The main opposition party in Kaduna State, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has commended Kaduna State Governor, Mallam Nasir El-Rufai for his commitment towards ensuring free and fair election through the massive procurement of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). However, it complained about the outcome of the election which it said made the nonsense of his sincerity.
In the same manner, the Coalition of Nigeria Political Parties (CNPP) said the conduct and the outcome of the Saturday election was marred by fraud, inadequacies and failure of the electronic voting machines in many places.
CNPP recalled that the Kaduna State Independent Election Commission (KADSIECOM) promised to conduct free, fair and credible election using the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) which was introduced and used in the previous election (2018) by the commission.
The PDP in its address by the Chairman, Felix Hassan Hyat said: “We emphatically condemn the high incidence of violence, which manifested in the molestation of our agents and party stalwarts in which they were driven away from their duty post during the currency of the electoral process.
“It is all the more worrisome to note that, all of this took place right in the presence of security agents who chose to look the other way and thus shirked their responsibility of maintaining peace and tranquillity in society.
“You may wish to recall that in 2018, the local government election in many wards were marred by the incidence of Ward Returning Officers, who failed to report in their wards, where they were expected to oversee the collation and declaration of duly elected councillors and record votes cast in favour of various candidates for the chairmanship position for mention only.
“It is pertinent to point out, that only results of Chairmanship Candidates are officially declared at the Local Government Collation Centres, in likewise manner, a Returning Officer in Kudan Local Government, ran away after the election had been concluded at the Ward level, only to surface later at the Local Government Collation Centre to declare results that are totally at variance with what was recorded by Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) at Ward level.
“Similarly, in Barnawa Ward in Kaduna South Local Government Area Electronic Voting Machines were found inputted with results placing APC in the lead, even before the first ballot was cast, i.e. APC 186 votes and PDP 18 votes, the incidence of this nature were also reported in Makarfi and Sanga local government areas of the state.
“In Kawo Ward, Kaduna North Local Government, there was no voting in five polling units. We, therefore, call on KAD-SIECOM, to urgently do the needful, address issues raised as they all go to the root of the integrity, fairness and outcome of the election.
“The party notes that Governor Nasir Ahmed El-Rufa’i has consistently promised the people of Kaduna State of free and fair local government elections through a modernised system of voting, hence his heavy investment in the procurement of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). On this, we have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the governor.
“However, our reports from all over the state show that his aids changed the names of polling unit officers that were trained with untrained cronies. This led to the non-functioning of the Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) in many polling units across the state.”
