Sylvanus Viashima, Jalingo

The Taraba State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress (APC) has threatened to boycott the state’s local government election slated for June 30, 2020.

Alhaji Ibrahim El-Sudi, Chairman of the party who issued the threat on Wednesday while briefing newsmen in Jalingo, urged the Taraba State Independent Electoral Commission (TSIEC) to withdraw the time table for the election.

He said that the party had written formally to the TSIEC to declare it’s stands considering the lockdown in the state hindered the party from participating in the screening, political campaigns and other pre-election activities in the process.

El-Sudi who said that the party has lost confidence in the chairman of the electoral umpire, called on the state government to remove Dr. Philip Duwe, as Chairman of the TSIEC due to his obvious partisanship and sympathy to PDP in the state.

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In his reaction, Duwe said that the commission had the constitutional mandate to fix dates and organise elections.

He explained that the commission consulted all stakeholders in the election before arriving at the date and dismissed the allegations of bias and favouritism for any political party.

He said that 17 political parties were involved in the process, adding that only APC and Advance Democratic Congress (ADC) that later complained about the date.

He said that 15 other political parties had agreed to participate in the election and assured that the commission must ensure a level playing ground to all parties