Kaduna Gov’t berates el-Rufai’s ADC/SDP coalition over poll sabotage claims

From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna

The Kaduna State Government has vehemently rejected the allegations made by the coalition of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), which claimed that there is a planned sabotage of the upcoming bye-elections.

The government described such allegations as “laughable lies” propagated by “political leftovers” of former governor Nasir El-Rufai.

Recall that the coalition, led by Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, the ADC National Vice Chairman for the North-West, had accused Governor Uba Sani’s administration of orchestrating plans to rig the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency and the state constituency elections in Zaria and Sabon-Gari.

They alleged that it was being done through mass recruitment of thugs, bribery of electoral officials, and vote buying.

The coalition also alleged that plots of land were being offered to senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as inducements and claimed that a “disgraced former senator” known for electoral violence was placed in charge of deploying the alleged funds for vote buying and compromising security.

They urged INEC to replace allegedly compromised personnel and called upon security agencies to resist being used to subvert the will of the people. Additionally, they demanded the prosecution of the Commissioner for Local Government and others accused of recruiting thugs to disrupt the polls.

But, in a swift response during a press briefing, Kaduna State’s Commissioner of Information-designate, Ahmed Maiyaki, labeled the coalition’s claims as baseless and mischievous, describing them as a desperate attempt to discredit an election that the coalition “knows it cannot win.”

 He noted that the coalition’s “poorly attended rallies” in recent weeks had already exposed their rejection by the electorate, prompting them to “cry wolf where there is none” as a measure to save face ahead of likely defeat.

Maiyaki emphasized that the state government has no role in the conduct of elections, which is the exclusive responsibility of INEC. He accused the coalition of attempting to drag the administration into “self-inflicted political misery.”

 “We will not sit idly by while political opportunists smear the name of our administration and malign innocent officials with wild, unsubstantiated claims”, he said, adding that government lawyers had been directed to examine the allegations for potential legal action.

In a pointed rebuke aimed at El-Rufai, Maiyaki recalled an incident where “the former governor sent thugs to the NUJ Secretariat, injuring many colleagues,” stating that such violence is foreign to Governor Uba Sani’s leadership style.

“As we speak, the governor is in Chikun LGA inaugurating the construction of Romi–Karatudu Township Roads—a community that was abandoned and demolished during El-Rufai’s eight years in office”, he said.

Furthermore, Maiyaki accused the coalition of being unsettled by Uba Sani’s inclusive leadership, which he claimed has united the state and delivered tangible development. He urged voters to turn out en masse on Saturday and disregard the “rantings of political jobbers” who masquerade as defenders of democracy.

 “Democracy in Kaduna is alive and thriving, and no amount of theatrics from El-Rufai’s political leftovers in the ADC will change that”, he added.

On his part, Mamman-Lagos, the Commissioner for Local Government, dismissed the allegations of illegal deductions from local governments’ accounts and described former Governor El-Rufai as a “frustrated politician who is sinking and wants to drag others down with him.”