PDP wants Kano supplementary election cancelled saying APC thugs hijacked the process

PEOPLES Democratic Party (PDP) officials in Kano State have called on the Independent National Electoral Commission (Inec) to cancel the re-run polls in the state holding today and conduct fresh ones because they have been mired by violence.

Kano was one of the states where Inec was conducting supplementary elections today, with the gubernatorial polls being a straight fight between incumbent Governor Abdullahi Ganduje of the All Progressives Congress (APC) and Alhaji Abba Kabir-Yusuf of the PDP. In the original election which took place on March 9, Alhaji Kabir-Yusuf secured 1,020,465 votes, while Governor Ganduje got 987,459 votes.

Supplementary elections held in 28 local government areas but according to the PDP, they are being marred by violence. Alhaji Rabiu Sulaiman-Bichi, the acting chairman of the Kano State chapter of the PDP, said that the process has been taken over for APC thugs and asked for Inec to cancel the elections.

Alhaji Sulaiman-Bichi, said: “Today this charade called re-run election was slated to hold in Kano and other states but unfortunately, what we have is nothing but a sham. Reports reaching us since yesterday indicated that thugs have allegedly been mobilised to take over all the 208 polling units."

He added that the thugs were brought from Zamfara, Katsina, Kaduna, Plateau and other neighbouring states and were armed to the teeth, posing as voters in the polling units in the localities. According to Alhaji Sulaiman-Bichi, the thugs freely voted with the PVCs that did not belong to them, while some posed as Inec staff.