Governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau state during the 2023 election, Nentawe Yilwatda, has lashed at the people of the state, saying they are “not wise enough to understand” that religion is being used to deny them of good leadership.
In a video trending on the social media, Yilwatda who lost the governorship election to Caleb Mutfwang of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), said he was tagged as a Muslim candidate during the elections.
He said religious politics had been the bane in Plateau state since the second republic.
He said, “In 1983, John Kadiya (governorship candidate of the NPN) a member of ECWA church was tagged a Muslim candidate on the Plateau against Solomon Lar.
“Kadiya was a communion member and a leader in ECWA church.
“He was an elder in ECWA church as at that time, but he was tagged an Islamic leader.
“After the election in 1983, nobody has ever called Kadiya an Islamic leader”.
Yilwatda recalled further that, “In 1991, the same thing happened when Fidelis Tapgun, contested against Bagudu Hirse. Hirse was tagged an Islamic candidate…
“In 2003, even Jang, himself was called an Islamic candidate because he was in ANPP. The same thing happened to Pauline Talen, the same thing happened to Lalong in 2015 and the same thing happened to me in 2023.
“So it is a normal culture of Plateau politics that some people must tag somebody to have an Islamic… just for political reasons.
“Once the politics is over, that person becomes a saint…
“So all those people I have mentioned have the same pattern. So the politics of Plateau state carries the same pattern.”
Yilwatda said, “The funny aspect is that up till date, Plateau people are still not wise enough to understand that these people are using religion to ensure that good candidates don’t emerge.
“They field a lesser candidate compare to the person contesting against the candidate of their choice and the only way they can actually fight him, is to use religion as the basis for presenting the candidate to the public. “
Mutfwang, was declared winner of the March 2023 election, having scored 525,299 votes to defeat Yilwatda, who garnered 481,370 votes.
However, not satisfied with the outcome of the election, Yilwatda and Mutfwang embarked on a legal tussle that ended at the supreme court, where the PDP candidate was confirmed duly elected.
The video is published below as shared on twitter
Nobody should come and whitewash Nentawe, imagine how he casually excused the words of those Islamic jihadist that threatened us in our own lands.
He publicly called the us “unwise”, this man said we filled in the lesser candidate.
As far as we are concerned Tawe’s political… pic.twitter.com/1jm4wZZGaB— Hannah Rachel Mutfwang (@hannahmuktar) February 4, 2024
