EDITORIAL: PLATEAU GOVERNOR-ELECT’S EMERGENCE AND WHAT CALEB MUTFWANG (ESQ) MUST LEARN AND DO…BEFORE TOMORROW COMES

Since Sunday the 19^th of November, 2023, there have been jubilations and sadness expressed and showcased in different quarters of Plateau State against or in favour of the Judgment of the Court of Appeal, Abuja Division that sacked the incumbent Governor of Plateau State, Governor Caleb Mutfwang (Esq) and in his Place, Dr. Nentawe Yilwatda, as Governor-Elect.

GOVERNOR- ELECT, DR. NENTAWE

Although Governor Mutfwang still has a step more to challenge the Court of Appeal’s Judgment at the Supreme Court of Nigeria, he must acknowledge now that as a professional Lawyer, his seat and position have been taken away from under his feet.

He must therefore start reassessing all that he has been told, formally or informally of the case at hand concerning the Petition filed by the All Progressives Congress (APC) and its Candidates across the Election Petition Tribunals that sat in Plateau State.

Like Mutfwang would always remind the citizens in the state, “After God, is Government”. So, as he struggles for his seat before tomorrow comes, he must try to make amendments in areas that would make the citizens of the state remember him.

L-R: MUTFWANG AND NENTAWE

Governor Mutfwang (Esq) must know:

1. That, if tomorrow comes, and he does not get his seat and position back, it simply means he was never a Governor of Plateau State, as the Governorship election of 2023 in Plateau State cannot produce two Governors under the Law.
2. That, as he begins his own process of filing an Appeal, there is already a Governor-Elect waiting for his swearing-in ceremony.
3. That, all those who might have been his Advisers (Formally and Informally) would soon start redefining their association with him.
4. That, the suspended 17 Local Government Council (LGC) Chairmen who are still challenging their suspension at the Plateau State High Court would still be having their day, while he is out of office.
5. Governor Mutfwang must know that if tomorrow comes and he is not on seat, his less than seven 7 months administration would be probed alongside the Budget and advancements approved by the State House of Assembly.
6. Mutfwang must also realize that, before even leaving office the same House that was occupied by 15 members of his political party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) would no longer be there, owing to the spate, and wave of their sack at the Court of Appeal in the last few days.
7. That, the suspension of the Chairmen might be reversed is a possibility Mutfwang must note, as the changing of the Clerk and Deputy Clerk may not be a possible solution too.

Before tomorrow comes:

1. It is expected that Governor Mutfwang would look into the issues above and make peace with the sacked LGC Chairmen, the alleged sacked workers employed by the immediate past administration, and de-freeze the accounts of these Chairmen, with those of their family members.
2. It is expected that the Governor would begin the process of resolving the animosity already generated in Plateau Central Senatorial District, over the seat he is currently occupying.
3. He must learn not to use media men and media houses not registered or known to the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) by knowing the actual role of Journalists in a Democracy such as the one being practiced in Plateau State and the country at large.
4. He must know that the publishing of pieces of propaganda is not the job of a journalist, but the presentation of facts as they are with no aim to deceive the innocent and unsuspecting Nigerian citizen.