Mutfwang: More Of Celebration Than Defection

By Abimbola Tooki

The entire city of Jos stood still.
Not metaphorically. Literally.

From the winding streets of Terminus to the quiet corners of Bukuru, from the hills that crown the Plateau to the plains that stretch beyond it, the city pulsed with one rhythm, celebration. It was as though Plateau State collectively agreed to pause normal life and bear witness to history. Streets vibrated with chants, laughter, music, and the unmistakable hum of political anticipation. Jos was not merely hosting an event; it was hosting a moment.

Long before the programme began at the Polo Centre, the city had already declared its verdict. Supporters, young and old, men and women, trekked distances exceeding two kilometres under the Jos sun, not out of compulsion but conviction.

Among them were loyalists of the APC National Chairman and ardent supporters of Governor Caleb Mutfwang, walking side by side, singing from the same hymn book. It was unity on foot, solidarity in motion.

They came out en masse, not rented enthusiasm, not choreographed excitement, but genuine political affirmation.

Plateau people showed up not as spectators but as stakeholders, eager to register their support for the party and for a governor they clearly see as theirs.

By the time convoys began arriving, virtually all major roads leading to the Polo Centre were already lined with humanity.

Supporters scrambled for vantage points, craning necks and stretching phones, desperate for a glimpse of the nation’s political heavyweights.

Vice President Kashim Shettima. Senate President Godswill Akpabio. Speaker of the House of Representatives Tajudeen Abbas. Governors from across the federation. It was a parade of power, and Plateau was the stage.

This was no quiet defection. This was a carnival of convergence.
Inside the venue, the atmosphere thickened with symbolism.

When Professor Nentawe Yilwatda, the National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress, mounted the podium, it was obvious that this was not just another political speech for him. He was visibly elated. Emotional. Punchy. This was personal.

Here was a man welcoming not just a governor, but a “senior brother”, a schoolmate from the good old days, into the party he now leads.

Politics melted briefly into nostalgia, and the crowd felt it. The Chairman spoke with the excitement of a strategist and the warmth of a brother reunited. His joy was unfiltered, his confidence unmistakable. Opponents yesterday, allies today, proof that politics, like life, has a way of completing its own circles.

And then came a moment that words alone struggled to capture.
Governor Caleb Mutfwang, in a rare display of unscripted warmth, walked up and embraced the National Chairman, cuddling him, referring to him affectionately as “my brother and my chairman.” It was good theatre, yes, but more importantly, it was good politics.

Authentic. Disarming. Human. The kind of moment that dissolves suspicion and replaces it with reassurance. The crowd roared, sensing they were witnessing not performance but sincerity.

From there, the speeches flowed, each adding a new layer to the story.
Speaker Tajudeen Abbas framed Mutfwang’s journey as a bridge, across religion, across party lines, across old divisions.

He urged reconciliation, brotherhood, and inclusive leadership, charging the governor to be a father to all. It was governance as guardianship, power as responsibility.

Senate President Godswill Akpabio, ever the master of flourish, turned the event into prophecy. He spoke of conquest, of mountains subdued, of Plateau stepping into a season of peace, prosperity, and infrastructure. With Mutfwang’s name as his rhetorical anchor, Akpabio declared the North Central “complete,” likening the moment to a puzzle finally solved.

According to him, when the righteous are in power, the people rejoice and Plateau, he assured, was about to rejoice again.

The APC Chairman followed with numbers and nuance. Plateau, he said, was no longer a battleground but a stronghold in waiting. Structures had collapsed into APC, not by force but by gravity. The broom, he declared, would sweep away disunity and gather everyone, majority and minority, into one political family. His confidence was not loud; it was settled.

APC, with 29 governors and counting, was not tired of expansion. Plateau, he insisted, had chosen life.

Then Governor Mutfwang spoke, not like a man seeking refuge, but like a leader explaining strategy.
Politics, he said, is a journey. When the vehicle you are travelling in breaks down irreparably, wisdom demands a new one. PDP, in his telling, began wobbling long before 2027 came into view.

Plateau needed a platform that works. APC, he said plainly, was the least dangerous and most viable option to continue the journey.

“We are not defecting,” he declared firmly. “We are realigning and repositioning.”
That sentence landed like a gavel.
He spoke of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s passion, of light at the end of the tunnel, of eggs ready to hatch. He warned against jumping from frying pan to fire. He pledged Plateau’s support for Tinubu’s re-election and described the state as a joker card, capable of delivering millions of votes. He assured skeptics that he had not come to take over but to add value, not alone but with his entire political family.

Vice President Kashim Shettima, representing the President, sealed the moment with reassurance and substance. Plateau, he said, reminds Nigeria that unity thrives on shared purpose, not forced uniformity. He praised Mutfwang’s restless pursuit of peace and confirmed concrete interventions: 1,000 forest guards approved, enhanced security measures underway, and the long-awaited Akwanga–Jos Road set for commencement.

By the time the event drew to a close, one truth stood tall above the noise.
This was not defection dressed up as celebration. It was celebration born of calculation, conviction, and convergence.

Plateau did not sneak into APC under cover of darkness; it walked in under floodlights, cheered by its people, welcomed by power, and armed with expectation.

History will remember the day not as the moment Caleb Mutfwang left a party, but as the day Plateau chose a new alignment, loudly, proudly, and with the whole city watching.

Call it what it truly was:
More of celebration than defection.

Tooki is a communication analyst and special adviser to the National Chairman of APC (Media and Communication Strategy)

He can be reached via bimtok@yahoo.com.