The leadership of the All progressives Congress (APC) from Plateau state have revealed that they were treated as lepers in the state over the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket presented by the party during the 2023 elections.
The party stakeholders said the over 300,000 votes secured by President Tinubu at the poll in Plateau state was akin to squeesing blood out of stone.
The stakeholders led by the former Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Hon. Ahmed Wase, disclosed this on Tuesday during a courtesy call on the national working committee (NWC) of APC led by Dr. Abdullahi Ganduje in Abuja.
Wase who recalled his unsuccessful bid for the Speakership said they were taken aback when Plateau state did not get two ministerial slots as reward for their painstaking effort at the poll.
He stated: “As far as we are concerned, the Plateau state APC chapter has done very well. We performed beyond expectation by coming third with 300,000 votes.
“We squeezed blood out of stone considering the demography in Plateau state due to the Muslim Muslim ticket. Yet we sacrificed so much even when religious sentiments were whipped against us. The religious factor affected us so much that we were looked at as a leper. Yet we survived it.”
The stakeholders expressed optimism that the governorship candidate of the party in the 2023 poll, Mr Nentawe Yilwaltda would upstage Governor Caleb Muftwang of the peoples democratic party (PDP).
They noted that they were hopeful that the needful would be done at the appellate courts in spite of the decision of the Election petition tribunal which upheld the victory of Governor Muftwang.
They maintained that Nentawe would emerge victorious based on the provision of the electoral amendment Act as amended and the 1999 constitution as amended.