Kaduna Slams El-Rufai, SDP Over Poll Rigging Claims

Kaduna State Government has taken a swipe at the African Democratic Congress and Social Democratic Party coalition, dismissing their allegations of an elaborate plan to sabotage Saturday’s bye-elections as “laughable lies” churned out by “political leftovers” of former governor, Nasir El-Rufai.

THE WHISTLER reports that the coalition, led by ADC National Vice Chairman – North-West, Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, had on Thursday accused Governor Uba Sani’s administration of perfecting a plot to rig the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency and state constituency elections in Zaria and Sabon-Gari.

The group alleged that the plan involved mass recruitment of thugs, bribery of electoral officials, and wholesale vote buying.

Addressing a press conference earlier, Sani claimed that senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were being courted with plots of land, while a “disgraced former senator” notorious for electoral violence was allegedly put in charge of mobilising funds to buy votes and compromise security.

The coalition urged INEC to immediately replace the allegedly compromised personnel and called on security agencies to resist “being weaponised to subvert the will of the people.” It also demanded the prosecution of the state’s Commissioner for Local Government and others accused of recruiting thugs to disrupt the polls.

But in a swift counter-attack, Kaduna State Government, through the Commissioner of Information-designate, Ahmed Maiyaki, dismissed the claims as “baseless, mischievous, and a desperate bid to pre-empt defeat.”

Flanked by the Commissioner for Local Government, Sadiq Mamman-Lagos, Maiyaki told journalists that the coalition’s “poorly attended rallies” in recent weeks had already shown “clear rejection” by voters.

“This is nothing but a face-saving measure by people who already know the outcome of Saturday’s election.

“We will not sit idly by while political opportunists smear the name of our administration and malign innocent officials with wild, unsubstantiated claims,” Maiyaki said.

He insisted that election conduct was the sole responsibility of INEC, accusing the coalition of trying to drag the government into “its own political misery.”

In what appeared to be a pointed dig at the immediate past governor, Maiyaki recalled a violent episode at the Nigeria Union of Journalists Secretariat during El-Rufai’s tenure.

“Let us not forget that the former governor once sent thugs to the NUJ Secretariat, injuring many colleagues. Such violence is alien to Governor Uba Sani’s leadership style,” he said.

Maiyaki also said that while the coalition was “crying wolf,” Governor Sani was in Chikun Local Government Area flagging off the construction of the Romi–Karatudu Township Roads — “a community abandoned and demolished under El-Rufai’s eight-year rule.”

According to Maiyaki, the administration’s inclusive governance style had brought peace and unity to the state.

“Governor Uba Sani has united Kaduna people and delivered tangible development. These political jobbers are unsettled by his popularity, so they manufacture theatre to distract the public,” he said, urging voters to “turn out en masse” on election day and ignore the coalition’s “rantings.”

On his part, Mamman-Lagos dismissed separate allegations of illegal deductions from local governments’ accounts, branding El-Rufai a “frustrated politician” seeking relevance.

“He is sinking and wants to drag others along. But Kaduna people have moved on,” Mamman-Lagos said.

The bye-elections in Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency and the two state constituencies in Zaria and Sabon-Gari are expected to be a major test of strength for the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) and the opposition.

While the ADC and SDP coalition insists that the polls risk being compromised without urgent intervention, the state government says such fears are unfounded and are merely “a rehearsal for conceding defeat.”

As both camps trade accusations, attention now shifts to INEC and the security agencies to ensure a peaceful and credible exercise in Kaduna on Saturday.

Kaduna Slams El-Rufai, SDP Over Poll Rigging Claims is first published on The Whistler Newspaper