The North-Central All Progressives Congress, APC, Forum has thanked Plateau State governor, Caleb Mutfwang, for “heeding” its call to defect to the party from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP.
Muftwang’s defection was officially confirmed on Thursday night by APC national chairman Prof Nentawe Yilwatda at the party’s 14th national caucus meeting, held at the State House Conference Centre in Abuja.
Reacting to the development on Friday in a statement by its Chairman, Alhaji Saleh Zazzaga, the North-Central APC Forum, which has for more than one year – since April 2024 – been campaigning for Muftwang to join the APC, welcomed the Plateau governor to the party and assured him of all needed support.
The Forum, in the statement, noted that Muftwang has instructed all his aides to move with him to the APC.
Describing the governor’s defection as “historic” and “strategic”, the Forum observed that the North-Central is now the only zone in the country that has six APC governors.
“We, the North-Central APC Forum, are happy to announce the successful culmination of our agitation and campaign for Governor Caleb Muftwang of Plateau State to join the APC. We thank Governor Muftwang for heeding our call, which was prompted by our commitment to the interests of Plateau State and the entire North-Central.
“Our campaign for Muftwang to join APC was informed by his good works and achievements in office, and because we believe he has the capacity to even do more if he is in a stable political platform such as the one provided by the APC. We also believe that joining the APC will give Governor Mutfwang the opportunity to join hands with President Bola Tinubu to, more effectively, deliver the dividends of democracy to the people of Plateau State.
“With this development, the North-Central is now the only zone with six APC governors as all the six states in the region are now APC. This is a historic development which has actualized our vision of delivering the entire North-Central to our great party.
“We are certain that this strategic move by Governor Muftwang will benefit the entire North-Central, not only the people of Plateau State. We assure Governor Muftwang of our full support and call on all stakeholders to rally round him as he contributes to move the party forward,” the statement said.
The APC Forum restated its pledge to deliver six million votes from the North-Central for Tinubu’s re-election in 2027. The Forum had initially promised four million votes towards the President’s re-election but in April 2025, raised the figure to six million votes, while also announcing a goal to win all elective positions in the zone in 2027 “to show that in truth, the North-Central is for APC”.
“Our pledge to deliver six million votes for Mr President is on course, especially now that all the states in the zone are with APC. Mr President can rest assured concerning the votes of the North-Central when it is time for his re-election in 2027,” the statement said.
In the same vein, the Forum thanked Tinubu for providing the leadership that made it possible for Mutfwang to join the APC.
It would be recalled that the North-Central APC Forum had in April 2024 sent a letter to Mutfwang, formally inviting him to join the APC, shortly after the Supreme Court affirmed his election as governor of Plateau State.
The APC Forum also sent a letter to the party’s national secretariat notifying it of the decision to invite Mutfwang to join the party. As part of the push to draft Mutfwang into the APC, the North-Central APC Forum, in March 2024, held a meeting in Abuja with leaders and chieftains of the party in Plateau State, to strategize on the plan to poach Mutfwang from the PDP.
In December 2024, there were rumours that Mutfwang has defected to the APC. The rumours followed the circulation of Mutfwang’s photograph among those of APC governors during the September 2024 governorship election in Edo State.
Mutfwang, however, distanced himself from the rumours, and reaffirmed his membership of the PDP, in a statement released by his Director of Press and Public Affairs, Gyang Bere.
However, the North-Central APC Forum continued to call on the governor to join the APC and take up the leadership of the party in Plateau State. And with the PDP continuously rocked by crisis, the Forum intensified the campaign to recruit Muftwang, advising the governor to join the party to avoid “drowning with the PDP”.
Muftwang’s defection to the APC was opposed by some leaders of the party in Plateau State, who at a stakeholders meeting in Jos on October 17, 2025, endorsed a motion, moved by former Deputy National Secretary, Barrister Festus Fuanter, which opposed Mutfwang’s possible defection to the APC.
“I move the motion against accepting Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang joining the APC,” Fuanter had said. The motion was also unanimously accepted by the stakeholders
But reacting to the position of the Plateau APC leaders, the North-Central APC Forum said those opposed to Mutfwang’s defection to the APC are doing so for selfish reasons, and not for the interest of the party.
Following protests and rallies against Muftwang’s defection, staged by some APC members, including the women chapter, in Jos, the Forum accused party national chairman, Yilwatda, of sponsoring moves to block the Plateau governor from joining the party, describing his alleged action as undemocratic.
Yilwatda was the APC governorship candidate in Plateau in the 2023 election but lost to Muftwang, then of the APC. The North-Central APC Forum said Yilwatda intends to contest the governorship election again in 2027, hence his opposition to Mutfwang’s coming.
The North-Central Forum APC went ahead to declare that the national chairman has no role to play in Muftwang’s defection, and cannot stop the Plateau governor from joining any time he makes up his mind to join the APC. It noted that only the APC executives at the governor’s ward in Mangu have the authority to admit him into the party. The Forum equally urged the Mangu Ward executives to openly invite Muftwang to join the APC.
In the same vein, the North-Central APC Forum called on President Bola Tinubu and APC governors, under the umbrella of the Progressive Governors Forum, to intervene and pave the way for Muftwang’s defection.
