He began his political career from his state (Plateau) until he became a national figure. His political journey, which commenced in the late 1970s with the defunct National Party of Nigeria (NPN), stretched through the 90s when he became a member of the National Republican Convention (NRC) during General Ibrahim Babangida’s regime (when there were only two political parties in Nigeria). He was also a member of the United Nigeria Congress Party (UNCP).
When General Sani Abacha passed on in 1998, General Abdulsalam Abubakar who became the Head of Interim National Government dissolved the existing political parties and prepared the ground for a more democratic setting which he actualized and then handed over to President Olusegun Obasanjo, who won the general election on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 1999.