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| Hon Dati, Plateau state commissioner for Information and communication |
Plateau LG Polls: Commissioner Berates
PDP over Protest
By Lovins Yakubu
October 12, 2018
Plateau
State Commissioner for Information, Hon. Yakubu Dati has berated the opposition
Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) for protesting massive victory of the All
Progressive Congress (APC) in the recent local government election held in the
state, which witnessed massive turnout.
Dati told
newsmen in Lagos at the weekend that the election was adjudged free and fair by
all the stakeholders and the civil society group that monitored the exercise
and wondered why the opposition party should protest a transparent election
which attracted the citizens of the state who came out en masse to cast their
votes.
This was
coming after the state Governor; Solomon Lalong inaugurated the chairmen of the
state’s 11 local government councils who were declared winners of the elections
conducted in 13 LGAs at the State Government House in Little Rayfield, Jos.
Dati
attributed the protests to the "troublemaking" legacy of PDP and said
he expected the aggrieved parties to take advantage of the available legal
means to resolve their grievances rather than resort to self-help.
"I know
that genuine people who are democrats, who know that in every contest there
must be a winner and a loser, will take advantage of the tribunal set up by the
government, which is an independent arm of government, to present their
grievances and it will be looked at.
"Resorting
to self-help does not help. You also know that the elections were conducted
peacefully all over the state. But of course, what do you expect from PDP? They
are an opposition and they believe that opposition means creating fear and
anxiety in the hearts of people which is far from the ethos of democracy."
The
Commissioner insisted that the turnout by voters at the polls was as a
result of the public's confidence in the Plateau State Independent Electoral
Commission (PLASIEC), noting that it takes confidence for people to even come
out to cast their votes because they trust the system.
"It
takes confidence for people to even come out because if they didn't trust the
system, they will not come out. But in cases where you have people who are looking
for the slightest opportunity to ignite problems, it just goes to show that the
opposition party just wants to create problems where there are none."
A communiqué
issued by a coalition of Civil Society Groups accredited by PLASIEC to monitor
and observe the election said the election was violent free and transparently
conducted.
The
coalition described it as significant improvement when compared to the past
exercise.
“Our team of
observers reported a fair turnout of voters in most of the units visited, We
noted that the number of voters increased progressively from the early hours as
the exercise gathered momentum till when it came to the end,” the Communiqué,
which was signed by the leader of the Coalition, Peter Nwokolo, said.
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