The Plateau State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has announced its resolved not to participate in next Saturday’s re-run of local government elections in the state.
Consequently, the party instructed its supporters to distance themselves from the re-run elections, claiming that the alleged paymaster of Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) have no respect for the will and choice of the people, as well as the tenets of democracy.
APC in a statement issued in Jos by the state acting Publicity Secretary, Shittu Bamaiyi, said there was no reason for the party to give recognition and also re-validate illegality, under whatever guise.
“It is ridiculous and scandalous that, the same PLASIEC which shockingly described the local government elections as transparent, free and fair could come up with re-run elections in some selected Electoral Wards of the State.
“As a matter of fact, it could have been neater if the entire elections were nullified based on well-established and genuine complaints arising from the conduct of the elections by some political parties other than the PDP,” Bamaiyi said.
The APC state spokesperson also argued that it will be foolhardy, waste of resources and security risk for his party to further expose its supporters to the re-run, saying from all indications, it will be a repeat of what happened last week Wednesday.
He explained that there are cases where some candidates were declared winners by PLSASIEC, yet not issued with certificates of return, thereby stopping them from being sworn in, because they are members of the APC.
The statement urged APC’s councillorship candidates and supporters in the affected electoral wards where the re-run are expected to take place, to disregard PLASIEC’s directives in that regard.
While commending the people of the state, particularly its teeming supporters for clearly showing the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) led government their political direction, the APC appealed to them to remain calm and peaceful in the face of alleged provocation in the polity.
