The campaign council of Hon. Esther Bitrus has called on the All Progressives Congress (APC) Electoral Committee for the Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency to declare its candidate, Hon. Esther Bitrus, the winner of the recently concluded APC House of Representatives primary election in Plateau State.
Addressing a press conference in Jos on Thursday, the Director of Media for the campaign team, Mrs. Noro Stephen, said elections were conducted in only eight of the 22 wards across the constituency and that their candidate emerged victorious in the areas where voting took place.
According to her, in Jos South Local Government Area, elections were successfully conducted in only five out of the 12 wards, while the remaining wards were disrupted by violence. In Jos East Local Government Area, she said only three of the 10 wards successfully conducted elections.
“In Jos South, out of the 12 wards, only five wards successfully conducted elections, while the others were marred by violence. In Jos East, elections were successfully held in only three out of the 10 wards,” she stated.
Noro alleged that the APC primary election in the constituency was characterized by violence in several locations. She claimed that groups of thugs, allegedly sponsored by interested parties, disrupted the exercise in both Jos South and Jos East.
She therefore appealed to the APC leadership to order fresh elections in all affected wards to enable party members to exercise their democratic rights.
“We call on the party leadership to order fresh and credible elections in all affected wards where people were denied the opportunity to vote,” she said.
She further urged the party to “declare null and void any results arising from wards where elections were manipulated or where no elections were conducted.”
Noro disclosed that Hon. Esther Bitrus had already submitted petitions to both the APC Appeal Committee and the State Working Committee, seeking either a declaration of victory based on the available results or the conduct of fresh elections in the affected wards.
Speaking at the press conference, the Director-General of the campaign team, Daniel Mancha, maintained that results already collated from the wards where elections were conducted showed that Esther Bitrus defeated her opponent and should therefore be declared the winner.
Similarly, the leader of the Jos East Campaign Directorate, Lawal Ajiji, stated that Esther Bitrus secured the majority of votes in the wards where the primary election was successfully conducted.
Hon. Esther Bitrus contested the APC primary election for the Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency alongside Hon. Musa Bagos. Although the Electoral Committee is yet to officially announce the results, there are speculations that Bagos may be favoured in the final outcome.
