Governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau state who were defeated at the primary election have rejected the results.
Speaking with journalists on Monday in Jos, one of the aspirants, Dr. Patrick Dakum described the election won by Nentawe Yilwada, a former Resident commissioner of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), as a sham.
Dakum and 16 other aspirants, including the Deputy Governor, Prof. Sonny Tyoden, had walked out in protest during the primary election, alleging that the delegates were being intimidated by government officials.
“We are not happy over the outcome of the Plateau APC governorship primary because what happened last Thursday was not an election but a sham and unacceptable”, Dakum said.
He lamented that it was unfortunate that during the primary, only two delegates
from Qu’an Pan Local Government Area could write their names while, “others were not allowed (to write their names) even when it was obvious that most of them were literate.”
He said, “The same thing played out in other LGAs. The venue was flooded with council chairmen and officials were around to influence who delegates would vote for as the delegates were not given the opportunity to freely cast their votes for the aspirant of their choice”.
Dakum alleged that “an agent of one of the aspirants was the one writing and voting on behalf of the delegates.
“There was a lot of intimidation of the delegates, you could see them being very terrified as you could see government officials hovering all over the place to ensure the delegates go a particular direction.”
According to Dakum, “The election was highly compromised, marred by intimidation of delegates by siblings, relations of the governor and top government officials in the state and other avoidable irregularities that tampered with its integrity.”
He said, “When it was obvious and glaring that the venue had been infiltrated by top government officials, siblings and relations of the governor, who were not delegates and were determined to give the party’s ticket to a particular aspirant against the will of the people, we then decided to walk out of the venue in protest because we won’t be part of such irregularities.”
Dakum disclosed that all the aggrieved aspirants had petitioned the Appeal Committee of the party and were awaiting the verdict to know the next line of action.
He said would consult with the stakeholders on the next line of action if nothing was done about the petition.
“I will also put my ears to the spiritual ground to know the conviction God is giving me in my heart, if I am to stay in the party and work for it and the candidate or otherwise, these are possibilities,” he said.
