The All Progressives Congress (APC) has rejected the outcome of the Bagwai/Shanono State Assembly rerun poll won by the candidate of the New Nigeria people’s Party (NNPP) in Kano.
The party’s key stakeholders, led by the Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development, Yusuf Abdullahi Ata, who addressed a press conference in Kano described the election as a “charade,” saying the party would challenge legitimacy of the outcome in court.
Atta said the election was marred by violence caused by heavily armed thugs who snatched ballot materials in favour of the NNPP candidate.
According to the APC stakeholders, the affected constituency is a stronghold of the APC and the campaign rally, led by the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jibrin, indicated that APC was going to win the rerun.
The APC, which defeated NNPP to reclaim the Ghari/Tsanyawa seat at the state House of Assembly in Saturday’s by-election, believed it would have also triumphed in the Bagwai/Shanono rerun, if the poll process was not disrupted by NNPP armed thugs.
“Disturbingly, the political brigandage by the NNPP reached its crescendo on the election day, despite our early alerts to the security agencies and assurances from the Police and the DSS that the situation would be brought under control before the commencement of voting.
“As early as 5:am, yesterday (Saturday), Shanono and Bagwai local government areas were invaded by thousands of armed thugs wielding various dangerous weapons including guns allegedly recruited from within and outside Kano State including Brinin Gwari in Kaduna, Kebbi and Katsina states by the Kano State Government and the ruling party (NNPP) in the state.
“The thugs were conveyed in hundreds of trucks and vehicles. When the information reached us, the Deputy Senate President, Barau Jubrin, reported the matter to security agencies in Kano and Abuja to get the criminals arrested or chased away to forestall the breakdown of law and order before, during and after the election in the two local government areas and beyond.
“But, before the security operatives got there, the criminals had infiltrated the villages.
“Sighting unknown and strange faces in their communities, the residents and voters ran away for safety and relocated to neighbouring villages in Gwarzo and Bichi local government areas.
“As a result of this, the NNPP took over the polling units, hijacked the ballot papers and result sheets, thumped the ballot papers and allocated votes to their party.
“No election took place in Shanono/Bagwai.
“The people of Bagwai/Shanono, who have been patiently waiting for the rerun since the demise of their representative, Halilu Ibrahim Kundila on April 6, last year, were disenfranchised, traumatised and chased away from their homes by the NNPP thugs imported from neighbouring states and countries,” the minister said.
The APC therefore, called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to immediately cancel the election and conduct a fresh, free, fair and transparent election for the people of Bagwai/Shanono State Constituency.
It also urged security agencies to ensure the prosecution of all the armed thugs who have been arrested for electoral offences.
“The integrity of our democratic process is paramount. We owe it to ourselves, to future generations and to the principles of democracy, to defend it,” the party added.