Plateau Governorship Field Set at 17 as APC and PDP Trade Early Victory Claims
INEC has named 17 contenders for Plateau’s 2027 governorship poll, while APC and PDP officials are already predicting success.
Plateau’s 2027 governorship contest now has 17 names on the electoral commission’s published candidate roster, setting the stage for a multi-party race in which both the APC and PDP are already expressing confidence about the outcome.
Among those listed are incumbent Governor Caleb Mutfwang for the All Progressives Congress and Ropshik Wungak for the Peoples Democratic Party. The field also includes Umaru Yakubu of Accord, Ayuba Pangk of the African Action Congress, Akuns Jonathan Sunday of the Nigeria Democratic Congress and Sura Sunday representing the African Democratic Congress.
Zenith Labour Party’s Bingel Philomina is also on the document and is identified in the source as the only woman seeking the governorship among the 17 contestants. INEC made the candidate information public on Saturday before officials from the two major parties commented on the race in Jos on Sunday.
Despite Wungak appearing under the PDP on the commission’s roster, Plateau PDP spokesperson Dr Choji Dalyop maintained that Sunday Biggs should be regarded as the party’s candidate. Dalyop said the disagreement remains before a court and linked his position to what he described as the authentic PDP structure associated with the Turaki group. His comments represent the party official’s account of an unresolved political and legal dispute; the source reports no court decision settling it.
Dalyop also predicted electoral success for the PDP, arguing that the party retains substantial support across Plateau. He criticised appointments being made by the government and alleged that they were intended to influence residents politically. The report does not independently establish that allegation.
APC state chairman Rufus Bature presented a different assessment of the contest. He identified Mutfwang as his party’s standard-bearer and said the governor’s performance during his time in office would strengthen the APC’s chances. Bature argued that residents were satisfied with what Mutfwang had achieved and predicted that the party would prevail at the polls.
The two statements therefore combine early campaign confidence with a separate disagreement over who should represent the PDP. While INEC’s published document names Wungak, Dalyop continues to advance Biggs’s claim and says the matter is being contested legally.
At this stage, the clearest confirmed development is the 17-person field published by INEC. The source does not report a fresh judicial ruling on the PDP disagreement, so claims about the eventual resolution of that dispute remain unsettled.