KADUNA STATE PEOPLE’S DEMOCRATIC PARTY CONDEMNS ALLEGED DISTORTION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT ELECTORAL LAW 12-10-24
By Sadiq Aminu The people’s Democratic Party -PDP in Kaduna state has condemned the alleged distortion of the state local government electoral law by the APC to favor them in the forth coming election.
Kaduna State Chairman of the party Edward Marsha made the condemnation during a press conference at the Nigerian Union of Journalists’ Secretariat in Kaduna.
Edward Marsha explained that the section of the local government electoral law that allows for chairmanship and councilorship results to be announced first at the pooling units and ward collation centers respectively were tempered with.
“we raise a red flag for the local government election that is coming up on the 19th October this year which we noticed a deliberate attempt to manurver the process that is meant to be free and fair as enshrined by the law
“the state chairperson of SEICOM ,the state speaker of the house and the office of the attorney general of the state are working in tenderm to change the already signed local government electoral law,he said
He lamented that any manipulation of the electoral law to serve certain interest will deny the people their legitimate rights to vote for people of their choice at the forth coming elections.
‘instead of results after elections to be announced first at the pooling units by the presiding officer,where results of each party that participated will be announced and then pooling units would assemble with their results at the ward collation centers , which the ward retuning officer will collate the results and announce the winners”
‘furthermore ,the retuning officer in charge of the local government will also collate results from all the wards and then declare the chairman and the chairperson that emerge victorious
“In this new law that we have before you that was done without the awareness of PDP state legislatures , results will no longer be announced at the ward and local government collation centers, rather the chairperson of SEICOM would have sole right and responsibility to announce all results at the headquarters ,or she may authorize any person to announce results at any designation area of her will”,he narrated
Edward Marsha reiterated that local government election is usually the bedrock of any democracy ,due to its closeness to the people,hence the need to allow for the wishes and aspiration of the people to thrive.
“If you deny people the right of choosing their leaders at the local government level,you deny them everything , hence PDP in Kaduna state will not accept this gross manipulation and distortion;for we will challenge it through the right channels “,he concluded
He called for all stakeholders in the state to come out and resit the planned manipulation by the APC, describing it as undemocratic and unpatriotic to the tenets of democracy.
Edward Marsha also charge all Kaduna State House of assembly members inrespective of their political affiliation to be bipartisan and stand for the right thing for the good and progress of the state.
The state PDP chairman therefore call for the impeachment and removal from office all those that have allegedly work together to change the law which was meant to favor the All Progressive Party in the state at the coming election.