PDP Heads For Court As APC Sweeps Katsina LG Poll
The Katsina State Independent Electoral Commission has declared the All Progressives Congress winner of Monday’s Katsina local government election.
The APC won in 31 out of the 34 councils in the state.
The Peoples Democratic Party, however, on Tuesday said it would seek legal redress over the results.
KASIEC Executive Secretary, Lawal Faskari, had earlier on Tuesday announced the APC as the winner in 31 councils.
He also disclosed that the results of two councils, namely Daura and Funtua ,were pending, adding that election processes in Dutsin-ma LG were stopped following alleged irregularities and crises.
Faskari declared, “The commission has so far received complete results from 31 LGAs, 328 wards, awaiting that of Funtua and Daura while elections in Dutsinma Local Government have been cancelled based on the reasons mentioned above.
“The commission, therefore, wishes to announce further that the All Progressives Congress has won all the 31 chairmanships and 328 councillorships’ seats so far collated.”
The PDP, shortly after the announcement, rejected the election result, insisting that it was fraught with irregularities.
The party’s acting state chairman, Alhaji Salisu Uli, addressed a press conference in Katsina where he alleged that the election was not held in many councils.
Uli claimed, “In the first instance, the announcement carried the date March 11, 2022. This implies that either the results have been compiled since March 11, 2022 or the announcement was not referring to this election.
“Some of the local government areas in which elections did not hold include Kankara, Baure, Danmusa, Jibia, Rimi, Charanchi, Bakori, Kafur, Bindawa, Ingawa, Musawa, and many others.
“In the declaration of results, we expect to see figures, such as the total number of accredited voters, total votes cast, scores of candidates of each political party, invalid votes, and then, the candidate of the party with the highest number of votes is then declared as the winner in the presence of all parties and then the declaration of results sheets duly signed by party agents.
“The PDP has rejected the exercise in its totality. This is not an election because it has not met even the most bastardised standard of an election. The election can best be described as a charade, a farce, a nullity, and therefore unacceptable.
“The PDP, as a law-abiding party, is appealing to members of the general public and our party members to remain calm as all available avenues would be explored to redress this injustice within the confines of the law.”
Also speaking in the same vein, one of the PDP’s governorship aspirants, Alhaji Salisu Majigiri, said it was shameful that the Nigerian President’s state could not hold an “acceptable standard local government election.”
