BREAKING: 18 PLATEAU APC GOVERNORSHIP ASPIRANTS MAY DUMP PARTY.

 TEXT OF PRESS CONFERENCE OF 18 PLATEAU APC GOVERNORSHIP 

ASPIRANTS BY CHIEF AMOS GIZO CHAIRMAN/CONVENER OF THE 

FORUM. HELD ON MONDAY 9TH MAY 2022 AT KALWA HOUSE, JOS.

Gentlemen of the press.

It is my pleasure and a privilege to be amongst you this morning.

- It has made it a necessity for us to address you this morning 

considering recent development in our great party the APC 

Plateau state chapter. 

- It is no longer news that the issue of the moment is the 2023 

general elections; most political parties are busy with primaries 

to produce party flag bearers to beat the INEC schedules. 

- Our party the APC is not left out of there process by preparing 

guidelines and schedule of primaries sales of forms for all 

elective positions are ongoing and is expected to close by 

Tuesday the 10th of May 2023.

- As the processes are going on in the sate the executive 

Governor of Plateau State Rt. Hon. Simon Bako Lalong and the 

state chairman Hon. Rufus Bature sermonad and enlarged 

stake holders meeting at the government house on Monday

18th/4/2022 they admonished all aspirants to speak to 

themselves on possible withdrawals and a possibility of coming

up with a consensus candidate.

- This we started immediately after the parley but we as 

governorship aspirants were invited by the state chairman Hon. 

Rufus Bature at the state secretariat at kalwa on the 25/4/2022

recterated the govern house position and asked us to try to 

help the party and ourselves by trying to agree and to come up 

with a consensus candidate or at least reduce the number of 

governorship aspirants at the end of the meeting the state 

chairman gave legitimacy to the Plateau governorship aspirants 

forum by appointing Chief Amos Gizo as the chairman convener

of all the over 20 APC governorship aspirants.

- As the ruling party in the state and at the center our desire is to 

produce credible, qualified and electable candidates who are 

loyal to the party leadership and a person without baggage as 

we want to return power beyond the 16 years of PDP. 

- We know what it is to be in government and to be outside 

government and we don’t want to repeat the mistakes of the 

previous leaders who could not install their successors by being 

selfish of imposing unpopular candidates.

- The press conference is a collective agreements and position of 

about 18 governorship aspirants of APC Plateau state who have 

all indicated interests for the number one seat of the state. 

- The governor and the leadership of the party in the state all 

confirmed that all of us are most qualified that the least 

qualified of the APC aspirant is better than the most qualified 

of candidates of the other parties. 

We are all passionate about the Plateau state project, all interested 

in changing the narratives of a new secured, developed Plateau. All 

of us have met and spoken and have asked ourselves the question of 

how did we come to this decay? Where did we get it wrong? 

We all agreed that Plateau is not progressing as the indices of 

progress show that we are derailing from the prestigious 3rd position 

in the 60s, 70s and 80s amongst the states of the north to 12th, this 

means something is fundamentally wrong with successive 

administrations of the state that the political will to propel positive 

developments by our founding fathers these are what we have 

discussed and all willing to change.

The APC governorship aspirants on the Plateau are seasoned experts 

in their fields ranging from academic professors, doctors, 

administrators, accountants, and financial experts, lawyers, 

surveyors etc. All willing to key into the new Plateau project. 

The aspirants in our meetings have resolved as follows. 

At our maiden meeting, the aspirants resolved as follows:

1. There should be no impositions of any kind and consensus will 

be done by the aspirants themselves.

2. We all agreed that any aspirant that becomes the consensus 

candidate will be supported by all.

3. We all agreed that whoever emerges will have the blue print of 

other aspirants to be embedded into his manifestos and 

programs.

4. We all agreed that delegates will emerge by either the 

consensus of the aspirants or election must take place at the 

various designated wards and local government.

5. That no concurred list will be accepted.

6. The party leadership should ensure strict compliance to the 

guidelines of the party for the conduct of the adhoc delegates

and our position has been communicated to the party leadership by 

our chairman chief Amos Gizo and the secretary Dr Danyaro serpiya 

by our mandate. 

This press conference is to let you members of the fourth estate of 

the realm know and in turn let the world and particularly the 

leadership of our party at the natural level know our position and to 

proudly say that for the first time matured men aspiring for the same 

position and all put their personal ambitions and interest on time to 

chart a course for the collective interest of Plateau and have vowed 

that they will come up with a consensus governorship candidate for 

APC on the Plateau before the primaries. 

This press conference is necessitated by what looked like rumor but 

has been evident by the body language of the state governor Rt. 

Hon. Simon Bako Lalong with members of the first family (wife and 

brothers) his father in-law. Mr Cyril Tsenyil the Accountant general of 

the state, Mr Festus Fuanter the deputy national secretary of APC 

anchored by the member representating pankshin, kanke and kanam 

at the national assembly Rt. Hon. Yusuf Adamu Gagdi to subjugate

the Collective will of the members of APC by imposing a candidate on 

members of the party in the person of Dr. Nentawe Yilwada Goshen

which is unacceptable to all of us. We all believe this act of 

subverting democracy has the express approval of the governor just 

to deny the people’s choice and foist an unpopular candidate that 

will cause misfortune to the party as their preferred candidate he has 

just disengaged with INEC as Resident Electoral Commissioner and he 

is yet to get his membership right with APC and has not totally

disengagement with INEC. Since this matter became open in the 

public domain the governor has remained silent over it, this means 

silence is consent. He has the authority to caution all the 

perpetrators.

Other issues the 18 aspirants would like the party leadership in the 

state to address immediately is the use of the former adhoc 

delegates with amendments it is totally objected by us and as major 

stakeholders of the governorship primary we insist that an election 

must be held in all the 207 federal ward to come up with the five 

delegate of which two must be women. The rumor of a concocted

list of adhoc delegate is here by objected by all of us.

We implore the state chairman not to key into this act of derailment 

of our much labored efforts that by today the state party leadership 

should place list of returning officers for the exercise of tomorrow 

where elected delegates will emerge.

While we acknowledge that members of the legacy pressure group 

have a right to converse votes for their preferred aspirant but they 

do not have the right to usurp the powers of the party in the state or 

try acts capable of turning the APC fortune to misfortune. 

- The governor should try to own up to his neutrality the party 

as empires should maintain their neutrality and limit their 

choices during voting as any overt attempt to take sides will 

surely erode the confidence reposed on them, any state 

executive member who wishes to campaign - The Plateau state APC governorship forum has unanimously 

resolved that before the governorship primary we shall present 

to the party a consensus candidate who has the quality to win 

at the general election against other parties’ candidate.

We have equally resolved that all of us shall join the consensus 

candidate in his campaign and we shall contribute financially and 

otherwise to the success of APC in the state.

- If the state party leadership allows those bend on subverting 

our nascent democracy to thrive it shall put the state chapter 

into crisis and we the 18 aspirants have vowed and agreed to 

dump the party with our teaming supporters for any party of 

our choice.

Thank you all for taking your time out and we trust you will do 

justice to the points raised. 

Thank you all and God bless.

Long live the federal republic of Nigeria, 

Long live APC, 

Long live Plateau state and

Long live Plateau state APC governorship aspirants.

1. Chief. Amos Y. Gizo – Chairman/Convener

2. Danyaro Dakon Sarpiya – Secretary 

3. HE. Prof. Sonnie Tyoden

4. Shem Y. Damisa

5. Amb. Chief Yohanna Margif

6. Dr. Danlami Lenkop

7. Dist. Sen. Hezekiah A. Dimka

8. Compt. David D. Dimka

9. Mr. Geofrey Yileng 

10. Mr. Johnson Podar

11. Mr. Sunday Garba Biggs

12. Mr. Kizito Gukas

13. Mr. Sipak Shaset

14. Mr. Shehu Barde Pukat

15. Barr. Garba S Pwul

16. Prof. C. J. Dakas

17. Dr. Fitka Steve

18. Dr. Patrick Sunday Dakum

…………………………………..

…………………………………………

Chief Dr. Amos Y Gizo

Dr. Danyaro Dakom Sarpiya

Chairman/Convener

 Secretary