A governorship aspirant under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Plateau State, Comdr. Yilchini Jan Bida, has rejected the outcome of the party’s governorship primary election allegedly conducted across the state on Thursday, May 21, 2026.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, Bida described the exercise as a “sham” riddled with irregularities, insisting that the declared results did not reflect the will of party members across the state.
According to him, after consultations with his campaign team, legal advisers, agents, and stakeholders across the 17 Local Government Areas of the state, he resolved to reject the results “in totality.”
The retired Naval officer alleged that the primary election process was manipulated from the onset, accusing party officials of secretly relocating the distribution of election materials from the APC State Secretariat to Crispan Hotel without the knowledge of his agents.
He claimed that his accredited agents arrived at the party secretariat as early as 7:30 a.m. on election day but no electoral activity took place for several hours.
“We later discovered that the exercise was secretly moved to Crispan Hotel where election materials were distributed behind closed doors without the knowledge or participation of our agents,” he stated.
Bida further alleged that no voting exercise took place in many parts of the state, claiming that party members and coordinators waited throughout the day at designated venues without the arrival of electoral officials or materials.
The aspirant also said he was personally denied the opportunity to vote in his ward at Nemel in Kanke Local Government Area because no election materials or officials arrived.
He described the announced figures as “mathematically impossible,” alleging that the results showed uniform voting patterns across several LGAs, which he argued suggested manipulation.
“As a trained forensic accountant, I must call urgent attention to the severe lack of integrity in the data and figures being circulated as election results,” he said.
According to Bida, the figures appeared “artificially balanced and synchronized,” contrary to what is expected in a genuine democratic exercise where voting patterns naturally vary across regions.
He further alleged that while party members waited at polling venues, “pre-fabricated results and staged counting videos” were already circulating on social media.
The APC aspirant also accused party officials of excluding him and members of his campaign from the official declaration of results at the party secretariat, describing it as a violation of electoral guidelines.
He called on the National Working Committee (NWC) and leadership of the APC to intervene and investigate what he described as widespread irregularities that compromised the integrity of the Plateau APC governorship primary election.
Bida, however, urged his supporters across the state to remain peaceful and law-abiding while his team explores lawful and constitutional means to seek redress.
“We are exploring all lawful, constitutional, and democratic avenues to ensure that justice is served and that the true voice of the Plateau people prevails,” he stated.
It would be recalled that Chief Fidelis Mnyim, the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Governorship and House of Assembly Primary Election Committee in Plateau State had on Friday night announced results of the primary election that Governor Caleb Mutfwang polled a total of 233,335 votes to defeat Chief Yilchini Jan Bida who scored a total of 3,070 votes out of the 239, 405 total votes cast across the 17 local government areas of the state.
