Ukandi Odey, Jos
The electorate of Naraguta B Ward of Jos North Local government Area of Plateau State are demanding for justice as they claim they were completely disenfranchised during the Gubernatortial and House of Assembly elections of March 18, 2023.
Noting that Naraguta B Ward is the largest electoral ward in the country with about 200,000 noters, the electorate, in a press release, said “although the elections have come and gone, we are worried that the grave injustices committed during the exercise in our Ward have not been addressed by the Independent national Electoral commission, INEC, and we have been left disenfranchised in breach of our constitutional rights”.
In a Press Release signed by Aso Usman Ahmmad and four others, the Naraguta group noted that “unrestrained political gladiators, particularly the jos north INEC Electoral officers, collated and returned results of the ward even when the INEC officials of the ward went missing”.
They noted further that “acts such as this instigated controversies that led to the avoidable denial of our rights to cast votes in the critical elections”.
“We are thus pleading with the Plateau Governorship/ House of Assembly Elections Petition Tribunal to order that the elections be conducted fresh in the ward to give us a chance to participate in choosing our leaders.
The Naraguta electorate lamented that “for reasons not known to us, alien but certainly strong partisan forces took more than a passing interest in the election and voting in Naraguta B Ward. These forces infiltrated the area and then voting centres, and orchestrated hooliganism and brigandage to the extent that the atmosphere became chaotic and not conducive for free and fair elections”.
Accordingly, the group demands that “in the spirit of fair play, equity, justice and good conscience, we plead the understanding of the Tribunal for a fresh conduct of the 2023 Gubernatorial and House of Assembly elections in the Naraguta B Ward”.
