly, the judges said no on this grounds of technicality, which we are also contesting. This people cannot be in the position in which Plateau people has placed them. Whether you like it or not, it is a very bad omen for the state. It can give room to crisis. It can give room to lack of cooperation, even if the government is not PDP, the people on ground are PDP. So, you are likely going to have a scenario where two things could happen. You could have a government that is very shaky. Or you could have a repeat of Zamfara situation, the government was given to one party, the PDP. I see a situation where Plateau people will simply say, let us sit down and wait patiently for 2027 to come to see how they will repeat what they did in 2023.
You were a former APC chairman who joined the PDP after President Buhari secured his second term mandate. What informed such move?
I resigned and left the APC due to the high handedness of the then Governor Simon Lalong. He would not allow internal democracy in the party, and could not tolerate such. That is why I am most surprised today that the APC is accusing the PDP of not having structures. For me, if there is any political Party that has no structure on the Plateau, it is the APC. All of us are living witnesses to how the leadership of the party emerged. In 2021, the APC collapsed. No doubt about that.
It became obvious that internal democracy was not going to be obeyed. Councillorship candidate, chairmanship candidates were simply selected. And when it got to the congresses all the election or purported congresses that took place at local and ward levels were stage-managed.
So, I am at a loss why they are accusing the PDP of having no structure. We know the circumstances that prevented us from participating in the local government election and the court said we should go and repeat it. It’s also on record that the congress was successfully held where the current leadership of the PDP emerged and in this second congress, nobody complained because there were no issues. It ought to have been settled out of court. But, unfortunately, it was never settled. I know that Ibrahim Kaze, Yahuza Pankwal and Innocent Maimageni are still in court battling to rectify that.
