Patrick Dakum, a governorship contestant in Plateau State, has explained why he and other APC governorship aspirants stormed out of the party’s governorship primary in Jos last Thursday.
According to reports, than ten governorship aspirants, including Dakum and the state Deputy Governor, Sonni Tyoden, staged a walk-out at the Langfied Resort in Jos, the venue of the Plateau APC governorship primary, which produced a former Independent National Electoral Commission commissioner, Nentawe Yilwatda, as the winner last Thursday.
For the first time after the primary, Dakum spoke with journalists in Jos on behalf of his colleagues on Monday, describing the procedure as a sham and unacceptable.
“It is sad that during the primary, the local government area that started the election (Qua’an-Pan LGA), only two delegates could write, and others were not allowed even when it was obvious that most of them were literate. The same thing played out in other local government areas.
“The venue was flooded with local government council chairmen, and officials were around to influence who delegates would vote for as the delegates were not given the opportunity to freely cast their votes for the aspirant of their choice as an agent of one of the aspirants was the one writing and voting on behalf of the delegates.
“There was a lot of intimidation of the delegates, you could see them being very terrified as you could see government officials hovering all over the place to ensure the delegates go a particular direction.
“The election was highly compromised, marred by intimidation of delegates by siblings, relations of the governor and top government officials in the state and other avoidable irregularities that tampered with its integrity.
“When it was obvious and glaring that the venue had been infiltrated by top government officials, siblings and relations of the governor, who were not delegates and were determined to give the party’s ticket to a particular aspirant against the will of the people, we then decided to walk out of the venue in protest because we won’t be part of such irregularities.”
All of the unhappy aspirants, according to Dakum, had filed complaints with the party’s Appeal Committee and were awaiting a decision to determine their next course of action.
He stated that if nothing was done about their petition, he would confer with stakeholders and supporters of his Consolidation Vision before making a decision.
“I will also put my ears to the spiritual ground to know the conviction God is giving me in my heart, if I am to stay in the party and work for it and the candidate or otherwise, these are possibilities,” he said.
The governorship candidate asked his followers to remain calm and peaceful as they met with the party’s leadership to discuss the issues.
