The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has concluded arrangements for the bye-elections for Plateau North Senatorial seat and Barkin-Ladi constituency in the State House of Assembly scheduled for October following the death of the two legislatures.
It has been a season of politicking since the death of Gyang Dantong, the senator representing Plateau North at the senate and Gyang Fulani, the majority leader in the Plateau State House of Assembly following the death and others during a funeral ceremony in Mase village of Riyom local government area.
INEC’s Head of Media in Plateau State, Bencyin Ikpe commended the political parties for embracing internal democracy in preparations for the elections with their various congresses that elect candidates for the bye-elections.
“So far, I’ve seen a lot of level playing ground. I’ll say internal democracy within the political parties is at play. From the ones we’ve observed so far, the conduct is fair and it is also free,” Mr Ikpe said.
INEC officials served as observer at the parties’ congresses to choose candidates for the bye elections.
The Democratic Peoples Party (DPP) and the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) held their party primaries to determine candidates for the elections with some of them emerging as consensus candidates during the affirmation exercises at the various party offices.
The DPP candidate contesting to replace late Dantong in the senate, David Dungs (rtd) said his desire to bring federal projects to Plateau State is what propelled him to seek election to the National Assembly.
“I want to give my people an excellent representation because I look at what is happening in Nigeria today and what is happening in my state and zone. I believe there’s so much to be done. I also believe I have a lot of experience that I want to bring to bare,” he said.
“We have not had federal projects coming to the state for quite some time now, I believe I should be able to use my wealth of experience, being a bridge builder, I should be able to harness a lot of federal project into the state,” Mr Dungs added.
Another candidate contesting for the Plateau North senatorial seat under the platform of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), Jonathan Pam said he is going to pursue a determine and rigorous campaign that will ensure that he wins the October election.
“We are there to win because we that there must be change in Plateau State. We are going to be the vehicle of that change. We want to bring peace and use peace to drive development,” Mr Pam said.
Political analysts said as the citizens of the Plateau North senatorial zone, comprising of six local government areas look forward to the October bye-elections, the security agents need to be at alert and be more vigilante to forestall any incident that could lead to breakdown of law and order while politicians should be civil in their utterances by guiding against inflammatory statements that can led to chaos.