Plateau: Thugs disrupt APC Primary in Jos South LGA

By Golok Nanmwa

Jos – Chaos erupted at the All Progressives Congress (APC) direct primary for the Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency on Saturday evening as suspected thugs disrupted the counting of votes at the RCM Primary School, Zarmaganda, in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.

The disruption occurred shortly after electoral officials commenced a recount of results following a disagreement between supporters of two leading aspirants , former House of Representatives member, Dachung Baggos, and Hon. Esther Dung.

Party sources told Vanguard that the recount began with votes for Dachung Baggos, who polled 570 votes, and another aspirant, Arum, with 66 votes.

Trouble, however, started when officials moved to count votes for Esther Dung, with suspected thugs storming the venue and insisting that the process should not continue.

An official of the APC, Nandom Paul, confirmed that a mild drama had ensued at the collation centre after Baggos’ supporters rejected the initial declaration of Esther Dung as winner and demanded a recount. Supporters of Dung, on their part, opposed the recount, arguing that many voters, especially women, had already been accredited, voted and left the venue.

“The electoral officer appealed for calm and assured both camps of transparency,” Paul said.

Despite the appeal, the two factions could not reach a compromise. The situation escalated when thugs suddenly emerged and disrupted the counting process, forcing everyone, including electoral officials, to scamper for safety.

Security agents later intervened and evacuated the electoral officials from the scene.

The incident happened as the APC conducts primaries across the country ahead of the 2027 general elections.
In a related development at Zawan A Ward of the same local government area, Esther Bitrus emerged the winner of a separate primary for the same constituency.

Bitrus polled 316 votes to defeat Dachung Baggos, who scored 130 votes, while Ajiji got 2 votes out of 448 votes cast.

A monitor of the process, Jude Dalyop, described the Zawan A Ward primary as free and fair, noting that agents of all aspirants were present and actively participated in the exercise.

The APC is expected to collate and release the final results for the Jos South/Jos East Federal Constituency after voting concludes across all wards

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