From Femi Oyelola, Kaduna
The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam, Nasiru El-rufai has expressed dismay over the low turn out of electorate in the ongoing local government elections in the state.
The Governor disclosed this shortly after casting his vote at the Ungwan Sarkin polling Unit 1 in Kaduna North Local Government Area of the state
He attributed the low turnout to late arrival of the electoral materials, but assured the election has started in ernest.
El Rufai therefore begged the people of Kaduna to come out and vote for the candidate of their choice.
Speaking on the whole process of the LG election, the Governor said there is significant improvemet in the process compared to the same election in 2018.
“The improved voting machine we now have makes it nearly impossible to do multiple voting which happened alots in the 2018 election, you activate the voting machine with your card, once you come and you are accredited, ones you are sure this is your polling unit, You go to the voting machine and place your voters card, it opens the machine for you and you vote. The whole process takes less than fifteen seconds. It is very quick, very efficient and you will see your ballot paper been printed. So that the ballot paper can be counted.
“The machine also transmit the result at the end of the voting to a server as well as well a backup on a USP, as well as printed copies for all the parties and security agents. So it is very difficult to alter anything”
He affirmed his government is committed to free and fair election in Kaduna State
“We are not going to behave like other parties or other state government of the ruling party. We will allow the people of Kaduna State to elect who they want. We do not have to win every where, though we have worked for the people of Kaduna State, they have seen our foot print, the govt and the local government everywhere, they have seen and we are confident that all reasonable minded people will vote for our party, our candidate because they know we are committed to the welfare of the people”.
“We don’t believe in cheating, we don’t believe in rigging election, but also we don’t believe that other people should cheat us. And that is why we encouraged SIECOM to come up with a very improved system and am impressed with the whole thing”.
Technology is key to minimixing cheating in election, unless we have credible election we can never have good leaders, accountable leaders and that is why we are committed, even if it means we are going to lose in some areas, this is democracy, it is a gradual process”, he noted.
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