By John Ugo
The Chairman of the seven-member APC Committee that conducted the Direct Primary Election on Thursday 27th January, 2022, Governor Mohammed Badaru Abubakar of Jigawa State has given reasons why his panel that conducted the primaries cannot accept the results of eleven out of the 177 wards where the process was disrupted by violence.
Governor Badaru said his panel refused to accept results from the wards because election there was marred by violence.
Speaking during a press conference Governor Badaru said:
“We have submitted the results sheets in the 166 wards election held. Election in 11 wards was disrupted and we canceled election in those areas. You all have the videos of what transpired in all the 166 wards except the 11. Even in the 11, which had crisis, I am sure you have seen the videos. On the allegation that seven out of the eight aspirants pulled out of the Governorship primaries, it is absolutely not true.
“We landed on the 26th. I had meetings with all the aspirants and seven attended out of the eight. We discussed the guidelines and agreed on all the terms. What they are alleging probably, is that party members loyal to the governor were chosen to serve as returning officers in various wards and local governments. They raised it at the meeting. I told them that part of the guidelines is to use the party people to do the job. We cannot hire or take people that are not from the party but that they could each also give us 20 from the party people that they believed will do justice to them. They provided the names and we incorporated them as returning officers.”
He explained that even though they submitted their lists late, the panel was still able to incorporate all of them into the election process.
“And these 11 wards that the primaries were disrupted were wards that had relationship with most of the aspirants. So, you can see if they have that power to stop the congress they could have done it also in the 166 wards.”
On whether the number of votes secured by the winner would not be like that of the Anambra State Governorship election, the Electoral panel chairman explained that the winner of the Ekiti primary polled 101, 000 votes out of the 180, 000 registered members eligible to vote representing about 60 to 65 percent of voters who cast their votes at the election.
“It is a very realistic fact. It is only about 60-65% of the membership that came out to vote which is very realistic. And for those of you who have been there in the field, you have gone round ward by ward by yourselves and have seen that it is actually people who voted”, Governor Badaru said.
He stated that before the election, he had promised the aspirants that he would not receive a result written where people have not participated in the process. He said this is why any results from the eleven wards cannot be returned to him because he knows no election took place there.
“People really came out and voted for the candidates they wanted and it has been relatively peaceful in the 166 wards. And when you have issues with only 11 wards, mark you we have also checked the number of registered voters in the 11 wards and they don’t have the capacity to upset the margin of lead by the winner. We then had to declare the election conclusive instead of opting for a re-run because the margin of victory is far beyond the number of voters in the cancelled wards.”
He urged aggrieved aspirants to accept the outcome of the primary as sportsmen and come together to support the candidate of the party.m
“They are party members. What we expect them to do is to join hands with us so that we can continue to build the party and we continue to support the candidate that emerges. At the opening of my engagement with the aspirants at the stakeholders meeting we held in Ekiti State
I told them that power comes from God and it is only God that will determine who will win. And if we take it in our hearts to be patient, God will certainly reward us. And I believe that he knows who will be the next governor of Ekiti State even before we started this process”, Governor Badaru said.
