Nigerian Concord Newspaper
The House of Representatives candidate for All Progressive Congress, APC in the 2027 election for Konshisha/Vandekya Federal Constituency, Chief Livinus Tsar, PhD has defeated his main challenger, the candidate of the People’s Democratic Party, Engineer Peter Terwase Tortiv-Ato in an online voting which was conducted by Nigerian Concord Newspaper.
The online voting which was conducted on Jechira Development Forum, a Facebook group with 21,000 members commenced on Wednesday afternoon and closed this afternoon, giving participants twenty four hours to choose their preferred candidate that will represent them at the Green Chambers in 2027.
During the exercise which generated heated arguments and analysis from participants, 19,870 participants participated by casting their votes for their preferred candidates.
After votes sorting by this newspaper’s independent electoral officers, the APC candidate, Chief Livinus Tsar secured 16, 453 votes while Engineer Tortiv-Ato got 3, 354 votes.
Sixty three (63) votes were voided as a result of multiple votings by some participants who voted for both candidates more than one time.
Meanwhile, some participants who gave their reasons for not voting Tortiv-Ato stated that he is relatively unknown, noting that it’s always hard for someone who doesn’t understand the terrain to perform well when he or she gets to an elective position.
According to some participants, the PDP candidate has not been able to affect the lives of Jechira people and communities outside politics. They cited the case of his opponent in the APC, Chief Tsar who has spent billions of Naira to facilitate electricity, roads projects, youth and women empowerment and massive skill acquisition with his personal funds.
Some participants from Vandekya said that the APC candidate has ensured that his empowerment, road and electrification projects cut across the two local governments and even beyond despite that he is from Konshisha.
“This is the first time someone is coming outside government to use his own funds to develop Benue communities, and such person will perform better if he is given a chance to occupy a position of responsibility ” a participant whose votes were voided for voting multiple times said this while stating his reason for voting for Chief Tsar.
Some participants stated that the track record of Engineer Tsar was why it’s easy for him to roundly defeat an incumbent Reps member (Sesoo Gboko) in the last primary election of the All Progressive Congress.
They added that the same record will hand him victory at the general elections. “He has touched the lives of everyone within Jechira and outside Jechira with his personal funds through Livitsar Support Group so giving him an elective position will make him do more” a participant wrote.
Note: Nigerian Concord Newspaper will be conducting another Online Poll on another Jechira Facebook group before moving to Gwer Federal Constituency to conduct an Online Voting for candidates of the PDP and APC.