by Christiana Gokyo, Jos
PLATEAU STATE: Following the controversies on the announcement of All Progressive Congress (APC) Primaries from Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam (PKK) Federal House of Representatives earlier announced by one Monday Daspa, said to be Returning Officer from Mangu Local Government Area, was described as “fake and unauthorized.”
“The Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency results were void, because an unauthorized individual posed as a ‘returning officer’ and declared a winner.
This was disclosed by Chairman of the APC House of Representatives and Senatorial Primaries Exercise Committee in Plateau State, Hon. Stella Okotete, while speaking to newsmen at the party secretariat on Monday in Jos after the exercise.
He was affirmative that, the primaries was successfully conducted and concluded by the committee, in line with the party guidelines and had received reports from collation officers deployed to various federal constituencies.
Speaking on controversies surrounding the primaries, Stella Okotete, while giving clearance on the allegation of announcements in some constituencies, especially Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam, disclosed that an individual was acting as a returning officer.
According to her, “There was an announcement, especially from PKK, where someone, who was claiming to be a ‘Returning Officer,’ reportedly fled the area. We do not know him. I have not seen that clip, and I do not think he has the authority to do that,” she noted.
While declining to make a statement on the disputed results, Stella Okotete said that it is only the results in her possession that are authentic.
According to her, she has the results for PKK and all other Plateau constituencies with her, and those results will be made available to the press very soon.
She buttressed that, “Only returning officers and collation officers officially approved by the committee were authorized to conduct and declare results.
“The collation officers and team members approved by my committee, under my supervision, went out to conduct the exercise. They have done their job and reported back to me, and I am satisfied they carried out the exercise, in line with the guidelines,” she said.
Also speaking, the Returning Officer for the Pankshin/Kanke/Kanam Federal Constituency, Barr. Nandom Kura, has described the results allegedly declared by one Monday Daspa, said to be a ‘collation officer’ from Mangu Local Government Area, as “fake and unauthorized.”
He called on the public to disregard reports circulating on social media claiming that Hon. Tongshinen had emerged winner of the primary election. According to him, such claims were false and not officially recognized by the committee.
Barr. Kure noted that, the results collated from the 36 wards in PKK showed that Yusuf Gagdi secured 29,207 votes out of 31,150 votes cast in the constituency. He said, he was constitutionally and officially the only person assigned to declare the winner of the election.
In a reaction, Hon. Yusuf Gagdi (the aspirant) said results circulating online are fake and not recognized by the collation officer and committee, and urged journalists and online bloggers to desist from spreading fake and unverified news.