Re: Press Conference By General Jerry Useni, PDP Governorship Candidate In Plateau State

Yakubu Busari

The good people of Plateau State have spoken and have expressed their democratic wish on who they want as governor of the state on March 9; what is left is mere formalities for Governor Simon Lalong to take the oath of office and return as governor.

Yakubu Dati the Commissioner of Information and Communication disclosed to the media in a press statement made available to our correspondence in Jos

Let me use this opportunity to thank the people of the state for their support to the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidates at all levels and their abiding faith in good governance and humane leadership which they have experienced in the last four years of the APC administration in the state.

I am however worried that the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, in Plateau State, instead of toeing the path of honour by celebrating its second position in the keenly contested governorship race, is rather trying to claim what it could not get through the ballot box through allegations and innuendoes.

It is unfortunate that the PDP governorship candidate, has been misled into throwing tantrums over the election by lending his voice to the attempt to fault the March 9, 2019 elections rather than act as an elder statesman and concede victory to the winning party.

No doubt the PDP tried by scoring a handful of votes in the elections by a margin thought to be impossible considering the manner it mismanaged the state in the past years, but to claim that it can defeat and APC administration that has cleared the mess it visited on the people of Plateau State is the worst form of self –delusion.

The PDP is only crying wolf where there is none. Its allegations of alleged widespread thumb printing, vote-buying and

Intimidation by some security men are things that are alien to the APC and an attempt to cover for its failures.

One of the laughable claims of the PDP is that Lalong intimated civil servants and traditional rulers. This is ridiculous because Governor Lalong does not need to threaten civil servants and traditional rulers to vote for him because he has been the only governor who has been consistent in the payment of workers’ salaries in the state and has seen to the improvement of the welfare of traditional rulers with the creation of chiefdoms and upgrading traditional stools.

His all-inclusive governance of emancipation won him several ardent followers.

On the allegation of vote buying, let me stress that Governor Lalong since his foray into politics after a successful legal career has never lost an election hence cannot be moved to influence voters with money. The governor unlike the PDP days believes that his works would speak for him and as far as many would acknowledge, that was what has earned him second term as governor. The PDP should not reduce everybody to their level of politicking where money holds sway.

The claim that some PDP supporters were not allowed to vote cannot be true as all with PVCs were duly accredited and allowed to vote.

Besides, how does an election official know which party a prospective voter is going to vote for that would warrant stopping the person even if the claim is to be considered?

As far as we know, it is the PDP that has engaged the service of some youths as thugs. The Lalong administration has made its mark in youth engagements as one of its cardinal policies. It has therefore introduced many prgorammes to train the youths to be gainfully employed so that politicians will not use them for their political aims as they are wont to do during the PDP days.

On the claim that card readers were stolen, from what I know, the INEC has not reported any card reader as stolen as it is their property. If the owner of a property has not complained that it is stolen, one wonders how a third party can make such claims.

And as far as we know, results that were declared, to a great extent reflected the choices the people made and that is why APC is leading because everybody knows the extent the party has transformed the lives of people.

While there’s room for improvement in the process of the current election we cannot say it is the worst.

The PDP should know that having a rerun in nine local governments is to ensure that justice is not only done but seen to be done, otherwise the APC candidate should have been declared winner based on the fact that he has won the highest number of votes and satisfied constitutional requirements. There’s simply no way the PDP candidate can win in the supplementary elections.

I wish to remind the PDP candidate that promising the people of Plateau State one term of four years, does not offer any fresh hope as they all know they stand a better chance with Lalong who is constitutionally required to quit after doing two terms.