Bomba Dauda
A Non-profit Organisation otherwise called Patriotic Alliance For Good Governance (PAGG) described the October 19th, 2024 local government election in Kaduna State as “sham.” The.statement is contained in a press statement the group issued in Kaduna, yesterday.
The press statement which is signed by
the president/convener, Dr. Stephen Patrick, reads below:
We are compelled to make this Press Conference in view of the sham Local Council election organized by SIECOM in Kaduna State on the 19th of October 2024. The election falls short of the fundamentals of democracy under the watch of the present governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani and his ill advisers, and executed by SIECOM under his directives.
Independent investigation by PAGG reveals that voting did not take place anywhere across the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) except some cunningly selected Polling Units (PUs) which were contrived for theatrical displays and media propaganda. The calculated and deliberate withholding of form 8B and 8B1 respectively by SIECOM, which are the result sheets for both the Chairmen and Councillors stalled the conduct of the election, but it was a grand design to shortchanged the voters and subvert the will of the people, which was a clear violation of the 2024 Electoral guidelines published by SIECOM in page 17 which states as follows;
6.5 COLLATION AND AMENDMENT OF RESULTS:
6.6 “The scores of each political party shall be announced by the Presiding Officer after which they shall be entered in Forms KD/SIEC/8A and KD/SIEC/A81 for elections of Chairman and Councilor respectively at the Polling Unit.”
7.0 “After conclusion of business at the Polling Unit, the various Presiding Officers shall proceed to their Ward Collation Centers and submit their forms KD/SIEC/8A and KD/SIEC/A81 to Ward Collation Officer who will then enter the results of all Polling Units in his/her Ward in Form KD/SIEC/8B for Chairmanship and Form KD/SIEC/8B1 for Councilorship. WINNERS OF THE COUNCILORSHIP ELECTIONS WILL EMERGE AT THIS LEVEL OF COLLATION AND THE WARD COLLECTION OFFICER NOW PRESIDING OFFICER WILL IMMEDIATELY ANNOUNCE THE RESULTS AND WINNER OF THE COUNCILORSHIP ELECTIONS ALOUD.”
8.0 “In the case of Chairmanship election, the various Ward Collation Officers in the Local Government Area will submit their Form KD/SIEC/8B to the Local Government Collation Officer at the Local Government Collation Centre. The Local Government Collation Officer will then enter the result of the various Ward in Form KD/SIEC/8C and add them up to determine the winner of the Championship election. THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT RETURNING OFFICER THEN ANNOUNCES THE RESULT ALOUD AND ENTERS IT INTO FORM KD/SIEC/8E, then distributes copies to the Party Agents and Security Operatives present.”
Our investigation reveals that there was no where this guidelines were adhered to by SIECOM, but reports during the long wait for the arrival of form 8B and 8B1 obtained by PAGG stated that the guideline was tempered with, which had the imprimatur of the Kaduna State House of Assembly. This singular act of clandestinely altering a gazzetted electoral law albeit unsuccessfully, midway and towards the conclusion of the process is akin to political rascality.
The sham election organized by SIECOM was characterized by violence, intimidations, brigandage and executive recklessness. Information available to PAGG revealed that Lawal Idris, an orphan aged between 17 or 18 years was shot death while hiding inside his shop by stray bullet fired by armed security agencies escorting the governor in Kawo, Kaduna North Local Government. Scores of others were injured with one reported case of dead from suffocation by tear gas. Security agencies opened fires and used tear gas to dispersed voters and clear the road for the governor to pass to his Polling Units, which already had heavy security presence to give him cover to cast his vote. Eye witnesses said that was about the only vote cast at that Polling Unit.
Our team who were independently monitoring the election in three selected LGAs in the three senatorial zones, witnessed that the high point of the travesty called election was the inglorious declaration of winners of the election while many voters kept vigil for arrival of form 8B and 8B1 at their various SIECOM offices in their respective LGAs, and in one swoop, results of all the 255 Wards and 23 LGAs were declared by Hajiya Hajara Mohammed, whom until her appointment as SIECOM Chairman, was a level 8 civil servant.
The event of October 19th 2024 in Kaduna State reinforced the suspicion of the agenda of a one party state with it attendant consequences. The conspiracy of silence of human right institutions, relevant government agencies and well meaning Nigerians in the face of this impending disaster is a worrisome signal of the defeat of democracy in Nigeria. The gradual erosion of electoral values at the grassroots by various State, ignited the record breaking deviation from the norm by Kaduna State government. Unfortunately, Kaduna State which made the most remarkable improvement in election with the introduction of electronic voting machines by the previous administration, took a nose dive away from the progress made so far, to return us to very dark days that only reminds us of the historic man of steel, Stalin’s oppressive regime. This cast a dark cloud on our hope for an election that reflects the true yearning of ordinary Nigerians. It laid credence to the narrative of a one party state in the offing with Kaduna State as the microcosm.
We will not be deterred from standing on the side of justice, equality, good governance and accountability no matter how hard it will be. We wish to call on all lovers of democracy in Kaduna State and Nigeria, human right groups, Civil Society Organizations, International Organizations and Committee of Nations to rise up against this new invention of electoral malpractices.
PAGG will deploy all within its power to continue to speak against this infractions and explore all legal avenues, cooperation with groups, national and international interest groups to ensure this anomaly is corrected and checked to defend our democracy . We therefore wish to tell the Executive Governor of Kaduna State, Senator Uba Sani that it is never too late to retrace these wrong steps. The hallmark of leadership is selflessness, penance for wrong deeds, and the courage to rise above personal aggrandizement. We call on him to rescind this wrong steps before it is too late. He should shelve evil voices around him, and take the bold steps to halt and correct this dark pages from sinking him into dustbin of history as one who destroyed democracy, so that history will remember him as a man who dared to uphold the tenets of democracy for posterity.
