The Senatorial primaries of All Progressives Congress, APC, in Plateau South senatorial district turned violent on Thursday.
It was gathered that the exercise was delayed by the electoral officials till 3am on Thursday at the Shendam LGA Secretariat.
DAILY POST learnt that few minutes into the election, some thugs, armed with dangerous weapons invaded the venue and chased away most of the delegates.
The armed hoodlums also fired teargas, after repeatedly shooting into the air, a development that prompted the security details of one of the aspirants and former Deputy Governor of the State, Mrs. Pauline Tallen, to whisk her away from the venue into safety.
Confirming the development to our reporter on phone, Baba Bala, the Campaign DG of Mrs. Tallen, called for immediate nullification of the exercise, describing the election as a charade.
He said “This election was supposed to have ended yesterday but was delayed for reasons we can’t explain.
“In fact, the election did not start until 4 a.m. today and as we speak it is yet to end.
“This afternoon, teargas was fired and a woman was molested and threats to her life made because she refused to hand over her ballot paper, as instructed by state government officials.
“There was no transparency in the entire process. We no longer have confidence in the electoral process; there was no level-playing ground.
“We condemn the intimidation of delegates by state government functionaries and the high monetization, ballot buying of delegates that marred the exercise.
“We frown at the deliberate disappearance of delegates list of some wards.
“It is sad that the process that was supposed to last few hours was deliberately delayed to deny Dame Pauline Tallen expected victory.
“The intimidation of delegates by hired thugs and threat to life of a particular woman leader of Quaanpan a staunch supporter of Tallen was a clear indication that some forces were behind the entire drama.
“This is a widow, who has sacrificed a lot for Plateau State and nation at large.
“We call on leadership of the APC to intervene before it is too late.
“This conspiracy against Mrs. Tallen will not stand. This is a deliberate move to deny our people of effective representation.”
Mrs. Tallen is vying for the APC sole ticket alongside four other contenders, which include a former Deputy Governor of the State, Ignatius Longjan, who is believed to be having backings of the current governor of the state, Simon Lalong.
As of the time of this report, delegates from Shendam LGA were still casting their votes.
Comments