The forum of aggrieved All Progressive Congress aspirants in Taraba State, on Sunday, alleged that no primary elections were held in the to elect candidates, especially into the State Houses of Assembly federal constituencies.
Spokesperson for the aggrieved aspirants, Shittu Mohammed, who contested the Nguroje State Constituency, at a press conference in Jalingo called on the National Secretariat of the party to conduct the election and select candidates for the forthcoming election in the interest of peace and fair play.
Mohammed said if not addressed, the internal wrangling in the party in the state would affect the party’s chances in the state.
According to him, no elections were held in the state but rather results were written and sent to the National Secretariat.
“There was no election in Taraba. We were told the electoral committee for Taraba were in the state, but we never saw them. We were all waiting in our various local government (areas) to receive them for the conduct of the primaries and they did not show up anywhere.
“We all waited without success and no election was held. We don’t know how the results emerged and some people were declared winners.
“To the best of our knowledge, there was no election whatsoever in Taraba and any person parading himself as a candidate is only fooling him/herself.”
While calling for the conduct of the primaries to elect candidates ahead of the 2023 elections, the aggrieved aspirants insisted that the electoral committee could not impose anybody on the party in the state as a candidate for any position.
Mohammed added, “We were told there is an appeal committee, but we don’t know where the committee is even sitting.
“We need fair treatment and we want our issue to be addressed. The party has internal channels of resolving issues and we want the National Secretariat to handle this issue with care before it is too late.”
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