Plateau LG elections: PDP says it’s mere ceremony, threatens Court action

Plateau State Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has described last Saturday’s Local Government Council polls as mere ceremony, saying that it should be cancelled or the party would resort to Court action.

Briefing reporters at the party’s State Secretariat in Jos on Monday, PDP Publicity Secretary, John T. Akans, insisted that there was no election in Plateau State last Saturday but a “ceremony” where the State Government and the All Progressive Congress (APC) appointed their people to man Local Councils.

The party expressed disappointment that Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission, PLASIEC went ahead to conduct the election despite the ongoing litigation which the agency is a defendant.

The party also called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to intervene or be ready for legal battle.

He said the Plateau people “vehemently” rejected the exercise.”

“We call on the Independent National Electoral commission, INEC to, in line with the provision of the constitution and electoral act fix a date for the by-election of Jos north/Bassa Federal Constituency.

“INEC should come out and tell Plateau why its yet to fix a date for the conduct of this election having lost the member representing that constituency over six months ago.

“The Peoples Democratic Party will not hesitate to take legal action against INEC if it fails to fix a date for the election because Jos north/Bassa people are left without a representative for the past six months. INEC has gone beyond the required time to conduct the election as done in other federal constituencies.”

He further stated that the PDP rejects “the most unfortunate and disgraceful conduct of the 9th October 2021 polls, in the name of an election. This indeed is the most horrible act of fascism.

“As a party we are mindful of the fact that the people of Plateau are looking up to the PDP to salvage them from this political despotic and oppressive leadership.

“It is, therefore, our duty to ensure that the local government election was conducted fairly in the interest of the people who deserve a voice in governance without exclusion.”

He explained that, “it was on the basis of this that the party went to court to seek justice when Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission unlawfully excluded the party from participating in the election.

“In the face of this authoritarianism, the party stood firmly against this cruelty, compromise and electoral malpractices which we know was going to be the order of the day across the state as APC and the government have lost their legitimacy based on their failure.

“It may interest you all to know that it was the resolute stance of the Peoples Democratic Party not to compromise the interest of our people and the integrity of our democratic values by allowing Governor Lalong through his self appointed cronies at PLASIEC to play over the peoples intelligence, that has led to this imperious, and disgraceful show of shame, of the so-called elections of saturday 9th of October 2021, which was massively rejected by the people of the State.”