Plateau State Local Government elections were generally peaceful but experienced a very low turnout of voters allegedly due to the tension that predicated the conduct of the exercise.
Another possible reason attributed to the low turnout is the non-participation of the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the elections.
The State High Court sitting in Jos, had on 29th September 2021 dismissed a suit filed by the main opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), challenging the decision of the Plateau State Independent Electoral Commission (PLASIEC), which had excluded the party from participating in the local government council polls.
Justice Ishaku Kunda, who delivered the judgement on the matter, upheld PLASIEC’s decision and said the suit by PDP lacked substance because the party could not abide by the guidelines of the commission in participating in the elections.
Kunda maintained that PLASIEC has the right to have refused PDP nomination and expression of interest forms for the said election; stressing that the PDP erred for not having followed the instructions.
The judge sighted the judgement of SP Gang of November 20th, 2020, which ordered the party to conduct state congress, the party went ahead to evoke sections of its constitution and dissolved the state EXCO and constituted a caretaker committee which conducted its primaries that produced the candidates which PLASIEC refused to issue forms.
In the circumstances, the judge held that all the steps and actions taken by the caretaker committee of PDP, including the conduct of the said primary elections was null and void.
“The entire claims in the submission of the claimant is hereby dismissed,” the Judge stated.
Furthermore, the PDP went to the Court of Appeal, in Jos, seeking an injunction to stop the conduct of the polls, but the court denied them the request, saying since the tenure of the elected officials at the local government had elapsed, a vacuum cannot be created.