Plateau Assembly Election: PDP Wins 19 Out Of 24 Seats

The ruling People’s Democratic Party, PDP, has won 19 out the 24 Plateau House of Assembly seats contested for in the state.

Results announced by returning officers across various collation centres in the state show that Labour Party, LP, won the 4 other seats to emerge as the major opposition party in the House of Assembly that would be dominated by PDP members. ACN won the remaining one seat.

P.M.NEWS learnt that four months to the elections, the majority of Assembly members defected from PDP to Labour Party,LP with the aim of challenging the dominance of PDP in the House of Assembly in the past 12 years.

However, the results did not reflect that LP, with all the Plateau political big wigs like ex-governor Joshua Dariye, Deputy Governor Pauline Tallen, Fidelis Tapgun,

ex -governor Michael Botmang, could threaten PDP’s dominance in the House of Assembly and the state.

When P.M.NEWS interviewed former Plateau Governor Michael Botmang and the LP governorship candidate and Plateau Deputy Governor, Tallen some days before the elections , they both expressed optimism that LP would undoubtedly wrest power from PDP in the state.

They relied on the large crowd at their campaigns and believed that Governor Jonah Jang and the PDP had lost political relevance considering the inability of the governor to contain the frequent ethno-religious violence and massive killings over the past three years in the state.

But it turned out to be a different ball game when PDP won the governorship election, two senatorial seats and 19 House of Assembly seats.

-Femi Adi/Plateau