APC demands Kano election cancellation, PDP leaders, INEC officials nabbed

APC demands Kano election cancellation, PDP leaders, INEC officials nabbed

As the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, conducted by-elections across 12 states of the country on Saturday, arrests over vote buying were made, thugs nabbed, party members abducted, and agent beaten up.

The elections are in two senatorial districts in Anambra and Edo states; five federal constituencies in Edo, Jigawa, Kaduna, Ogun and Oyo; and nine state constituencies in Adamawa, Anambra, Kaduna (2), Kano, Kogi, Niger, Taraba and Zamfara.

He said: “You are just showing money; I don’t know anything about it.”

PDP allege foul play

Reacting, PDP has described the arrest as a ploy to intimidate and disenfranchise its members ahead of the by-election.

Director of Media and Communications of the party, Asiwaju Akinloye Bankole, said the party officer was arrested around 3:30am by security operatives, who allegedly broke into his hotel room in what he termed a “commando-style operation”.

According to him, the PDP officer was in his hotel room relaxing with his driver and an aide when he was whisked away.

Bankole maintained that contrary to reports, no electoral materials were found in his possession, nor was he caught with large sums of money.

His words: “He had only ₦100,000 in his room. No electoral material was discovered in his hotel room or car.

“It is part of a grand plan to scare our people and disenfranchise them. This is unfortunate and shameful in a democracy.”

He also dissociated the arrested member from the arrest of two INEC officials and others who were allegedly apprehended with large amounts of cash in the area.

“He does not know the INEC staff arrested. It is practically impossible for him to lodge in the same hotel room with an INEC official.

“He was only carrying out his responsibility as the state officer of the party under whose watch this election is being conducted,” Bankole added

288 thugs in Kano, APC kicks

In Kano State, the Police arrested 288 suspected thugs during the the Bagwai/Shanono and Ghari/Tsanyawa constituencies by-elections.

READ ALSO:

• Dangote Refinery: NNPC, marketers reduce fuel prices
• Comfort Emmanson sues FG, NCAA, seeks N500bn damages
• Lagos begins fresh registration for poor, vulnerable households

The election is expected to produce a replacement for Halilu Kundila, a member of the Kano State House of Assembly, who died after a brief illness.

The Commissioner of Police, Alhaji Ibrahim Bakori, said the election was marred by violence, with thugs allegedly hired to disrupt proceedings.

He said eligible voters were afraid to come out and exercise their civil rights due to the presence of thugs wielding dangerous weapons.

Following the development, the All Progressives Congress, APC, called for the elections’ cancellation.

APC National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, made the call in a statement on Saturday. He alleged widespread violence and disruption of the exercise by armed thugs in several polling units.

He claimed that voters were forced to flee from polling areas, while security personnel deployed to the affected constituencies were overwhelmed by the attacks.

PDP Reps candidate, 25 others abducted in Kaduna

In Kaduna, the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, accused security operatives of abducting its House of Representatives candidate for the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency bye-election, Princess Esther Ashivelli Dawaki, along with 25 supporters.

At a press conference on Saturday in Kaduna, the state PDP Chairman, Sir Edward Percy Masha, alleged that the operation was carried out by a joint security network.

According to him, the security personnel stormed the hotel in Malali in a bid to arrest the Chairman of the PDP Campaign Council, Hon. Hussein Ahmed-Kero.

But when they could not find him, they allegedly whisked away Dawaki and others.

APC demands Kano election cancellation, PDP leaders, INEC officials nabbed

Vanguard