Plateau, on the Jos Plateau in central Nigeria, has some of the country’s deepest communal divisions, between mostly Christian indigenous groups and mostly Muslim Hausa-Fulani settlers, and between farmers and herders. Thousands have died in waves of violence since 2001. That conflict has shaped the state’s politics, from emergency rule in 2004 to the debates over security at every recent election. The PDP governed until 2015, the APC until 2023, and the PDP’s 2023 winner joined the APC in 2026.
1999 and 2003: Dariye
Joshua Chibi Dariye won the January 1999 election for the PDP with 484,280 votes. He was re-elected in April 2003 with 364,903 votes, beating the ANPP’s Jonah David Jang, a retired air commodore and former military governor.
On 18 May 2004, after the massacre at Yelwa and reprisal killings in Kano, President Olusegun Obasanjo declared a state of emergency in Plateau. Dariye and the state assembly were suspended for six months, and a retired general, Chris Alli, governed as administrator. In November 2006, while Dariye faced money-laundering charges, six of the 24 assembly members impeached him and his deputy, Michael Botmang, became governor. In April 2007 the Supreme Court ruled the impeachment unconstitutional and restored Dariye for the last weeks of his term. He was later convicted of fraud in 2018 and pardoned in 2022.
2007 and 2011: Jang
Jang, now in the PDP, won in April 2007 with 465,364 votes against 269,273 for Pam Dung Gyang of the Action Congress. In April 2011 he was re-elected with 823,536 votes against 494,975 for the Labour Party’s Pauline Tallen, later Minister of Women Affairs.
2015: the APC breaks through
In 2015 Jang’s choice, Senator Gyang Pwajok, lost to the APC’s Simon Bako Lalong, a lawyer and former Speaker of the state assembly. Lalong won on 11 April with 564,913 votes (51.8%) against 520,627 (47.8%), the first time Plateau had elected a non-PDP governor.
2019: Lalong survives a supplementary vote
The first round on 9 March 2019 was declared inconclusive. After a supplementary election on 23 March, Lalong was re-elected with 595,582 votes against 546,813 for the PDP’s Jeremiah Useni, a retired lieutenant-general and former FCT minister.
2023: Mutfwang and the courts
The PDP’s Caleb Manasseh Mutfwang, a lawyer and former local government chairman, beat the APC’s Nentawe Yilwatda, a professor and former INEC resident electoral commissioner, on 18 March 2023 by 525,299 votes (48.6%) to 481,400 (44.6%). The tribunal upheld the result, but in November 2023 the Court of Appeal annulled it on the ground that the PDP had not been properly structured in the state when it nominated him, prompting protests in Jos. In January 2024 the Supreme Court set that aside and restored Mutfwang.
The results at a glance
| Year | Winner (party) | Votes | Runner-up (party) | Votes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Joshua Dariye (PDP) | 484,280 | APP candidate | not published |
| 2003 | Joshua Dariye (PDP) | 364,903 | Jonah Jang (ANPP) | not published |
| 2007 | Jonah Jang (PDP) | 465,364 | Pam Dung Gyang (AC) | 269,273 |
| 2011 | Jonah Jang (PDP) | 823,536 | Pauline Tallen (LP) | 494,975 |
| 2015 | Simon Lalong (APC) | 564,913 | Gyang Pwajok (PDP) | 520,627 |
| 2019 | Simon Lalong (APC) | 595,582 | Jeremiah Useni (PDP) | 546,813 |
| 2023 | Caleb Mutfwang (PDP) | 525,299 | Nentawe Yilwatda (APC) | 481,400 |
2027: Mutfwang on the APC ticket
At the start of January 2026 Mutfwang left the PDP for the APC and declared support for President Tinubu’s re-election. He is the APC candidate for the 6 February 2027 election. INEC’s final list names Ropshik Kefas Wungak for the PDP and Sura John Sunday for the ADC (names as INEC lists them).
