The opposition All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State has rejected the results of the local government election held on Wednesday, describing the exercise as ill-fated and vowing to take legal action.
At a press conference held on Saturday at the party secretariat in Jos, the state capital, the APC chairman in the state, Rufus Bature, stated that the party would not accept the outcome of the exercise.
According to Bature, the Wednesday LG election was flawed, rigged, and unacceptable by any standard. He stated that the election was the worst ever conducted in the state’s political history.
The chairman faulted the distribution of sensitive materials to local government areas and subsequently to various electoral wards and polling units.
He said, “It is a fact that election materials particularly ballot papers were grossly inadequate as polling units, mostly those perceived as APC strongholds, were deliberately given 10% to 20% of what were required.
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“Furthermore in those earmarked areas, results sheets were not provided at all for reasons best known to PLSIEC. Despite all complaints and representations made to the electoral officers, nothing changed. Added to this unfortunate scenario was the supply of malfunctioned voting machines which never worked, and in most polling units, the machines hardly lasted more than two hours.
“This, we know is a clever way of rigging and also disenfranchising the people. Worst of all was the fact that election never took place in some areas and there was reported stuffing of ballot papers in PDP strongholds. Inspite of these manipulations and sophistry by PLASIEC and the PDP-led government, the people never wavered but instead voted the candidates of their choices.
“PLASIEC officials particularly returning officers absconded across the entire states without waiting to collate the results as stipulated by law.”
Bature, however, called on the supporters of his party to remain calm and resilient to the party, assuring that the party would do everything possible to regain its mandates.
