22/08/2026
SEPARATING THE FACTS FROM THE FICTION: GOVERNOR MUTFWANG'S POLITICAL MATURITY, MAGNANIMITY AND SACRIFICE FOR THE UNITY OF THE APC
By Plateau Progressive Alliance For Peace And Good Governance (PPAPGG)
22nd August, 2026.
A narrative is increasingly being promoted by a section of the APC in Plateau that governor Mutfwang has marginalized the Legacy group, reneged on an alleged 60/40 agreement, and deliberately created divisions within the party.
That narrative deserves to be tested against the available political record.
These allegations are totally false, completely repugnant and smack of mischief. The facts are readily available.
On the alleged 60/40 sharing of government appointments: there was no such agreement.
Simply put... Governor Mutfwang did not and has never promised anybody 40 percent of government appointments. He has never approached governance as a political spoils system in which offices are distributed according to factions.
His record is clear: appointments are based primarily on competence, capacity, integrity, experience and the ability to contribute to the work of government.
That is precisely why his administration has made room for many people who belong neither to the APC nor to any political party, demonstrating that for Mutfwang, competence and capacity to serve Plateau have always mattered more than the colour of one’s party card or political affiliations.
Indeed, the Governor has appointed people he barely knew personally because their credentials and track records recommended them.
To reduce such decisions to a crude political arithmetic is to fundamentally misunderstand both the man and his philosophy of governance.
There was, however, an understanding concerning party positions, intended to bring together the Governor's supporters and those who were already members of the APC before his arrival.
The understanding was that the Governor's supporters would have 60 percent of party positions, while the Legacy Group would have 40 percent.
But let us examine what has actually happened.
*THE NUMBERS DO NOT SUPPORT THE MARGINALIZATION NARRATIVE*
After the party congresses, the overwhelming majority of the APC executive structure remains made up of people who were members of the party before Governor Mutfwang joined it.
*APC STATE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE*
1. Chairman – (Legacy Group)
2. Deputy Chairman – (Legacy Group)
3. Secretary – (Legacy Group)
4. Assistant Secretary – (Legacy Group)
5. Legal Adviser – (Legacy Group)
6. Assistant Legal Adviser – (Governor’s Group)
7. Organising Secretary – (Legacy Group)
8. Assistant Organising Secretary – (Governor’s Group)
9. Treasurer – (Legacy Group)
10. Assistant Treasurer – (Governor’s Group)
11. Financial Secretary – (Governor’s Group)
12. Assistant Financial Secretary – (Legacy Group)
13. Women Leader – (Legacy Group)
14. Assistant Women Leader – (Governor’s Group)
15. Youth Leader – (Legacy Group)
16. Assistant Youth Leader – (Legacy Group)
17. Northern Zone Vice Chairman – (Legacy Group)
18. Central Zone Vice Chairman
19. Southern Zone Vice Chairman
20. Welfare Secretary – (Legacy Group)
21. Assistant Welfare Secretary – (Governor’s Group)
22. Publicity Secretary – (Legacy Group)
23. Assistant Publicity Secretary – (Legacy Group)
24. People with Disabilities Leader – (Legacy Group)
25. Auditor – (Governor’s Group)
26. Assistant Auditor – (Legacy Group)
27. Zonal Youth Leader (North) – (Legacy Group)
28. Zonal Youth Leader (Central) – (Governor’s Group)
29. Zonal Youth Leader (South) – (Governor’s Group)
30. Zonal Women Leader (North) – (Legacy Group)
31. Zonal Women Leader (Central) – (Governor’s Group)
32. Zonal Women Leader (South) – (Governor’s Group)
33. Ex-Officio I – (Governor’s Group)
34. Ex-Officio II – (Governor’s Group)
35. Ex-Officio III – (Legacy Group)
36. Ex-Officio IV – (Governor’s Group)
_*LEGACY GROUP: 18 (52.94%), GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 14 (41.18%)*_
*STATE WORKING COMMITTEE COMPOSITION*
*TOTAL:* 18 SWC MEMBERS
LEGACY GROUP: 15 (83.3%)
GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 3 (16.7%)
*LGA PARTY CHAIRMEN*
1. Shendam – (Legacy Group)
2. Qua’an Pan – (Governor’s Group)
3. Mikang – (Governor’s Group)
4. Langtang South – (Legacy Group)
5. Langtang North – (Governor’s Group)
6. Wase – (Legacy Group)
7. Kanam – (Legacy Group)
8. Kanke – (Legacy Group)
9. Pankshin – (Legacy Group)
10. Mangu – (Governor’s Group)
11. Bokkos – (Governor’s Group)
12. Barkin Ladi – (Legacy Group)
13. Riyom – (Legacy Group)
14. Jos South – (Governor’s Group)
15. Jos North – (Governor’s Group)
16. Jos East – (Legacy Group)
17. Bassa – (Governor’s Group)
_*LEGACY GROUP: 9 (52.94%), GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 8 (47.06%)*_
The pattern is remarkably consistent across the party structure: the Legacy Group holds 83.3% of the State Working Committee positions against just 16.7% for the Governor’s Group; 52.9% of the identified State Executive Committee positions against 41.2% for the Governor’s Group; and 52.9% of the 17 LGA party chairmanships against 47.1% for the Governor’s Group. Far from being systematically excluded, the Legacy Group has the larger share at every level, overwhelmingly so at the State Working Committee level, making the central question unavoidable: who, in reality, is dominating whom?
The Governor has not merely honoured the spirit of accommodation; he has bent considerably in the direction of the Legacy Group in the larger interest of party unity.
The same generosity is visible in the distribution of elective opportunities, as evidenced below...
*APC CANDIDATES FOR 2027*
*HOUSE OF ASSEMBLY*
1. Hon. Isah Madaki Ajiji – Jos East (Legacy Group)
2. Hon. Moses Dachung Dadon – Riyom (Legacy Group)
3. Hon. Kwarpo Sylvanus Mathew – Mangu (Legacy Group)
4. Hon. Idris Kalamu Dal – Dengi (Legacy Group)
5. Hon. Ibrahim Galadima – Wase (Legacy Group)
6. Hon. Abel Nimchak Nansak – Langtang-North North (Legacy Group)
7. Hon. Bendel Nanchwat – Langtang-South (Legacy Group)
8. Hon. Joseph Langkwap Bukar – Shendam (Legacy Group)
9. Hon. Owen K. Dagogot – Qua’an Pan North (Legacy Group)
10. Rt. Hon. Naanlong Gapyil Daniel – Mikang (Legacy Group)
11. Hon. Cornelius Doeyok – Qua’an Pan South (Governor’s Group)
12. Hon. Nandir Lar – Langtang North Central (Legacy Group)
13. Hon. Aliyu S. Ali – Kantana (Governor’s Group)
14. Hon. Rotshak Yokden – Pankshin North (Legacy Group)
15. Arch. Dafur Nanpan Daniel – Pankshin South (Governor’s Group)
16. Hon. Sani Golden – Mangu North (Governor’s Group)
17. Hon. Luka Makut – Bokkos (Legacy Group)
18. Hon. Philip Jwe – Barkin Ladi (Governor’s Group)
19. Hon. Danjuma Azi – Jos North West (Governor’s Group)
20. Hon. Happiness Akawu – Pengana (Governor’s Group)
21. Hon. Abdulkadir Hassan – Jos North North (Legacy Group)
22. Hon. Mancha John Vincent – Jos South (Governor’s Group)
23. Hon. Isaiah Randa – Rukuba/Irigwe (Legacy Group)
24. Hon. Kevin Pankshin – Kanke (Legacy Group)
_*LEGACY GROUP: 67%, GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 33%*_
*HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES*
1. Joseph Dashe – Mikang/Shendam/Qua’an Pan (Governor’s Group)
2. Hon. Beni Lar – Langtang North/Langtang South (Governor’s Group)
3. Idris Maje – Wase (Legacy Group)
4. Yusuf Gagdi – Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam (Legacy Group)
5. Ishaya Lalu – Mangu/Bokkos (Legacy Group)
6. Sanchos Dalyop – Barkin Ladi/Riyom (Legacy Group)
7. Baggos Dachung – Jos South/Jos East (Governor’s Group)
8. Sadiq Plaza – Jos North/Bassa (Legacy Group)
_*LEGACY GROUP: 62.5%, GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 37.5%*_
*SENATE*
1. Sen. Simon Lalong – Southern Zone (Legacy Group)
2. Barji David – Central Zone (Legacy Group)
3. Sen. Simon Mwadkon – Northern Zone (Governor’s Group)
_*LEGACY GROUP: 67%, GOVERNOR’S GROUP: 33%*_
Of the 24 APC House of Assembly candidates listed for the 2027 elections, 16 are from the Legacy Group, while only 8 came into the APC with Governor Mutfwang.
That is approximately 67 percent Legacy to 33 percent Governor's Group. Read that again.
The supposed “marginalised” group has twice the representation of the Governor's own political family.
At the House of Representatives level, the picture is similar. Of the eight APC candidates, five are from the Legacy Group and only three are from the Governor's group — approximately 63 percent to 38 percent.
At the Senate level, two of the three APC candidates are Legacy politicians, while only one comes from the Governor's political family — approximately 67 percent to 33 percent.
So if the Governor was determined to exclude the Legacy Group, as the propagandists claim, why do the numbers consistently tell the opposite story?
*THE GOVERNOR HAS BENT BACKWARDS FOR UNITY*
Lest we forget, the Legacy Group still enjoys the lion’s share of Plateau’s federal appointments, yet the Governor has never demanded that these be “re-jigged” to enforce a 60/40 formula.
There is a tendency in Nigerian politics to mistake magnanimity for weakness. That would be a grave mistake here. The governor is well aware that the vast powers of his office provide the latitude to enforce his will if he so chooses.
He chose accommodation over confrontation and unity over factional arithmetic.
He has gone further, rejecting the labels “Legacy Group” and “Governor’s Group.” His position is unequivocal: there is no longer either group. There is only the APC.
Mutfwang’s record as a bridge-builder predates his APC defection. After the 2023 elections, he was left governing with an Assembly dominated by the opposition APC after the Court of Appeal nullified the mandates of virtually all those elected alongside him.
Yet, for nearly three years, he worked with that Assembly without debilitating political warfare. That is unprecedented in the history of Plateau State’s Fourth Republic.
A Governor who achieved what many thought impossible, governing peacefully with a legislature dominated by his political opponents, is now being portrayed as a factional politician?
The claim collapses under the weight of the evidence.
The facts have spoken. The record has spoken. It is time for the rumours to stop.
Signed - Johnson Nanyah
Plateau Progressive Alliance For Peace And Good Governance
(PPAPGG).
