Information reaching ViewPointNigeria suggests that the politicians who alleged voting irregularities at the December 8th Gubernatorial primaries have continued their protestation in Abuja.

The politicians are said to have remained camped in Abuja from the 21st of December 2014, lobbying and persuading the National Committee of the PDP secretariat to cancel the primaries for reasons put forward by the group, as (1) Delegates Coercion (2) Delegates Intimidation (3) Electoral fraud and malpractices (4) Flagrant abuse of the election process.

The politicians, spearheaded by Fidelis Tapgun and several other high profile aspirants from Plateau are praying the committee set up by the PDP to invalidate the results and either nominate an alternative flag bearer or call for a rerun.

Information reaching ViewPointNigeria suggests that the politicians who alleged voting irregularities at the December 8th Gubernatorial primaries have continued their protestation in Abuja.

The politicians are said to have remained camped in Abuja from mid-December 2014, lobbying and persuading the National Committee of the PDP secretariat to cancel the primaries for reasons put forward by the group, as (1) Delegates Coercion (2) Delegates Intimidation and bribery (3) Electoral fraud and malpractices (4) Flagrant abuse of the election process.

The politicians, spearheaded by Fidelis Tapgun and several other high profile aspirants from Plateau are praying the committee set up by the PDP to invalidate the results and either nominate an alternative flag bearer or call for a rerun.

The pressure for a decision is building up to feverish levels, given the imminent deadline for the final submission of candidates on New year’s day. Going by the INEC calendar -all gubernatorial candidates must be submitted and ratified by Newyear’s day -i.e., 1st January 2015 and as such, all sides and parties are working feverishly to guarantee that their candidate is recognised. Following this date, the final date for the replacement or withdrawal of candidates for the governorship elections is the 13th of January 2015. The 13th Jan 2015, would be the final date for which any changes can be made and as such this is a “hard” deadline. The “soft” deadline is the 1st of January, for which a candidate can be nominated but ultimately replaced if need be.

In discussions with key stakeholders from the camp of politicians who lost out on the PDP nomination, they allege that a Certificate of Return is yet to be issued to GNS Pwajok by the National secretariat, because the Returning Officer refused to sign and validate the results of the primaries and that the Chairman of the Appeal Committee (Ibrahim Nasir Mantu) has written a report which corroborated the assertions of the Returning Officer.

However, discussions with Government inside sources have countered these assertions -saying that Senator GNS Pwajok has already been affirmed and validated as the PDP Flag bearer and that no amount of lobbying and persuasion can change the mandate. They pointed out that several calumnious and malicious documents, ideas and opinions have recently been circulated by opposition politicians to discredit both the PDP flag bearer GNS Pwajok and the Government of Plateau state -and said any assertions from these sources about the cancellation of the primaries should not be taken seriously.

At this stage, it remains unclear how things will play out, but ViewPointNigeria is already making head way in getting through to sources within the PDP secretariat to validate the true position of things and shall report back accordingly.

Key dates to watch-out for as the debacle continues:

Publication of personal particulars for all Governorship flag bearers by INEC — 1st Jan 2015 — See section 31(3) of 2010 Electoral Act

Last day for withdrawal by candidates/replacement of Candidates by political parties — 13th Jan 2015 — See section 35 of 2010 Electoral Act

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Current State of Affairs in Plateau PDP