Coalition of Political Parties in Kaduna State, Northwest Nigeria has said that it will boycott Saturday elections over alleged plans by the State Independent Electoral Commission to rig the polls in favour of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC.
Addressing a news conference on Friday in Kaduna, Representatives of the 21 Member Coalition, Umar Ibrahim of the Labour Party and Mohammed Inuwa Wada of PPA, said they were imperatively forced to draw the attention of the public to what they called grand design by the electoral body to the calculated fraud.
Describing the situation as unfortunate and mischievous, the Coalition accused the State Independent Electoral Commission of deliberately refusing to make use of INEC card Reader Machine for authentication of voters during the election.
It also accused SIEC of refusing to display the Voters register at the polling units for voters to confirm their names and eligibility to vote, as well as displaying the names of aspirants to the public for a minimum period of 10 days in accordance with the extant law
The Coalition also spoke on security concerns saying that the “bounty” placed on the three Senators from the State has exposed the Federal Lawmakers to danger and subsequently deprived their teeming supporters from exercising their Civic responsibility to vote in a free , fair and peaceful election.
“Going by what happened during the APC’s primaries where thugery left many citizens dead and hospitalized, we are afraid despite the concerted efforts of the security Agencies, that the scenario might be re-enacted at the forthcoming local government elections” it said.
Meanwhile, the major opposition party in the State, Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has said that though it notes the points raised by the Coalition, it would go into the election because of it’s confidence in the electorate.
The Chairman of the party in the State, Mr. Felix Hyat affirmed this on Saturday at a news conference in Kaduna, the State capital.
https://www.africaprimenews.com/2018/05/11/news/nigeria-nulge-mobilizes-support-for-kaduna-council-polls-2/