Plateau State chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC, has told the state governor, Simon Lalong, that there will be no automatic ticket for him ahead of the 2019 election.

The state chairman of APC, Latep Dabang, told journalists after the meeting on Friday in Jos that Lalong’s declaration “does not foreclose any other chieftain of the party from contesting because there would be party primaries.”

The governor had declared during the stakeholders’meeting of the APC held in Yelwa Club, Bukuru in Jos.

Dabang said, “Governor Lalong has formally declared his intention to contest the 2019 governorship election on the platform of the APC.

“We are democrats and can’t stop anybody from contesting. However, the governor won’t get automatic ticket because we will surely conduct primaries.

“But for now, governor Simon Bako Lalong is the one that has publicly declared that he would contest this election come 2019 on the platform of the APC. If there are others, we cannot stop them from contesting.

“The declaration of the governor was not part of the agenda. But at the end of the meeting, there were motions by party faithful requesting the governor to clear the air on whether he would contest the 2019 elections or not.

“And the governor took time to also inform the gathering that there has been pressure from all sectors, including the political setting, the Plateau State Youth Council and quite a number of spirited party faithful who have have been drumming support for him to seek a second term in office.”