THE Kaduna State Government has dismissed the allegation by the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) coalition that it planned to sabotage the forthcoming by-elections in the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency and state constituencies in Zaria and Sabon-Gari.
The state government described the claim as “laughable lies” by “political leftovers” of a former governor, Nasir El-Rufai.
At a news conference on Thursday attended by the former governor, the coalition, led by ADC National Vice Chairman (North-West), Jafaru Sani, accused the APC-led government in Kaduna of plotting to rig the elections through the mass recruitment of thugs, bribery of electoral officials, and vote buying.
The coalition also alleged that plots of land were being offered to senior INEC officials as inducement, while a “disgraced former senator” known for electoral violence was put in charge of deploying the alleged funds for vote buying and security compromise.
It urged INEC to replace allegedly compromised personnel and called on security agencies to resist being used to subvert the people’s will.
But the state government, in a press briefing by the Commissioner of Information-designate, Ahmed Maiyaki, described the claims as baseless, mischievous, and a desperate attempt to discredit an election the coalition “knows it cannot win”.
Maiyaki said the ADC-SDP 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 face-saving measure ahead of defeat.
The commissioner insisted that the state government had no role in the conduct of elections, which is the exclusive responsibility of INEC, and accused the coalition of trying 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 study the allegations for possible legal action.
“As we speak, the governor is in the Chikun LGA commissioning the construction of Romi–Karatudu Township roads, a community abandoned and demolished under El-Rufai’s eight-year rule,” he added.
Maiyaki accused the coalition of being unsettled by Governor Uba Sani’s inclusive leadership, which he claimed had united the state and delivered tangible development.
He, however, urged voters to turn out en masse on Saturday and disregard the “rantings of political jobbers” masquerading as defenders of democracy.
“Democracy in Kaduna is alive and thriving and no amount of theatre from El-Rufai’s political leftovers in the ADC will change that,” he added.