The Plateau state chapter of Inter Party Advisory Council (IPAC), has described as baseless allegation of election rigging made by a group, Plateau Peace Movement International (PPMI), against the state Electoral Commissioner, Hussaini Halilu Pai.
The Council said in a press release by its secretary Hon. Abubakar Dogara and Publicity Secretary, Hon. Ali Ali, in Jos, that in all of the allegations labeled against Pai was baseless.
Leader of the PPMI Rev. Joseph Bot, had alleged that; “the Plateau REC collaborated with a political party (APC) in the state and rigged the gubernatorial elections,”adding that, “Malam Pai, was planning to perfect the process during the rescheduled rerun elections for the gubernatorial polls set for 23rd March 2019.”
However, IPAC said looking at the above claimed by PPMI, there is no iota of truth as all the results collated during the gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections were submitted in the presence of all the stakeholders, particularly, the primary stakeholders (the Political Parties concerned.)
The IPAC, said PPMI’s allegations, of imploring thugs, engagement of fake security personnel, using police identity tags and civil defense uniforms, disrupted the process of electioneering in Jos, Langtang south, Shendam, Wase and Kanam local government areas among others, were mere falsehood.
It said: “The above claim/allegation is weighty and capable of undermining the National Security. Where a person is to impersonate security the first action is to report such a person to the relevant security.
“Therefore, we urge PPMI to come forward with concrete evidence that such an allegation was reported to the relevant security apparatus (the Police, DSS etc) for necessary action otherwise we shall be left with no option but to tag it as baseless and urge the security to invite PPMI for detailed explanation.”
“The reasons for those inconclusive elections were as a result of: over voting, smart card reader malfunction, manual voting, deliberate attempt by some unpatriotic elements to mar the election processes..,” it said.
