Mutfwang Denies 60-40 Cabinet Sharing Deal After APC Defection
Plateau State Governor Caleb Mutfwang has rejected claims that he agreed to a 60-40 formula for sharing cabinet positions before leaving the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for the All Progressives Congress (APC).
Mutfwang said there was never any agreement between him and the APC leadership in Plateau State that required 40 per cent of government appointments to be allocated to members of the party’s Legacy Group.
The controversy followed a recent cabinet reshuffle by the governor, which drew criticism from a faction of the APC known as the Legacy Group and associated with former Governor Simon Lalong.
The group had alleged that Mutfwang’s reshuffle failed to honour an agreement reportedly reached before his defection to the APC. According to the group, the alleged arrangement included a 60-40 sharing formula for government positions.
Mutfwang: No Cabinet-Sharing Agreement Was Made
Speaking during the swearing-in of three newly appointed commissioners at the Government House in Jos on Friday, Mutfwang described the claim as a misconception and insisted that he never promised to divide his cabinet along factional lines.
The governor said his discussions before joining the APC involved sharing party positions rather than government appointments.
“The APC chairman is here; I never made any promise to share government positions since my journey to the APC. I made a commitment to share party positions. I never had an agreement to do a 60-40 per cent cabinet,” Mutfwang said.
His comments were aimed at putting to rest claims that his political move from the PDP to the APC was tied to a pre-arranged formula for distributing cabinet positions.
Governor Points to Legacy Group Representation
Mutfwang also argued that members of the Legacy Group had already received significant representation in both government and the APC structure since his defection.
He pointed to the composition of the APC’s House of Assembly candidates as evidence, noting that 16 of the 24 candidates were members of the Legacy Group, while only eight had crossed over to the APC alongside him from the PDP.
The governor questioned why his administration should continue to operate around divisions between those who were already in the APC and those who joined with him.
“The time has come when we must kill the dichotomy between the governance group and the Legacy Group. We are one big family.”
Mutfwang Says Appointments Should Be Based on Merit
The governor further stressed that appointments under his administration were not supposed to be determined solely by party membership or factional loyalty.
According to him, people who had been in the APC before his defection had also been appointed to government positions because of what they could contribute to the state.
“We have people who have been in the APC, but we bring them into government because we believe they have something to offer, not because they are APC members,” he said.
Mutfwang’s latest comments come amid efforts to ease internal divisions within the Plateau APC as competing political interests continue to push for greater representation in the state government.
The governor’s position is that the party must move beyond the distinction between his political camp and the Legacy Group and work together as one political family.
