By Chijioke Kingsley
Abuja (Sundiata Post) – The Plateau State All Progressives Congress (APC), has said it is heading to the tribunal to challenge the outcome of the March 18th governorship election in the State, saying that it was marred with a lot of irregularities.
The ruling Party said the People’s Democratic Party plans to rig the election ab-initio, especially in their strongholds of Jos-South.
Speaking to journalists on Monday in Jos, the State Chairman of the APC, Hon. Rufus Bature emphasised that the electoral process as midwifed by the Independent Electoral Commission ( INEC) was characterized by bizarre tendencies on the part of the opposition PDP to rig the elections and thus subvert the will of the people.
According to him: “There is no gainsaying the fact that the funny and laughable outcome leading to the so called emergence of Bar Caleb Mutfwang of the PDP as the winner of the Governorship polls smack of a charade of democracy perpetrated via high degree political robbery of the millennium”, he said.
He dismissed the result declared by INEC as a pyrrhic victory for the PDP which will be overturned by the sheer weight of evidence against it.
‘By and large, it is important to stress here that several emergency facts in the last few days are already confirming our reservations about the entire exercise.
“Our reality checks including unfolding developments have strongly indicated how electoral best practices were thrown overboard by the members of the opposition in active collaboration and collision with the electoral umpire.
“For instance, the saga surrounding the recovery of the 14 missing BVAS machines meant for some polling units in Jos North LGA, the premeditated and reckless over voting registered in Langtang North, Mangu and Jos South LGAs as well as Tudun wada and Kabong in Jos North LGA and the unabashed manipulation of the electoral process by the INEC officials and ad hoc staff to favour the PDP in the State, all these have now come to full public glare.
“It is very clear that in areas where the APC won, the results have shown how the electorates in such areas conducted and subscribed themselves to due diligence and electoral guidelines regarding accreditation and voting under the electoral act”.
He continued: “Since the declaration of Mutfwang as the winner of the Governorship election, the PDP has resorted to violence by destroying the APC’s campaign materials such as Billboards, flags and posters. This is particularly evident in Mangu LGA where the Generation Next Campaign office was unabashedly destroyed and pilfered”, he said.
The APC further accused the PDP of attacking it’s members, saying that it is in addition of subjecting its members to series of unconscionable attacks in other parts of the State.
