Dr Patrick Sunday Dakum, is one of the Governorship Aspirants of the Ruling Party, the APC in Plateau State. He spoke to newsmen at his residence in Jos, after the conclusion of the APC governorship primaries in Jos that produced Dr Nentawe Yilwatda Goshwe as the party’s flag bearer in the 2023 Guber Election.
Dr Dakum stated that the primary election was rigged, and the voices of delegates were silenced by intimidation by top Government LGA officials in the State and Security Agents as a result the integrity of the process and outcome is unacceptable.
He continued to say that such a process that does not reflect the minds of the delegates and party faithful, could take the state ten (10) years backwards in development and the people in charge should be held responsible for truncating development in the state for not doing the right things they ought to have done.
He stated that he was unhappy with how the process was handled, firstly, delegates were unknown to the candidates “As an aspirant, how can you campaign to delegates to vote for you, if you don’t know who they are? After which, we got to know that delegates were accommodated by the government and we had only one night to speak to them before the election”
Secondly, He stated that during the Primaries, the venue had top LGA officials standing beside delegates and some suspicious security personnel that had no business being at the venue as they were neither delegates nor officials for the primaries.
He was shocked that in the Local Government Areas that started the election, only one or two delegates clam they could read or write, even when it was obvious that most of them were literate. Hence, they had to rely on their LGA Chairmen to guide their decisions.
This was why I and other Aspirants walked out of the primaries to publicly show that we do not agree with the process. We have channelled our complaints to the Appeal Committee to cancel the election and awaiting the verdict to know the next line of action to take. He also pointed out that if nothing is done about their petition, he will consult with the APC stakeholders, the Governor and people who believe in the consolidation vision to take the appropriate decision.
He strongly appreciated all those involved in the “Consolidation Movement”, saying the goal of going into the contest for Governorship is borne out of a deep passion for Plateau State, inclusivity in the governance of the State and a deep passion not to “throw the baby with the bathwater” He urged his supporters to stay calm and peaceful as they engage the leadership of the party to look into the issues presented.
Recall that the All Progressive Congress APC recently held its Gubernatorial elections in Plateau State which saw three (3) aspirants staging a protest walkout and four(4) others making last-minute withdrawals. The election however continued with Aspirant, Dr Nentanwe Yilwatda later declared the winner of the Primary Election after he polled a total of 803 votes out of the 922 total votes cast.
