By David Lawani, Abuja
The Governor of Jigawa State, Mohammed Badaru Abubakar who also doubles as Chairman, All Progressives Congress, APC in Ekiti State Governorship Committee, has told pressmen that the recent party’s primary election which has the margin of 11 wards out of 177 wards being disrupted by violence was not enough to cancel the entire processes.
Badaru gave this clarification shortly after submitting its reports amidst allegations that its committee was biased against other aspirants noting that its committee has submitted the reports for the party to look into.
He said they have submitted the results sheets and reports, where they were conducted in “166 wards while11 wards, were disrupted and we cancelled those areas but in 166, people actively participate. And I think you all have the videos of what transpired in all the 166 wards except the 11. Even the 11 that had a crisis, I am sure you have seen the videos”.
On the challenge of 7 out of the 8 aspirants pulling out of the process, the committee chairman said, it is not true that anything like that happened. He declared that all aspirants were told to produce a list of 20 agents each and they agreed.
He said: ” That is absolutely not true. We landed on the 26th. I had meetings with all the aspirants and 7 attended out of 8. And we discussed the guidelines and we agreed on all the terms. What they are alleging probably, party members loyal to the governor were chosen to serve as returning officers in various wards and local governments. And they raise that at the meeting. And I asked them, the guidelines is to use the party people to do the job.
“We cannot hire or take people that are not from the party. But they can also give us 20 each from the party people that they believed will do justice to them. And they provided 20 lists which we incorporate into returning officers. And this was communicated in the early morning to them because they send their own list very late and that was what even delayed us that night.
“But we managed to incorporate all the 20 people each they sent to us to participate also in the exercise. But you can see from what happened that they are supposed to have agents in all the 177 wards. And these 11 wards that the primaries were disrupted were wards that had relationships with most of the aspirants. So, you can see if they have that power, to stop the congress, they could have done it also in the 166 wards”, he stated.
He maintained that the primary was free and fair, adding that only 60-65 % members of the party came out to vote and the result reflected their wishes for the winner.
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“You can see the numbers. The winner got 101 thousand votes out of 180 thousand registered members. So it is a very real fact. It is only 60-65% membership that comes out to vote which is very realistic. And for those of you that have been there on the field, you have gone round ward by ward by yourselves that it is actually people. Before the election, I promised the aspirants that I will never receive a result written where people have not participated in the process.
“And that was why the eleven wards cannot be returned to me because I knew there were violence and election didn’t take place. That is why I cancel them. Basically, there was no challenge in the whole process. People really came out and voted for the candidates they want and it has been relatively peaceful in the 166 wards. And when you have issues with only 11 wards, mark you we have also checked the number of Registered Voters in the 11 wards that don’t have the capacity to upset the margin of lead by the winner. It then means that we declare the election conclusive because if we say let us do a re-run, the margin of victory is far beyond the number of cancelled wards”, he said.
The Governor advised the aspirants who lost in the poll and are aggrieved over the outcome that they should join hands with the winner so as to move the party forward for other elections.
“They are party members. What we expect them to do is to join hands with us so that we can continue to build the party and we continue to support the candidate that emerges. At the opening of my engagement with the aspirants, at the stakeholders meeting that we held in Ekiti State, I told them that power comes from God. And it is only God that will determine who will win.
“And if we take it in our hearts to be patient, God will certainly reward u. And believe that he knows who will be the next governor of Ekiti State even before we start this process. So, we should take heart to be responsible and respectful. And stop casting aspersions or unnecessary allegations on people because destroying somebody doesn’t mean victory for you.
” It means you are also destroying yourself. Be fair to all. And be open to all and God will continue to help you. But if you chose to castigate and humiliate people, and cast insults on people God is watching. You will certainly harvest what you have done because the truth will always come out. And we did this primary with utmost fear of God. And those that know me know I cannot write results for anybody”, he noted.
