All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State has cried foul over the council poll conducted in the 17 local government areas of the state on Wednesday, saying that the exercise was a disappointment.
The party, in a statement signed by its State Publicity Secretary, Shittu Bamaiyi, said the conduct of the election was contrary to the assurances of transparency, credibility, and fairness by Governor Caleb Mutfwang and the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission, adding that the exercise turned out to be a smokescreen for deceit and malpractices.
“This is so because the processes began with well-crafted strategies of comprising the elections by both PLASIEC and the PDP-led government through all forms of malpractice and harassment of political opponents.
“PLASIEC kicked off the rigging machinery by the late take-off of elections and the deliberate supply of election materials, particularly ballot papers and results sheets, to the strongholds of PDP opponents.”.
It pointed out that local government areas such as Kanke, Kanam, Wase, Shendam, Langtang-South, Bokkos, Jos-North, Pankshin, and Bassa local were given about 20 per cent of the required ballot papers, adding that despite the repeated requests for more ballot papers, the Commission refused to burge but rather asked the disfranchised voters to wait for materials, which never came.
The party further stated that in some areas the elections never took place, despite the fact that sensitive materials were brought to the Wards but not put to use on the alleged instructions, adding that where the elections took place, there were no result sheets, and at the close of the elections, the returning officers absconded with receiving or announcing the outcomes as stipulated by the PLASIEC law.
It was also alleged that in Kanke and Kanam, the returning officers abandoned their duty posts in consonance with some top government functionaries without announcing the results.
“Similarly in Shendam, the returning officers were smuggled to the VIP lounge to perpetrate the malpractices but did not find it easy because the people insisted that the results be announced as enshrined in the PLASIEC.”
The party therefore called on its supporters to remain calm and peaceful and not to take the laws into their hands, as the party is determined to do everything within the law to ensure that the right things are done.
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