Plateau Re-Run: INEC Excludes PDP Logo From Ballot Contrary To Court Judgment

Ahead of the scheduled Saturday rerun polls for the Plateau North Senatorial district, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has excluded the logo of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the ballot for the election.

This followed the discovery of the missing logo in the ballot papers during inspection of the material at the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) office in Jos, the state capital before INEC commenced the distribution of sensitive electoral materials to the six Local Government Areas of Plateau state.

While the PDP logo was conspicuously missing on the ballot papers, those of the APC, PRP and LP were printed on the ballot.

The discovery created tension within the vicinity of the CBN as officials of the PDP that were assigned to witness the distribution of the election materials vehemently protested the non-inclusion of their party logo on the ballot.

They accused INEC of acting against the Court of Appeal judgment which said that all parties shall contest in the re-run, saying that the Electoral body was behaving as if it was part and parcel of the APC.

The PDP members and supporters later moved to State INEC headquarters in Jos and protested over the exclusion of the party in the ballot for the re-run election scheduled for February 3, 2023.

However, officials of the INEC assured the PDP members that the issue would be adequately addressed.

The PDP members equally demanded to see the ballot and inclusion of the PDP logo on the ballot for the Plateau North Senatorial District and Bassa/Jos North Federal Constituency where the re-rerun are expected to take place same Saturday.

Before the discovery, there were insinuations in the opposition camp that the PDP and its candidates will not participate in the re-rerun poll following the Court of Appeal judgement which nullified the elections in the two constituencies that were won by the PDP’s candidates namely Senator Simon Mwadkwon – Plateau North and Musa Agah – Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency.

The Court of Appeal had based the nullification of their elections on the ground that the PDP which nominated them as candidates had no structure.

In compliance with the Court of Appeal decision, INEC announced February 3, 2024 as the scheduled date for the rerun elections.