PANKSHIN PEOPLE EXPRESS DISPLEASURE OVER THE SILENCE OF THE ELECTORAL COMMITTEE ON THE APC PRIMARY ELECTION

Concerned Pankshin people demonstrated their displeasure over the conduct of the APC primary election which has not been announced till this moment.
Supporters of the candidate who is said to have been the front line aspirant took to the streets to express their sadness over what happened in the local government in the name of primary elections.


The group which is tagged “Rotshak support group” addressed a letter to the governor and called on him to intervene as a matter of urgency to forestall the breakdown of law and oder should any name be announced against the wish of the generality of the people of Pankshin.

The letter reads below;

The Executive Governor,
Plateau State,
His Excellency Rt. Hon, Barr. Simon Bako Lalong,
(APC Leader Plateau State)

Through:

The Divisional Police Officer,
Pankshin Division.

Sir,
LETTER OF COMPLAINT ON THE FRAUDULENT CONDUCT OF APC – CHAIRMANSHIP PRIMARIES IN PANKSHIN LOCAL GOVERNMENT
You can recall that the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC) rolled out time table for the conduct of Local Government elections in Plateau State and directed all political parties to conduct primary elections and submit names of chairmanship and councillorship candidates within the time so stipulated in the guidelines.
The APC first scheduled the primary elections for chairmanship and councillorship candidates on the 23rd of June, 2021 but later reschedule the elections to the 24th of June, 2021.
Our candidate Mr. Rotshak Gideon Yokdan bought the nomination form from the APC party secretariat with a few other contestants interested in contesting for the chairmanship of Pankshin Local Government Area. We and our Aspirant campaigned and conducted rallies across the 20 electoral wards in Pankshin Local Government Area and also make contact with various interest groups, community development associations, women groups, youth groups, religions group’s etc. Our effort’s and the personality of our candidate (Mr. Rotshak Gideon Yokdan) make’s us extremely popular in all the 20 electoral wards in Pankshin Local Government Area. But we are all surprise on the day of elections by the unruly conduct of electoral officers sent to conduct elections in Pankshin L.G.A
Sir, we wish to draw your attention to the following irregularities perpetuated in Pankshin by the electoral officer’s, which we see as an act of injustice to the peace loving people of Pankshin L.G.A.

  1. Electoral materials for some electoral wards in Pankshin such as Longbam, Wuchunbe, Wokkos, Wuseli, Mukang/Nyelleng, Chip central Belning, where not distributed and those who collected the materials, were nowhere to be found.
  2. The head of the electoral team in Pankshin Mr. Idi Bamaiyi, also confirm this at Longbam ward, when he went to supervise the election, and he told the crowd at Longbam that the electoral officer for Longbam ward one Mr. Ezekiel Dama is the one with the electoral materials and is nowhere to be found, as he is not on ground at the venue of the election.
  3. In Jiblik ward, there was crisis and no election was conducted. The person in charge of the election, in the ward, ran away with the electoral materials and is nowhere to be found, the party chairman in the ward and other stakeholders have to write a petition to the local government about the fraudulent behavior of the officer.
  4. In the electoral ward of our candidate (Wuchembe ward) electoral materials were not even brought to the venue of elections.
  5. In Belning, Chip central, Tal A. Tal B, Kangshu, Kadung, Mukang, Nyalleng, Wuseli, fier and Wuchambe electorates waited for the electoral officers but to no avail.
  6. In Pankshin central ward and Kasgong ward, which are among the strong hold of our candidate, election started but when the discovered that our candidate Mr. Rotshak Gideon Yokden was leading, they destabilized the electoral process and abandoned the elections just for us to hear that they have allocated scores to the candidates which is a contravention of the electoral act and the guidelines released.
  7. In the wards where elections where conducted, electoral officers were not on ground to collate election results. We don’t know if the electoral officers at the local government level abandoned their duty post and disappear, as our agents did not meet any of them at the collation centre.
  8. Our agents at the ward level and those at the local government collation centre waited for election results but all the electoral officers disappeared and our agents did not even know where the results of the elections where collated.
  9. Prior to the conduct of the primaries, there was rumor going that the father in law to the Governor had scheme to install his relation as the Council Chairman against the wishes of the populace, we were also reliably informed that the said aspirant is about to be announce despite the failed primaries. It is in this premise that we appeal to the Governor and the party to act fast to ensure such is not done to clear people doubt on believing the above allegations.
    In view of the above issues, we wish to state.
    a. That you use your good office as the Executive Governor of Plateau State to correct the abnormalities in the fraudulent elections conducted in Pankshin Local Government Area.
    b. That our stolen mandate should be returned to us and our candidate in the spirit of fairness and justice to all.
    c. That for the APC in Pankshin LGA to wax stronger, something should be done about the elections in Pankshin LGA.
    d. That we have calmed our people and supporters to remain peaceful but in the event where fairness is thrown to the winds, we cannot guarantee to keep the aggrieved electorates under control.
    e. In the ward’s where electoral materials where not brought to the electoral wards for election to be conducted, we advise that you use your good office as the Executive Governor of Plateau State and the leader of the APC on the Plateau to order the rerun of the elections in Pankshin L.G.A.

Yours faithfully,

Hon. Tangsan Paksohot __
Longji Ephraim ___
Pandang Rumji ___

Cc:
DSS Pankshin
Chairman Pankshin LGA
APC Chairman Pankshin LGA
Civil Defense Pankshin LGA
APC Plateau State

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PANKSHIN PEOPLE EXPRESS DISPLEASURE OVER THE SILENCE OF THE ELECTORAL COMMITTEE ON THE APC PRIMARY ELECTION

About The Author
- Studied Mass Communication from the University of Jos. He is a Media Consultant, Journalist, a blogger, public relations practitioner and an advocate for social justice.