Members of the All Progressives Congress in Plateau State staged a peaceful protest on Tuesday at the party’s state secretariat in Jos, over claims that a House of Representatives candidate was imposed for the Pankshin, Kanke and Kanam Federal Constituency.
The demonstrators, mostly young APC members from PKK, marched with placards that read “Protect Internal Democracy,” “Our Votes Must Count,” “Respect Party Structures,” and “Justice for PKK Constituency.”
They submitted a petition contesting the outcome of the party’s primary that declared incumbent lawmaker Yusuf Adamu Gagdi as the APC candidate for the 2027 election.
The petition was signed by aspirant Hon. John Tongshinen Gozhak on behalf of concerned members and stakeholders. It alleged irregularities in how results were collated and announced.
According to the petition, the Plateau APC leadership had earlier named specific collation officers to handle results from polling units across the constituency. Those officers, it said, completed their work and submitted results.
The petitioners however claimed that officials sent from the APC national secretariat later sidelined the state-appointed officers and brought in other people to handle the collation.
“It came as a profound surprise to party members and stakeholders when reports emerged that certain officials or agents deployed from the National Secretariat rejected, displaced or otherwise disregarded the authority of the very officers whose names had earlier been officially communicated by the Plateau State Secretariat,” the petition stated.
The group said the action has raised questions about the credibility of the primary and the legitimacy of the result that produced Gagdi.
“If officers duly appointed and communicated by the Plateau State Secretariat can successfully conduct their assignment, collate results and submit same, only for their work to be subsequently disregarded or displaced, then the confidence of party members in the integrity of our internal democratic processes is inevitably undermined,” the petition added.
The protesters are asking the party to immediately review the primary, investigate the alleged replacement of collation officers, and ensure that votes cast by members are properly counted.
“We have therefore chosen the path of peace, dialogue, and lawful engagement. Our peaceful protest and presentation of this petition should be understood as an appeal for justice within the party and not as an act of hostility against the APC,” Gozhak told party officials.
The petitioners also urged the Plateau APC leadership to respect established party structures and rebuild trust in the party’s internal processes.
As of press time, neither Yusuf Adamu Gagdi nor the Plateau State APC had issued an official response to the allegations.
