Skip to main content

Mix reactions trail Kaduna LG Elections

Voters in Jema'a follow results to collation Centre at Kafanchan


By Dangwa Danjuma 

Twenty-four hours after closure of balloting in the Saturday May 12, polls in the state, Returning Officers in some of the LG areas are no where to be found.

Cubinks investigations reveal  that election results for all the 255 wards of all the Local Government  areas would  have been collated before now, were it not for the absence of the runaway  Returning Officers.

"The returning officers have left election officials, party agents with tensed voters stranded at polling units; and are nowhere to be found. In Jema’a, 5 wards namely Aso, Atukun, Badeh, Takau and Maigizo have turned in their results to the Local Government collation Centre and could not find the Local Government returning officer to receive the result",  fumed one of  the frustrated voters.

Our Correspondent gathered  that the situation is not different in Birnin Gwari, Chikun, Kaduna South local government areas of the state. "There is clearly efforts by some powers that be to use the security forces, returning officers and the electoral commission to overturn the results from the polling unit”, disclosed a voter who had followed votes to the collation centre.

One of the  chairmanship candidates revealed "that the results are still in the hands of electoral officials from the polling units and are currently waiting to handover to the returning officers who are nowhere to be found",

“The results from the polling units are already in hand and there is no way anyone can manipulate the process now that the polls have closed, we are waiting for the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to conclude the processes and announce the results as the people have decided", stated one party agent.

There are indications that all may not have gone well with the outcome of the polls for the sitting governor whose party has fielded candidates in the 23 local governments and 255 wards of the state as some observers  believe that the  processes may have turned out differently from the expectations of the governor who had championed the campaign for votes across the 23 LGAs for candidates of the All Progressive Congress.

Speaking to journalists at his polling unit, Kaduna state Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai, announced the cancellation of the exercise in Jaba and Kaura local governments. Updates from Kaura however indicated differently as results were collated through the night while other results were being awaited.  Reacting to the situation,  a civil rights activist Freeman Jubal Dabo disclosed that  rumours  making the rounds came out from some unscrupulous party agents manipulated by unscrupulous politicians  who had told voters across the Kaura area that the elections for the local government had been canceled even before it began.

In a telephone interview with Cubinks, Chairperson of the state's electoral body Dr. Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu expressed satisfaction with the conduct of the election, debunking allegations that the process was rigged. She also apologized for the absence of a situation room to keep the public abreast of developments. 

As at press time results have been officially announced for 14 of the 23 local governments chairmanship polls including Ikara, Kubau, Soba, Igabi, Sabon Gari, Makarfi, Zaria, Giwa, Lere and Zangon Kataf. At the latest count, APC have won 15 in 15 local governments and PDP won in 4.



Watch out for the full text of our interview with the ChairPerson Kaduna electoral body...

Comments

  1. Manyan nijeriya, rana na zuwa!
    In kun yi da kyao, rana na zuwa!
    In kun yi mara kyao, rana na zuwa!
    Allah kiyaye na gaba

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Malaria: In solidarity with Under-5s

A cross section of children Ward DANGWA DANJUMA R enewed campaign to eradicate malaria as part of activities to commemorate the World Malaria Day 2022, led by Centre for Media Advocacy for Mother and Child (CAMAC)  has kicked off in Kaduna. The campaign which is part of the NGOs "Malaria Eradication Campaign 2022" with the theme: "Eliminating Malaria through Community Engagement", this year, is themed: “Harness Innovation to Reduce the Malaria Disease Burden and Save Lives” The World Malaria Day is celebrated every 25th of April to bring greater awareness to the global fight and recognise the existence of malaria across the globe. This year's project is being supported by Newsweb Express an online news platform in collaboration with Civil Society for Malaria Elimination (CS4ME) a global network uniting civil society organizations and communities to achieve malaria elimination. People are more prone to malaria in the rainy weather and it is timely when communitie...

Kaduna IDPs cry out over Deplorable Conditions

By DANGWA DANJUMA L ack of basic education, sanitation, healthcare facilities and access to portable water supply have hit Gwagwada, a host community camping over 300 households displaced from fifteen villages in Chikun Local Council of the state. Speaking at the flag off of relief materials distribution for the internally displaced persons (IDPs), the Village Head of Gadani, Mr Bitrus Tsauri disclosed: “Since they arrived, the wells which have been the sure source of water for several households in the community have dried up; the solar powered borehole is only providing drips of water necessitating most residents to seek drinking water from streams. Our two public primary schools and healthcare facility are currently inadequate and may be unsafe, especially with the coronavirus pandemic that Kaduna state is still counting cases”. He confirmed that those who can farm, have been provided land to start over again; there is still the worry however, for those who are unable to farm due t...

'Development Partners, a blessing to my Community' - District Head

His Highness, Mr Haruna Kuye (3rd left, middle roll) flanked by the visitors and village heads T he District Head of Gidan Zaki, His Highness, Mr Haruna Kuye  has given kudos to members of the civil society, for positively touching the lives of his people, through frequent capacity building  in governance processes, thereby empowering his community in the area of tracking and monitoring government projects. "Work began sometime ago in my community and no one had information on the details of the project. I mobilized and led a small team to engage and inquire from the client and contractor the details of the project. Now we know the kilometers of the road to be constructed. I am grateful to participate in Open Government Partnership with regard to Local Government Fiscal Transparency, Accountability and Sustainability engagements; without which we would not have had any idea by now on the ongoing governance reforms in Kaduna State.", he disclosed. He st...

TRIBUTE: Dr Bala Takaya 1930 - 2018

  Bala John Takaya (2nd Left) at a function recently By Nasiru Jagaba Again, with rude shock, death has come upon us in the early hours of Sunday, 27th May, 2018. It is with deepest regret that the Middle Belt Youth Wing of Middle Belt Forum mourns the death of our President, Father, Mentor, and a tireless advocate of equity, fairness and justice, Dr Bala John Takaya, the President of Middle Belt Forum has silently closed the door of life and departed from us, never to return.  68 years old Takaya, an unparalleled University Senior Lecturer, a distinct politician who served as the  Secretary to State Government of the old Gongola State, a member of the 1987 Political Bureau. On the fight to restore democratic system of governance, he worked hand in hand with Chief Solomon Lar. Also, in 1999 he was the governorship candidate of the All People’s Party, APP later ANPP.  He is much esteemed in the community of Middle Belt and generally recognized as on...

'Terrorists are all over, not only Southern Kaduna'

-Governor Nasir el-Rufai el-Rufai addressing Journalists in Hausa after a security meeting on Southern Kaduna By DANGWA DANJUMA G overnor Ahmed Nasir el-Rufai has admitted that terrorists are everywhere in Kaduna state, not only in the troubled Southern Kaduna, disclosing that miscreants have taken to the social media space to promote what he called disturbing and further aggravating the worsening situation situation with religious and ethnic colouration. Speaking to newsmen in Hausa, after a meeting with security officials, el-Rufai said that miscreants from Abuja, Lagos, Port Harcourt and outside Nigeria are trying to insinuate that the Southern Kaduna killings is ethnic and religious even going as far as asking people to take the law into their hands. While maintaining that these people would be brought to book, he tasked traditional leaders, religious leaders and political office holders in the state to speak the truth about the happenings as failing to do so wo...