He handled his Facebook account, in particular, himself, you could actually feel the connection and personal touch. He was also available to answer any questions and to offer clarifications promptly. I hoped he won the APC primaries as a first step, and happily he did.Some decried his emergence as an ‘imposition’ by the outgone governor, Simon Lalong. I didn’t quite follow the events to ascertain whether this allegation was correct or not but one thing I sure: that Lalong did support his candidacy. In my view, Lalong supporting him was the only reasonable thing he did in the 8 disastrous years he misruled Plateau!
Among the few states I was particularly interested in the governorship during electioneering was Plateau. My preferred candidate even before the primaries was Dr Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe. I don’t think any governorship candidate did their campaign like his. The engagement was fresh, youthful, and organic. His vision for Plateau was clear, so was his proposed means to achieving it. Why whatever he set out to do was top priority and in the best interests of the state, and the path chosen to achieve it the best and most pragmatic.
He handled his Facebook account, in particular, himself, you could actually feel the connection and personal touch. He was also available to answer any questions and to offer clarifications promptly. I hoped he won the APC primaries as a first step, and happily he did.Some decried his emergence as an ‘imposition’ by the outgone governor, Simon Lalong. I didn’t quite follow the events to ascertain whether this allegation was correct or not but one thing I sure: that Lalong did support his candidacy. In my view, Lalong supporting him was the only reasonable thing he did in the 8 disastrous years he misruled Plateau!
Rodney Adzuanaga told me about a certain Caleb Mutfwang, the PDP governorship candidate, and had very nice things to say about him. I told him I knew nothing about him apart from the very impressive branding his campaign had. Its visual communication—from his billboards, signage, and other visuals I saw in Jos—was top notch and I’m not sure I saw any governorship candidate with such a professionally-conducted visual communication: the deliberateness and consistency. I checked his website and further online to confirm all Rodney had said. Very impressive, I must say. I thought he was another Nentawe, essentially on the same wavelength.
Plateau didn’t like APC (from my reading of things) because they needed to purge out Lalong and anything associated with him. The APC Muslim/Muslim ticket didn’t help matters either. Nentawe, therefore, had the support because of his person, his message and messaging, and what he had to offer. My conclusion was either way the election went the winner in the end would be Plateau. I don’t know many states that had such quality of leading candidates whereby any direction the tide swept the state would be the winner.
Caleb Mutfwang was declared winner amidst great jubilation. (This victory is being challenged in court.) Unlike the other election whereby the ‘winner’ was declared (at an odd hour) and everywhere went quiet like somebody had died, and even the inauguration came and went like nothing happened, not only in Abuja but everywhere else. Not so in Plateau, there was excitement in the air.
Mutfwang’s first duty as Plateau governor after appointing his private secretary, secretary to the state government, and attorney-general (designate) was to sack all appointees of the previous regime. ‘I hereby authorise the immediate dissolution of all Chief Executives, Chairmen, and members of Commissions, Boards, and Parastatals, except for those specified in the Constitution as Statutory Commissions’, he wrote on Twitter. That was the official communication relieving them of their duties, using Twitter!
First, official communications directed to public officials using Twitter is off, and rather demeaning to me. It’s somewhat in the manner people were sacked by the military and learnt about listening to the news on radio. Second, all government appointees can’t all be bad and unfit, if the goal is governance and not empire building to replace all positions with loyalists, which makes it about self.
The proper and standard practice would’ve been to compile a list of suitable people for each position and appoint them, as against sacking everybody all at once and leaving vacuums everywhere. Filling hundreds of positions is demanding and time consuming, this ought to have been done between March and May before the inauguration, now it’ll take time and effort that could better have been used for other things that have direct impact on the good people of Plateau. Why this action is significant and to be the second upon swearing in is what I don’t get.
Not done, he sacked all 17 democratically-elected local government administrations in the state. It is one thing to sack government appointees (who serve at the pleasure of the governor) it is yet another to sack democratically-elected officials. Simply put, this is a coup.
I’m ashamed beyond words that Caleb Mutfwang, a lawyer of 3 decades, feels okay to carry out a coup in a civilian dispensation. The only lawful, recognised manner of replacing elected officials is through elections. This ought to be simple and straightforward enough. I don’t want to mention decided cases of the Supreme Court on this issue of governors sacking elected local government officials which he is much aware of.
This action of Mutfwang is even more embarrassing on 2 other counts apart from himself being a lawyer and should know better:
During electioneering, at every turn identified as a ‘Christian’ this, ‘Christian’ that. This is precisely why I’m wary of people who wear their religion as an identity as against keeping it personal and private for others to see their good works and acknowledge that they are different and seek to understand why. What is Christian about the unlawful, illegal, unconstitutional breach of ‘suspending’ democratically-elected officials because one feels that they can, and the worst anybody can do is to go to court?
In 2015, Caleb Mutfwang, then the democratically-elected chairman of Mangu Local Government Area, was along with 16 other colleagues, all of the PDP, unlawfully sacked by Simon Lalong, the newly-elected governor who was of the APC, in a civilian coup using the state assembly. I guess that made Mutfwang happy, and today he’s in the position to do same to others. I feel disgusted.
In less than a week, Caleb Mutfwang of Plateau shows that he may not have run for office to unite the good people of Plateau towards a common vision, and to put the state on the global map where she rightly belongs, but seek vendetta, create enemies, build self-seeking, self-serving empire, and waste precious years in office chasing shadows.
Sesugh Akume, a public policy analyst writes from Abuja.