ANOTHER ZANGON KATAF/BIRNIN GWARI LGA POSTPONED Elections: When Integrity Is On Near Collapse. By Edward John Auta Pama

Dr. Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu, 

"We are consoled by the fact that you are a strong believer in God, given the repeated remarks made by you about giving account to God of our actions and inactions one day in the hereafter".... Edward J. A. Pama 

The ongoing Local Government Council elections as conducted by the Kaduna State Independent Elections Commission, KADSIECOM, has continued to generate queries as to the genuinity or itherwise of the Dr. Saratu Binta Dikko-Audu led Commission.

In drawing attention to the antics being put to play in the ongoing Local Government Council elections, a concerned stakeholder, Edward John Auta Pama, has in detail, highlighted the entire schemes of the Dikko-Audu led KADSIECOM.

Excerpts

Dear KADSIECOM Chairman,

Greetings to you Madam, attached with all deserved compliments, hoping that this letter meets you well.

Let me start by stating that we received the short notice of the indefinite but, in our belief, unnecessary suspension of elections in Zangon Kataf and Birnin Gwari LGAs with rude shock. 

We have been left quite befuddled by the lame justification advanced for your action.

This is because, it is widely published that the Kaduna State Police Commissioner has assured everyone in the state about the Command's readiness for the election. He (Commissioner of Police) also assured the affected LGAs that his men will be effective and neutral during the rescheduled elections of 25th September, 2021 in the areas affected. 

In Zangon Kataf, all electorates were happy and ready to come out in large numbers to vote for candidates of their choice in the orderly and peaceful ways all political campaigns and rallies held for all these months. Not a single clash was recorded, because, it is a local contest among kinsmen.

However, we are consoled by the fact that you are a strong believer in God, given the repeated remarks made by you about giving account to God of our actions and inactions one day in the hereafter. There also seems to be a general consensus among Kaduna citizens that you are an upright woman, and that you actually did your best to give us a free, fair and credible elections both in 2018 and 2021. Listening to you speak on the programme "Perspectives" on Invicta FM 98.9 on Friday 17th September, 2021 further reinforced that belief and deepened that sentiment. But for keen listeners, there were so many aspects of that interview that suggested you are under immense  pressure in the discharge of your duties, even though you would not admit it.

Madam Chairman, it may never have occurred to you that one reason why HE, Governor Nasir Ahmed Elrufa'i might have insisted on reappointing you KADSIECOM boss despite alleged widespread opposition from top echelons of his party, is the simple fact that you have built for yourself a towering reputation that is needed to give the e-voting experiment in Kaduna State a pass mark. But permit me to say, without any iota of disrespect to your commissioners at KADSIECOM that a good head on a rotten body is still like putting an excellent driver in a vehicle with punctured tyres. It will not move an inch, at least not forward. This, therefore, explains why you were wondering how thousands of trained ad-hoc personnel for the September 4, 2021 elections were substituted with untrained ones on election day or why your commissioners refused to support your action in the case of Jaba LG and instead, opted for a tribunal settlement. To think that an electoral umpire would organise an election, declare two results (one allegedly from a hotel and the other at the LG Collation Centre in the presence of security officials and party representatives), but surprisingly be unable to determine which one of the two results complied with its OWN guidelines, defies reasoning and is thus, sinister, alien and dangerous to our democracy and electioneering process. I pray that the courts will rise to the occasion in this regard and do justice to the matter.

Similarly, in Kubau LGA, where  available evidence shows that the PDP was inching close to victory, you declared the election inconclusive and ordered a rerun (which could have taken place today if not for the tribunal order to stay action) on the grounds that the ward returning officers for five (5) of the 11 wards in the LG either absconded or were abducted alongside the authentic results for those areas, and that all efforts to reach them or recover the electoral materials in their custody proved abortive.  Why the Commission chose a rerun instead of simply  sending a new set of R.Os for those wards and reverting to the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) for reprints of the original polling results clearly suggests the absence of will to do the right thing or that you are under pressure from without to subvert the will of the people in that LG and the affected wards.

But the worse of it all is the perceived plan to disenfranchise the good people of Zangon Kataf LGA and deprive them of having elected representatives (as it happened in Kaura and Chikun LGAs in 2018) using 'insecurity' as the excuse. This is what the notice of the indefinite suspension of the elections in that LGA signifies even if not intended, and I will explain why. I can speak only on Zango Kataf where I come from and registered to vote there.

First, Zangon Kataf LG comprises 11 political wards and 5 chiefdoms. Of these chiefdoms and Wards, incidences of security breach have been prevalent in ONLY one chiefdom and across 3 political wards. Specifically, Zaman Dabo Ward, Zonzon, and Gora Wards in Atyap Chiefdom have been the ones most affected. In all the other wards namely: Zonkwa, Madakiya, Ung. Rimi, Gidan Jatau, Kamantan, Ikulu, Ung. Gaya, and Zango Urban, there have been relative peace much more than in some of the LGAs where elections were conducted on September 4 like Igabi, Giwa, Kauru and Kaura LGAs.

Secondly, the earlier  postponement of the elections in four LGAs was believed to be aimed at giving security agencies ample time to plan and also have adequate personnel to be deployed to these isolated LGAs on the rescheduled date. That means that all the military, paramilitary and other security agencies that were deployed for the 4th September elections in 19 LGAs of the state are available for deployment in only 4 LGAs. 

Thirdly, you reversed your decision for a rerun for the Jema'a Local Government Council Chairmanship seat and issued a certificate of return to the candidate of the APC despite elections not having held in various polling units in some wards of the LG and the fact that the margin of victory was lower than the total number of registered voters in the affected areas. You claimed that by provisions of the electoral law, an election can  be deemed conclusive if it has been conducted in at least two-thirds of the wards in a LG, and a candidate with the highest number of votes wins at least 25% of the votes cast in those wards. What this simply means is that, in the case of Zangon Kataf LGA, even without the three (3) wards bedevilled by incessant Fulani attacks, a winner for the Chairmanship elections can still emerge from the more than two-thirds of the wards in the LG that are relatively peaceful and where the elections can still hold.

In the final analysis, what is happening in Zangon Kataf LGA today is nowhere near what obtained in Borno, Yobe, Adamawa, Zamfara and even some Southern States in the build-up to the 2015 and 2019 elections, yet elections were conducted in almost every nook and corner of those areas with minimal security breaches. To say, therefore, the same officers and men of the Nigerian military and paramilitary organizations cannot guarantee the safety of voters in merely TWO (2) or FOUR (4) LGAs for just a day or two defies sound reason and suggests that you are being used to threaten democracy and its lofty ideals in the areas concerned and this is bad for you, our dear State and Country, Nigeria.

I urge you, therefore,  never to allow yourself  to be used to repeat the evil scenario of 2018 when your commission refused to conduct Elections for Kaura and Chikun LGCs for no just cause and for more than 3 years. Remember that the governor of Kaduna State who appointed you has always claimed that he has given you a free hand to perform your duty. You will therefore be held accountable for any and all abuses of trust that may be associated with this election on earth and in heaven. If you are under undue pressure , however, as we suspect you are, cry out or resign to save what remains of your integrity. The people of Zangon Kataf, and every other LGA count on your integrity to get elections not only done but done in accordance with the law, and in no distant time. We will continue to remind you of that oath you took to discharge your responsibility as KADSIECOM Chairperson diligently and also pray that the grace of God will strengthen you to live up to it. Please think about everything I have written and the Lord will surely bless you.

Edward John Auta writes from Narom Village of Zonkwa Ward in Zango Kataf LGA.

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