Following the September 4, and 25 local government area elections in Kaduna state, the Kaduna Coalition of 36 Political Parties (KCPP) has lauded the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), while calling for the prosecution of electoral offenders.
Addressing journalists on Thursday, KCPP said some ad-hoc and permanent staff of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) were involved in electoral malpractices after they allegedly aided the carting away of some Electronic Voting Machines to unknown destinations by thugs in some wards.
The KCPP wants some Siecom staff to face the law for alleged disappearance of some ward and local government returning officers “from their respective collation centers only to appear hours later to announce fake results which in some cases were accepted by the Commission and have now become subject of litigation in courts”.
Chairman of KCPP, Comrade Shehu Abubakar, added that there was deliberate compromise and connivance by some security agencies in some local government areas election results. “In view of these challenges, we call on the Commission to prosecute those permanent and ad-hoc staff who in one way or the other sabotaged the process, and also address these challenges in future election, to enhance free, fair and credible election in the state. ..
“Taking into account the role of some of the security agencies in the elections conducted so far, we urge them to remain neutral and unbiased in the conduct of their duty in any election henceforth. In view of the cases in court arising from the elections, we appeal to the judiciary, which is the last hope of the common man to ensure speedy dispensation of justice to all parties involved,” he said..
The Coalition further noted that there was substitution of trained ad-hoc staff with untrained ones, and, “deliberate set up of wrong time of commencement of voting, deliberate refusal to install result sheets and ink for printing of results, as well as malfunctioning of some EVM in all local government area where election was conducted”..
However, the KCPP commended Governor Nasir el-Rufai for supporting the use of EVM for the elections..SIECOM had rescheduled the local government councils election to September 4, 2021 after several postponements, while the elections were further postponed in four local government areas – Chikun, Kajuru, Birnin Gwari and Zango Kataf to September 25, after which the polls held in only the first two.
