Governor Simon Lalong of Plateau State, yesterday said the March 23 supplementary election in the state would be a walk-over for him and the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Plateau State is one of the states that the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, declared the result of the March 9 governorship and state house of assembly elections as inconclusive and ordered for a re-run election.
Speaking to State House correspondents after meeting behind closed doors with President Muhammadu Buhari, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, Governor Lalong who is leading the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate in the results so far declared alleged that the renewed insecurity in the state had political undertone.
Asked why he was at the State House, he said, “My meeting with the president is the usual briefing, I call it usual because of my passion for peace in the state. It is not about the election, it is about the peace, to ensure we have very peaceful elections. So far so good, we have had very good peaceful elections. We are coming back for supplementary elections, I will like INEC to conduct a peaceful election and so we will like the security apparatus to be on ground in the state. That was my briefing to Mr. President.”
On if he is panicking over the supplementary elections coming Saturday, declared , “How can I be when all the votes that were cancelled were my votes? These were areas that I won. There was no need for cancellation but then as a lawyer, I still want to comply with the rules, I don’t want to be talking about infringing on the rules when the elections result is very clear.
“They said registered voters were 49,000 but the votes were not up to 20,000 but people were still saying we need 49,000 and I was already on top with 45,000 votes. So we are going to get the 49,000. How can you imagine that a sitting governor cannot get 3,000 votes out of 39,000 in an area that I have well dominated for a very long time?
“So for me, election is as good as concluded in Plateau State. I see it as an opportunity for people whose votes were cancelled for them to vote. People came and said their votes were cancelled, it is for them to go back and vote and ensure their vote counts this time around. That is why I support that we go back and conduct the elections. If they (INEC) like, let them conduct the elections more than once, we will soon win.”
On what was his reaction to the recent attack on the Plateau State on cattle rustling, he said, “That was why I said I am concerned about security. Usually it starts like that, they start rustling and killing cattle and the next thing you will hear is that, it is farmers’ herders crisis. I know that I have addressed that issue for a very long time and the police is handling the security.
“So I informed Mr. President that we are on top of the situation because we wouldn’t want that to escalate into farmers, herdsmen crisis. It is not farmers, herdsmen crisis; it is criminals trying to ferment trouble after losing elections.”
Also asked on whether he suspected political undertone in the insecurity situation in the state he said, “Very well. I always say it has political undertone, why is it happening immediately after elections. It usually happens immediately before or after elections, why is it like that? It has some political connotation.”
Governor Lalong said that people in the state were happy with his administration because there will be continuation of completion of projects and initiation of new projects.
“The civil servants have been crying that if I loss elections that means they will be owed salaries again. So we want to continue with payment of salaries, gratuities, completion of projects that were started before I came and the ones I have initiated. That is the next level in Plateau State,” he said.
