A group of eight governorship aspirants of the All Progressives Congress in Taraba State on Tuesday called on the national secretariat of the party to cancel the primary election in the state, which commenced on Sunday night over alleged malpractice.

At a press briefing in Jalingo, one of the aspirants, Chief David Kente, who spoke on behalf of the eight aspirants, described the primary election as a sham.

The group, who said they disagreed with “what happened on Monday in the name of a primary,” accused a staff member  of the APC state secretariat sent to the field of conniving with two of the governorship aspirants, Senator  Joel Ikenya and Alhaji Sani Danladi, in hijacking and twisting the results of the election in their favour.

“The primary election which we learnt the result is being collated in one corner of Jalingo is a sham. The process was characterised by thuggery, ballots and results snatching.

“There was massive violence in Jalingo and Wukari, Karim Lamido and Zing local government areas. There was no election despite the agreement we all signed to ensure a violent-free process.

“We, therefore, called on the national secretariat and the state exco of our party to declare the purported primary election inconclusive and a fresh primary conducted in the state with neutral people presiding over the process.

“We also called for the disqualification of Alhaji Sani Abubakar Danladi and Senator Joel Danlami Ikenya for perpetrating violence during the process,” the group said.

But when contacted, Ikenya said the allegations, which he described as baseless, were the desperation of those who lost out in the primary.

He said, “There was no violence as claimed by the group. I am on the ground as far as Taraba politics is concerned. Most of the aspirants complaining are businesspeople who are novices in politics.

“Most of them don’t have a single local government they are in control of and you don’t win elections by sitting in the comfort of your room making calls to people.” – Punch

– Oct. 3, 2018 @ 8:19 GMT |