Forty-two political parties on the platform of the Coalition of United Political Parties (CUPP) Kano State chapter have rejected the results of the March 23 elections and have vowed to challenge the re-election of the state governor, Abdullahi Umar Ganduje, of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in court.
Kano state CUPP chairman, Mohammed Abdullahi-Rahi, made the position of the group known while addressing a news conference in Kano on Tuesday. He alleged that the supplementary election conducted by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) was characterized by gross irregularities and marred by rigging, violence, over voting, intimidation and voter disenfranchisement.
Raji said the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and security agencies were compromised to subvert the will of the people on the outcome of the rerun election won by Ganduje.
“Thuggery and vote-buying were reported in almost all the polling units where the re-run was conducted. There were also reports of loss of lives and other election malpractices under the watch of INEC and security officials,” Raji said; adding that permanent voters’ cards were not used during the poll.
According to Raji, “it is clear that the level of violence recorded during the March 9 gubernatorial election that led to the cancellation of some polling units is far less than what was recorded during the 23rd March rerun poll, yet the electoral body turned a blind eye on the happenings by accepting and announcing the results.”
INEC declared Ganduje, the APC candidate as the winner of the Kano governorship election on Sunday, March 24. Declaring the winner of the election, the collation officer in Kano, Prof. Bello Shehu announced the APC candidate polled 1,033,695, while that of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 1,024,713 votes. He said the state had 5,426,989 registered voters, while accredited voters were 2,268,305. The valid votes cast were 2,199,535 with rejected votes of 50,861. The total vote cast was 2,242,396. He added that the APC candidate defeated his immediate PDP opponent with 8,982 votes.
The Kano State chapter of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) afterwards called on INEC to cancel the supplementary elections that were held to conclude the results. Acting PDP chairman in the state, Rabiu Sulaiman-Bichi, made the request while addressing journalists on Saturday. According to him, “Today, this charade called re-run election was slated to hold in Kano and other states but unfortunately, what we have in Kano is nothing but a sham,” he said.
