The most talk about PYC election which according to some delegates and aspirants is full of election malpractice, manipulation, intimidation, and government interference, a forum which is supposed to be devoid of political party has now because political party affairs where any government in power wants to put his own candidate, and even if is so the Micro zoning should be respected and the candidate shouldn't come from the same place and local government with the governor "because the PYC chairman is the youth governor so now by implication we have 2 governors from Mangu and a Mwaghavul person, this is totally not acceptable, this is injustice and if allowed to stay then any other person if you are not a Mwaghavul person then you are a second class citizen, this and more are the voices of the plateau youths by extension plateau state at large, this was revealed by Candidus Daylop from Zawan a strong PYC member and an elected delegate that is name was short changed by the Elcom or power that be.

AN EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SOME OF THE EXCHANGE DELEGATES OF THE PYC ELECTIONS WHO ARE THE AUTHENTIC DELEGATES FOR THE STATE ELECTION.


My name is Candidus Daylop from Zawan District in Jos South Local Government. I am  a bonafide, strong PYC member. I was elected, chosen as a delegate to represent Zawan District through Jos South Local Government in the state election. Unfortunately, something terribly wrong happened.

The process started from the district because that is how the PYC process always begins, right from the grassroots, at the district level. We called for a Congress meeting in the district, and in that Congress meeting, we had veterans, the EXCO, stakeholders, and members all present. We elected our EXCO at the district level and selected five delegates to represent our district in the local government election. We also chose the state delegate, in which my name was picked as the state delegate.

From there, we moved to the local government with our five delegates, and when we went for the election, we noticed something strange. The names we had already chosen from the district were changed to different names, people we didn't even know. We complained and stood our ground until the authentic names were brought in. Our PYC Chairman in Zawan District, Brian Chung, brought the authentic names and presented them to the ELCOM at the local government level. Our five authentic delegates from Zawan District voted in the local government election. My brother Dashe emerged as the winner instead of Ima. Both are from Zawan, and after the local government election, my name was reaffirmed as the state delegate. All the PYC members in Zawan concurred that I was the only chosen state delegate.

On the day of the state election, we, the delegates, met at the local government to prepare for the state election. One of us, a delegate from Gyel, informed us that he had received a text message congratulating him as a delegate and inviting him to the Azi Nyako Youth Center for screening and verification of his documents. However, the rest of us—four delegates from Jos South—did not receive any text messages. Only one person from Gyel received it. Out of the five state delegates, only one person received communication from the ELCOM. The remaining four delegates from Kuru, Zawan, and Du received nothing.

We were confused, so the veterans advised us to go to the state ELCOM at Azinyako and lay our complaint, or at least go for the screening since we were the authentic delegates. The five of us went to Azi Nyako, presented ourselves to the ELCOM, and during the screening process, the secretary of the PYC Electoral Committee called out the names of the delegates on his list. Our names were not on the list, except for the delegate from Gyel. The rest of us were told that we were not part of the delegates, but the secretary, acknowledging us as the authentic delegates, wrote our names and screened us. He even gave us clearance slips, indicating that the final list would come out later that night.

We waited for the final list after being screened, but rumors started circulating that we were no longer the delegates. We received no official text message or communication. The next day, when we went to the election venue, we were blocked at the gate by military and police personnel. They told us that we were not the authentic delegates and that we could not vote. All four of us from Jos South were excluded from the election, leaving only the delegate from Gyel to participate.

We asked why, but no one could give us a sufficient explanation. Some veterans from Jos South said they had heard rumors that we disrespected the Commissioner of Transport from Jos South, Honorable Davou Jatau. I don't know where or how this disrespect allegedly happened. I haven't seen him since our days in BYM, where he served as the PRO, and I served on several committees. Someone mentioned that a person from Gyel insulted him on WhatsApp, but I don’t understand  "However it was allege that he's responsible and he that's is true then is quite unfortunate. Because what correlation is there between an insult from Gyel and the removal of a Zawan delegate just because some veterans insulted as it was allege, however he has not spoken to me directly, and what happened at the just concluded PYC Elections of 25th September 2024 is purely a manipulated process is not an election at all but pure impunity injustice and intimidation of delegates short changing of delegates name whom the people choose to represent them, and the most surprising thing is that the whole process of our selection went through the right way of electing delegates from the districts to the local government so I really don't understand how somebody because of their selfish interest will want to force and impose a candidate by power by force on plateau youth just because he's from Mangu or a government anointed candidate, what happened at the PYC election is not an election that is aimed at uniting the youth instead it has divided the youth and I think the governor should intervene, we know Mutfwang as a youth friendly governor why should he allow some selfish individuals to want destroy the youth, they should remember LGA Elections is around the corner and there's 2027 election if nothing is done let me leave the rest!!!!!!.

The only people who can remove me as a delegate are the people of Zawan. Only the Zawan Congress can remove me, but our people are 100% satisfied with my position as state delegate. We are confused as to why a government official would interfere with PYC, which is supposed to be free from government interference. How can the state government, through the commissioner, remove authentic delegates who were elected by the people? We are not happy with this, and we cannot allow this to happen. The right thing must be done.

The person responsible for taking the names of delegates from Zawan to the local government is the district chairman of PYC. Our district chairman took our names to the local government and presented us as delegates. The district election had been conducted by the ad-hoc staff of the Electoral Committee at the district level. From there, we are  elected as the local government delegates, and the state delegate was nominated at the district level. My name was taken to the local government by our chairman, and when we got to the local government, the electoral officers conducted the local government election, reaffirming my name as the state delegate. There was no complaint at that point.

After the local government election, my name was taken to the state level by the ad-hoc staff of the Jos South PYC Electoral Committee. All five of us were affirmed as delegates, but when we got to the state ELCOM, our names were missing from the list. We don't know where the state ELCOM got those names from. Even those whose names appeared on the list had never attended a PYC meeting. Some of them don’t even know what PYC stands for, but they were chosen, possibly because they are PDP members or close to the so call power that be from the government. I cannot say for sure, but that’s the rumor we've been hearing.

This election is not an election at all. How can you remove the names of authentic delegates and replace them with people who are not even PYC members? I call for the cancellation of this election and demand that a new one be conducted.

Thank you very much.

Once again, my name is Candidus Chung Daylop from Zawan.

Thank you.