THE Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), has presented Certificates of Return to the sixteen (16) Plateau State House of Assembly members who were declared as duly elected members by the Court of Appeal, Abuja recently.
Out of the sixteen (16) members presented with the Certificates of Return, fifteen (15) members won on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), while one (1) emerged on the platform of the Labour Party (LP) respectively.
Presenting the Certificates of Return to the elected members, the Plateau State Resident Commissioner of INEC, Oliver Gundu, apologised for the delay in presenting the certificates to the members. He said that it was not deliberate but was due to some exigencies of work.
The Commissioner however, debunked the speculations making the rounds that he deliberately refused to present the members with their Certificates of Return because he was not happy with their victory. “When I was at the headquarters? the Chairman jokingly asked. I do not have such powers”, he explained.
“When I arrived in Jos, I was the one that proposed the 3.00 pm time for the certificates presentation and was assuming that if I had all the sixteen certificates, it would have been done that time, but it became impossible and it will be very sad to present only ten out of sixteen certificates, he explained further
“The remaining six will take it with a mixed feeling if a different date were to be scheduled for them and the suspensions will deepen more. I was able to explain to the APC Chairman what our challenges were. We could have done it in the night which might portray a negative, but I said there is nothing to hide because this is what was legitimately done”, he explained.
Responding on behalf of the sixteen members who were presented with the Certificates of Return, Member representing Quaan-Pan South, Barr. Theodore Maiyaki said, “Today, we see a demonstration of intricacy of this organic part of our lives called democracy and we thank God for giving us the opportunity to witness yet another moment in the evolution of our administrative governance in a legitimate will.
On his part, the State APC Chairman, Chief Rufus Bature, congratulated the members saying, “I feel real good and we are happy that democracy is in action. Democracy is about the rule of law. Today, the mandate of the people has been given to them. We expect them to kick start proper legislation in the House of Assembly.
He called on his party faithfuls to be magnanimous in their victory and should not insult or intimidate anybody because it was the will of God. Bature stated that the APC was out to embrace everybody because Plateau State belongs to all of us and it desired to touch the lives of every Plateau citizen positively.
