From Isaac Shobayo, Jos
As the non-release of the Plateau Central Senatorial election continued to cause tension and apprehension, the
The All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State has expressed concern over the development and called on the Commission to release the result without any further delay.
Even as the campaign group of the APC senatorial candidate has given INEC twenty-four hours to release the results.
In a statement signed by its publicity secretary, Hon Slyvanus Namang, the APC said its senatorial candidate, Hon Diket Plang, clearly won the election with a comfortable margin of over 4000 votes.
“Seven days after the election, it is surprising that INEC is hesitating to announce the result where the APC candidate is clearly the winner, even after a recount that still saw him maintaining the lead as the figures still tallied with that of the Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS) results.”
It condemned the desperation and insinuations by the Peoples Democratic Party in the state, which has forcefully occupied the INEC premises at Pankshin and the headquarters in Jos for the past one week with a view to hoodwinking the electoral umpire into announcing its candidate as the winner of the Plateau Central Senatorial District election.
The party posited that the development
has built avoidable tension in the state, and INEC should not allow itself to be a party to any breakdown of law and order, which is what the PDP in the state is instigating.
It called on the security agency to beef up Security around INEC facilities in the affected areas is a prelude to the immediate announcement of the results as collated by INEC.
“The APC, as a law-abiding party, would not want to join forces with the PDP, which is presently demonstrating at the Rantya Road headquarters of INEC, which amounts to blackmail and irresponsibility of the highest order.”
The APC further called on all the APC supporters in the state to remain calm as it enjoined INEC to immediately do the needful in line with the electoral law and its constitutional mandate.
Meanwhile, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has been given 24 hours to announce the results of the national assembly election for the Plateau Central Senatorial Zone.
The spokesman of the Diket Plank campaign group, Evangelist Sam Mbok, at a press conference in Jos over the weekend said the call became necessary because of the delay, which caused tension in the senatorial district and the entire state.
Evangelist Mbok said INEC has not informed the candidate of the party why the result has not been announced and the circumstances surrounding the decision.
“We are convinced by the copies of the results of the election given that our candidate scored the highest number of votes cast. He won with over 400 votes, and he should have been declared the winner since that day. But to our greatest dismay, INEC is withholding the results of the election,” he said.
