Old, new members battle for Plateau Assembly Speakership

As the next set of members of the Plateau state House of Assembly awaits inauguration in June, the issue of who should occupy leadership positions in the House seems paramount on the minds of the legislators. As things stand, the race is between the old and new members.

Members-elect of the Plateau State house of Assembly are using the period preceding their inauguration to clean the stable as they are trying hard to resolve the issue of who becomes speaker, deputy speaker, majority and minority leaders as well as other leadership positions  before the formal inauguration of the House when they would give it an official endorsement.

On inauguration day, the main business of the House would be to elect its leaders hence the elected House members are using the pre-inauguration period to sort out the leadership issue before they commence sitting. The House is made up of 19 PDP members, one ACN member and four Labour Party members.

The scheming over who becomes Speaker has already divided the House into three camps with some of the members angling for the return of the current speaker, Istifanus Mwansat, while others made up of loyalists of the state governor, are rooting for John Clark Dabwar, the former minority leader in the House who defected to the PDP. Others, made up of those coming to the house for the first time are rooting for one of theirs to be speaker.

Sources indicate that a lot of intrigues are being implored and that the odds do not seem to favour the return of the speaker. The opposition to the return of Mwansat stems from two camps made up of that of the new members and the camp of those who have deliberately decided to wait for whoever the governor may settle for.

The camp of the new legislators are said to be insisting that one of them should be allowed to be in a leadership position since they constitute the majority in the House. There are 13 new members out of the 24 while the old members are only 11.

The grouse of the new legislators with Mwansat, according to findings, stems from the fact that some of them, especially those from the central senatorial zone of the state, are not satisfied with his role in the last general elections where they doubted his support to the PDP candidate in the senatorial elections who lost to the Labour Party candidate.

Mwansat equally has issues with the PDP in the state and by extension the state governor over how he handled the issue of the defection of some of the legislators from the PDP to the Labour Party where he refused to declare the seat of the 13 members that defected to the LP as he was asked to do.

But as the battle rages for the speaker, fresh intrigues have been added into the mix. Daily Trust  learnt that at a meeting which held in a guest house in Jos last week Wednesday, immediately the members were given their certificates of return, many of the new members said they prefer a fresh leadership structure so as to do away with the old order.

At the meeting, the new members were said to have stressed that they do not want to be involved with whatever problems that may have existed between the outgoing set and the executive hence would prefer a new leader.

They were also said to have argued that they stand a better chance electing one of their own who will carry them along and not one who will see them as freshers and may not take them into consideration in the scheme of things. The new members were said to have encouraged their colleagues to show interest in vying for the position of the speaker in case they are not able to reach a compromise with the older members and demanded to know if any of them was interested in the position of the speaker. Timothy Golu from Kanke constituency was said to have put up his hand to indicate interest.

Mwansat’s support stems from the camp of the returnee members who were formerly in the PDP but have now decamped to the Labour Party. This group is said to be having issues concerning their welfare and believes that it is only Mwansat that understands their plight and may be willing to do something about it.

This set of legislators have not been paid their allowances since they decamped to the Labour party and have resolved to pursue the matter since four of them have made it back to the House.There are, however, indications that the PDP members of the House who made it back to the House would prefer John Clark Dabwar  from Mangu South for the position.

Dabwar won a seat to the House on the platfrom of the AC and was one of those who moved against former speaker Emmanuel Goar against the wishes of the state governor then.

But since he moved to the PDP, Dabwar is believed to have purged himself of opposition traits and has shown loyalty to the executive arm of government. Those supporting Dabwar include members who owe their coming to the House to the support they received from the state governor.

But many things would come into play before a final decision is reached. One of the old members told our correspondent on condition of anonymity that things might change depending on how each of those interested in the position plays his card.

He said while it would appear that the odds do not seem to favour Mwansat at the moment, things might change if Mwansat, as he has been trying to do lately, succeeds in getting the support of the governor. He said this would help as many of the new legislators may not be willing to go against the wishes of the state governor at this stage.

But both Dabwar and Golu have also stepped up efforts in that regard trying to convince the governor that they are with him. While Dabwar is believed to have shown sufficient loyalty in the past to retain the support of the state governor, Golu has also given serious indication since he was elected to show that he would give an unalloyed support to the state governor if he becomes speaker.

Golu in a recent press interview told journalists that the period of confrontation between the House and the executive is over as the legislators are ready to work with the executive to ensure the progress of the state.

The ethnic factor may also come into play. Golu is an Ngas, while Mwansat is Mupun and Dabwar a Mwaghavul.

The Ngas are currently occupying the position of the PDP chairman in the state and also have a Reps member while the Mwaghavul have a House of Rep member. The seeming ethnic imbalance against the Mupuns may work in favour of Mwansat whose ethnic group does not have a high profile official in government in the current dispensation.

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