From Jude Owuamanam, Jos

 

Former senator, who represented Plateau North under the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Simon Mwadkwom, has lauded the congresses of the party for the election of party executives and primaries to elect candidates for the October 9 local government election in the zone.

This is even as discordant tunes pervaded the exercise in other zones of the state as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has directed the repeat of the exercise in Shendam And Qua’an Pan local government areas.

Feelers from other zones indicated that the exercises were marred by irregularities and imposition of candidates.

But Mwadkwom, who spoke to newsmen at the end of the exercise in Riyom, said that members of the party in the northern zone conducted themselves very well and abided by the rules and instructions of the party.

He said that the plea by Governor Caleb Mutfwang to members to explore the consensus option worked very well as members were in unison on the choice of party executives and candidates for the local government polls

He said: “The primaries for the councillorship and chairmanship candidate were peaceful as far as I’m concerned.  This is was one of the most peaceful well-organized and there was high level of participation.

“If you see there are some wards that you have close to six people aspiring to be councillors in some other governments you have more than 10 people aspiring to be local government chairman so it was a level playground for everybody that wished to aspire.

“I think PDP did well because there was no interference from the government and I think that is very, very key and more important and strategic for peaceful coexistence and then for everybody to be allowed to participate.

 However, feelers from other zones indicated that the exercise did not go well. The primaries and congresses were marred by irregularities and imposition of candidates.

For instance, the national executive of the party directed that the exercise be repeated in Shendam and Qua’an Pan local government areas.

In a letter signed by the acting National Chairman, Umar Illiya Damagum and National Secretary, Samuel Anyanwu, the national exco said it would notify the party of the date for the primaries and congresses due to conflicting electoral schedules.

Sunday Sun gathered that since the primary elections were held, all has not been well, particularly among the gladiators in PDP, the ruling party in the state. It was further gathered that from all indications and also feelers across the entire 17LGAs, the party has been beset with a lot of complaints ranging from imposition and marginalization of some strong party supporters during the conduct of the primaries.

According to impeccable sources, the violence and confusion that characterized the conduct of the primaries could be attributed to those issues, since the top shots of the party felt short changed or marginalized by the party’s secretariat, which is believed to be playing the script of the cabal in the Mutfwang government.