What You Need to Know About the Plateau North Legislative Rerun

JOS NORTH—On Saturday, February 3, 2024, voters in Bassa, Barkin-Ladi, Jos North, Jos South, Jos East, and Riyom local government areas of Plateau North will head to the polls for a rerun election to elect representatives to the national legislatures, both in the green and red chambers.

After last year’s general election, the Court of Appeal in Abuja overturned the victory of Simon Mwadkwon, the Senate Minority Leader representing the Plateau North Senatorial District. 

This decision was made during the hearing of the appeal filed by Chris Giwa of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Gyang Zi of the Labour Party (LP).

The appellants argued that Mwadkwon was ineligible to run for election because his party, the PDP, which nominated him during the election, lacked the necessary organisational structure: This was due to the party’s failure to comply with an earlier high court order mandating the proper conduct of a state congress.

The election of Musa Agah, a representative for Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency in the same district as Mwadkwon’s was also nullified on the same basis. 

In October 2023, the Abuja court ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to conduct a rerun within 90 days. 

The Umbrella is off the ballot! 

Since the rerun campaigns began, the streets of Jos have been flooded with posters featuring Mwadkwon and Agah, both affiliated with the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), along with others who participated in the annulled elections. However, the ballot papers unveiled to journalists and party representatives in Jos on Thursday excluded the PDP logo—the umbrella. 

Youths of the PDP have on Wednesday staged a protest at the INEC state headquarters in Jos over rumours of its exclusion from the re-run election. At the time, some members of the party debunked the rumour saying it is a plan of the opposition to distract PDP voters from going to the ballot on Saturday. 

The national secretariat of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC) has faced resistance from its Plateau state chapter regarding efforts to boycott the elections. INEC has also confirmed that it will not postpone the elections.

Who is on the ballot? Know the legislative candidates for Plateau North

With the PDP candidates absent from the ballot for Saturday’s rerun, here’s a list of eligible candidates and their respective political parties: 

Plateau North Senatorial District

• Mohammed Abdullahi Mohammed — Action Alliance (AA)
• Gyang Samuel Pam — African Democratic Congress (ADC)
• Prince Pam Mwadkon Dachungyang — Action Democratic Party (ADP)
• Chris Giwa — All Progressive Congress (APC)
• Hamisu Abdulhadi — Allied Peoples Movement (APM)
• Gyang Zi — Labour Party (LP)
• Yakubu Muhammed Shafiu — News Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
• Kumusu Eleazar Ahoro — National Rescue Movement (NRM)
• Yahaya Kwande Musa — Peoples Redemption Party (PRP)
• Ibrahim Uba — Social Democratic Party (SDP)
• Francis Paul — Zenith Labour Party (ZLP)

Jos North/Bassa Federal Constituency 

• Muhammed Abdulaziz Bala — African Democratic Congress (ADC)
• Ibrahim Baba Hassan — All Progressive Congress (APC)
• Action Democratic Party (ADP)
• Umar Muhammed Usman — Action Peoples Party (APP)
• Daniel Asama — Labour Party (LP)
• Hassan Yakub — News Nigeria Peoples Party (NNPP)
• Jirgi Yusuf — National Rescue Movement (NRM)
• Ismalia Salisu — Social Democratic Party (SDP)

We will bring you more coverage of the elections. Follow: @JoeyOffAir on X