Middle Belt NDC urges Dickson to stop NDC guber candidate’s displacement

THE national leader of the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC), Senator Henry Seriake Dickson, has been urged to intervene in the attempt to displace the party’s gubernatorial candidate for Plateau state, Da Jonathan Sunday Akuns through a dubious repeat primary election.

Making the call while addressing a press conference in Abuja, weekend, under the aegis of Middle Belt Young Political Stakeholders (MBYPS), Gaius Shekwolo and Abdulllahi Iliya, President and Secretary, said time had come for Dickson to look into the shenanigans of some political jobbers in Plateau state.

The group urged Dickson to ensure that the planned substitution or rerun governorship primary scheduled for Tuesday September 15, 2027 was unwarranted for Da Akuns who remained the original sole aspirant.

“he plan is simply a part of the broader effort to displace the sole candidate that emerged unopposed at the initial primary on 29th May 2026,” the group said

While arguing that the time for the sale of forms had already elapsed, MBYPS noted that if the exercise throws up a different governorship candidate it would go a long way to confirm the fears in many quarters that the party has been compromised in Plateau state.

“We heard that an influential political leader in the state doled out large sums of money to some NDC leaders to set the ground work for possible disqualification of the party for the February 2027 governorship election in the state.

“With the experience of PDP that suffered a judicial loss of its election victory of the the 2023 national election during which the party won the National Assembly and State House of Assembly seats, it was expected that political leaders in Plateau State should avoid actions capable of repeating that costly mistake.

“Plateau state should not be a Guinea pig for political merchandising that robs voters the power to elect their leaders. NDC should fish out those building the foundation for another judicial intervention in the electoral process due to breach of the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) guidelines,” the group stated.

According to MBYPS, the recourse to placeholder by NDC after its direct governorship primary had produced an unopposed winner does not reflect the party’s promise of upholding the rule of law and ensuring that the son of a nobody can become somebody without knowing somebody.

The group stated: “You cannot rescue Nigeria or effectively fight corruption by encouraging electoral manipulation and politics of imposition. Why did NDC sell the expression of interest and nomination form to a candidate in the first place? What is happening in Plateau State NDC has a deeper context than intra-party contestation for influence.”

The group noted that it was regretful that at a time when they are making efforts to unite the Middle Belt into a common region to solve its socio-political and economic challenges, some overzealous politicians were trying to sustain bad political example.

Going down memory lane, the Middle Belt Political Stakeholders said the region was determined to right the wrongs of the area which culminated in poor political choices and divisions that characterised the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) era.