Senator Jonah Jang the immediate past Governor of Plateau state has described the Saturday 9th October Local government elections as nothing more than a charade, a show of cowardice, mockery of democracy or simply standing logic on its head.
The Governor whose party, the Peoples Democratic Party was excluded from the polls said, at no time in the history of Plateau State since the return of Democracy in 1999, has Plateau State experienced this kind of impunity as is perpetrated by the APC government of the day.
“If the APC government was as popular as it has portrayed itself to be, the right thing to do was to allow its state-funded umpire conduct a free, fair and credible election to test its popularity,” Jang said
He went on to berate Governor Lalong, saying “Governor who is a lawyer and had served as the Speaker of the State House of Assembly will engage in such blatant disregard for due process is a thing of concern, especially that it is ordinarily expected that he should be above board. Such acts by a few put a dent on the highly respected legal profession, which practitioners should know better.”
The Peoples Democratic Party had gone to the court of appeal to seek an injunction stopping the election which the judges of the Court of appeal unanimously dismissed.
Governor Jang reacting to the ruling of the court of appeal said “while it is too early to conclude that the Honorable judges erred, by not seeing the consequences of the elections, we hope that when the substantive suit is heard and the fallout of the elections will make them recant the decision and subsequently declare the election an illegality”.
The former governor who stated his position in a statement signed by his media consultant, Clinton Garuba said “the act of cowardice displayed by the government and the APC in Plateau state is a clear indication and further confirms that the people are not in support of the puppetry and subservience which the government of the day represents.
The Saturday, October 9th Local government elections conducted in the state was characterized by low voter turnout.