Plateau ex Commissioner wins APC re-run primaries

By Kingsley Chukwuka

The immediate past Commissioner for Commerce in Plateau State, Hon. Joseph Abbey has been declared winner of the rerun primary election of the All Progressives Congress (APC), in Plateau State.

Abbey had resigned to contest for the Bassa/Jos-North Federal Constituency seat which the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has fixed February 26th, 2022 for the conduct of the bye-election to fill the vacant seat at the National Assembly, which became vacant because of the sudden death of its former occupant, late Hon. Haruna Maitala.

In fulfilment of the electoral processes, the All Progressives Congress (APC) last Tuesday conducted its primary election for the constituency held at Lamonde Hotel in Jos North under the supervision of the INEC electoral committee officer Rt. Hon Abu Ajiya.

But the bye-election was declared inconclusive, as two candidates tie after scoring 344 votes each.

It would recall that, four aspirants including the former House of Representatives members, Hon Sulieman Yahaya Kwande, and Hon Lumumba Dah Adeh contested for the primary election. Others are Hon. Joseph Abey Akwu, former commissioner in Lalong’s cabinet and Dr Aliu Adamu.

At the end of the exercise, Hon. Suleiman kwande and Hon. Abbey tie, making it mandatory for the umpire to reschedule the primary for a rerun as required by electoral law.

At the rerun of the exercise, held at Prestige Event Centre, Jebu Bassa, in Bassa local government area, all the delegates from the two local governments participated fully without any breech of peace.

Declaring the result, the chairman of the electoral college, Rt. Hon. Abu Ajiya announced Hon. Abbey as winner of the rerun after scoring 809 to beat his rival, Hon. Suleiman Kwande who scored 74 votes.

The electoral officer announced that total votes casts were 888 while invalid votes were five.