2023 elections: NIPR engages guber candidates in Plateau

DANIEL DAUDA, Jos

The Plateau State chapter of the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has held a citizens engagement town hall meeting with political party candidates ahead of the March 11, 2023 governorship election in the state.

The NIPR election town hall meeting held Thursday in Jos was an avenue for governorship candidates to leverage and share their ideologies with Plateau people on what to do if elected.

Revealing the rationale behind the initiative, the chairman of the NIPR Plateau state chapter Thomas Bajeh said the institute is much concerned about the dividends of democracy and good governance by holding leaders accountable for their actions.

According to Bajeh, “NIPR is seeking to deepen democracy and governance in Plateau state by engaging the governorship candidates through opening conversations between the candidates and citizens of Plateau.”

“In the build-up of the 2023 general elections, the NIPR both at the national and state levels organized a citizens summit where we opened a conversation on our nation with a view to building trust and national cohesion irrespective of our units and culture.”

“The institute in Plateau state has done so much to ensure that we have free and fair elections. And, we believed to do that is to engage the citizens and ensure the people get into the system.

” In a bit to ensure all eligible voters vote, the NIPR collaborated with INEC to move voters registration closer to the people where we successfully registered over 500 new eligible voters which have tremendously increased the number of registered voters on the Plateau,” he continued.

“Today’s engagement is the opportunity for Plateau citizens to listen from those who seek to lead them, and also make an informed decision on who to vote based on the assessment of the candidates and their manifestos or blueprint”, the NIPR boss stated.

However, our correspondent observed that amongst the 15 candidates jostling for the number one position of Plateau governor, only the candidates of the Labour party (LP), Patrick Dakum and Caleb Mutfwang of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) identified priority, as other candidates were absent despite their promise to be present.

It was gathered that Dakum, the Labour Party standard bearer, who responded to questions from the participants via Zoom, promised to stabilize peace and security, agriculture, education, human capital development, mining, industry and other sectors of the economy if elected.

Caleb Mutfwang of PDP who was not physically present at the town hall meeting sent a message through his media directorate, Yiljap Abraham saying that “Mutfwang looks forward to working with professionals like the NIPR.”