PDP’s Molwus Set to Replace Dariye In Senate

BY CHAMBERLAIN ODEY, JOS – Barely a week after the senator for Plateau Central Senatorial District, Joshua Dariye, was jailed for 14 years, having been found guilty of graft and abuse of trust, the reality of ‘no condition is permanent’ is fast playing out in Plateau Central district as the race to replace the former senator huts up, with Alexander Molwus of the PDP leading the pack in opinion polls.
Beside Molwus who hails from Pankshin local government area of the Central District of Plateau state, others mentioned in early talks and considerations in the bid to replace the jailed former governor of the state include a former speaker of the State House of Assembly and one-time reps member, Emmanuel Goar, also from Pankshin;
another former speaker of the State House of Assembly who hails also from Pankshin, Istifanus Mwansat, a one-time senator for the district from Kanke local government area, Sati Gogwim; a former permanent secretary from Kanke local government area, Isaac Wadak; and former
Comptroller-general of the Nigeria Immigration Service, David Paradang.
Among these six contenders on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party, Molwus stands distinguished as the most regular and practised comer to the race, with a lot of experience – and now sympathy of the district and the party’s delegates. Moreover, he was runner-up in the 2015 senatorial primary which Dariye curiously won in
spite of his dual membership and allegiance to the Labour Party and the PDP, a status which Molwus challenged up to the Court unsuccessfully as a pre-election irregularity.
Hon Emmanuel Goar, who shares Ngas ancestry with Alexander Molwus, was the second runner-up in the same 2015 PDP senatorial primary which Dariye controversially won, because, according to analysts, the Ngas delegates were split between Molwus, the first runner-up, and Goar,
the second runner-up.
Sati Gogwim, according to analysts and grassroots authorities in Plateau Central district, is merely up to an idle bargain that is not likely to take him anywhere far. The last time he contested with incumbency advantage was in the 2011 general elections when he was humbled by the Peoples electoral humiliation as he was resoundingly
defeated and ousted from the senate by a pre-jail Joshua Dariye who won the election on the platform of the Labour Party which was in rag-tag form in the state’s parties standing and reckoning.
The trio of Istyfanus Mwansat, Isaac Wadak, and David Paradang are no more than fresh arrivals with a lot of mileage to cover. Analysts express fear that their bid for now is either weak or untenable because they were not part of the process in 2015 to qualify them to stand for a by-election arising from the same process.
It was gathered that the same principle of lack of stake holding in the original and originating process of 2015 could be the Achilles’ heel and do in factor that will neutralise the clamouring of the All Progressive Congress lot of Hezekiah Dimka, Samuel Pewuna, Meshach
Chindaba, State APC Chairman, Labang Datep, and, of course, the state deputy governor, Sonni Tyoden who has been unhappy and pained by the state of affairs in the system he belongs and has been gasping for some available opportunity to seek ventilation and exit the system.
If the rule is followed and fresh entrants disallowed, and since the parties cannot return to primaries before the by-election, the contest will be between Molwus and
the Bokkos Local Government Area brother of Dariye who was the APC senatorial candidate then, and who has since been compensated with one of the several boards appointments made last year by President Muhammadu Buhari.
However, there is also palpable fear that the system could willfully frustrate any by-election to get a replacement to complete the representation of the Plateau central district in the upper chamber of the National Assembly. For one, it was gathered that the party of the jailed senator has to notify and alert the leadership of the Senate on the need to service and block the vacuum, before the Senate leadership will notify and prompt the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to act in that regard.
As at Press time, pressure was being brought to bear as the people of the senatorial district are saying they cannot afford such vacuum or lack of representation which will have severe implications for their fortunes in the national scheme of things.