The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, yesterday described the Kano state local government council election and the House of Representatives bye-election in Katsina as shameful and mockery of electoral process.
The party added that the elections, especially the Katsina bye-election has exposed President Muhammadu Buhari as having lost popularity in his stronghold.
The party, in a statement by its spokesman, Kola Ologbondiyan said that because of the loss of popularity, the federal government resorted to primitive cheating and deployment of heavily armed security forces to muscle votes for the All Progressives Congress, APC, in last Saturday’s bye-election in Katsina state.
The party said that the development has further shown that President Buhari and his party have completely lost popularity among Nigerians, even in the President’s home state.
The party also described the last Saturday’s Kano state Local Council election, which was also characterized by outright cheating, open under-aged voting and ballot stuffing, as a wholesome mockery of electoral process.
“These two elections have signified that the APC cannot win any free and fair election, even in their supposed stronghold.
“The fact that the APC had to recourse to brute force and allocation of ballots to gain votes in the bye-election in Mashi/Dutsi Federal Constituency, which ordinarily should have been for them, a walk in the park, being President Buhari’s constituency, shows that the party has pathetically lost it all,” it said.
The PDP said the fact that it still held a legitimate 22,690 votes against the 30,719 fraudulently allocated to the APC, despite the use of force and other brazen infractions by the APC, shows that PDP is the natural winner of the election.
“It further strengthens our resolve that our party, the PDP, still commands a genuine followership among Nigerians.
“The APC is also corrupting security officials to use maximum force as a desperate measure to save President Buhari, whose popularity had dipped across our nation.
“In their desperation to help the President, the APC in cahoot with the inept Presidency declared war on the people by ensuring the deployment of over 1000 heavily armed and hostile security operatives for an election that held in only 15 polling units within two local governments of Katsina State.
It, however, said that the election was a clear message to the APC that the will of the people will prevail in 2019 as Nigerians will never allow the shameful impunity and suppression witnessed in Katsina and Kano during last Saturday’s election as they will be fully rallied to resist such across board.
