The Katsina State Independentp Electoral Commission, KTSIEC, has declared the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC, as the winner in 33 out of the 34 local government areas of the state.
The Secretary of the commission, Lawal Faskari, who announced the results in the early hours of Wednesday said, only that of Dutsinma Local Government Area remained cancelled, due to some challenges.
Meanwhile, the opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, has rejected both the results and the conduct, terming them as daylight robbery, and vowed to challenge them in court.
Despite the uncertainty and security breach that characterised the conduct of the Monday, April 11 Local Government Elections, in Katsina, the state Independent Electoral Commission said the exercise was peaceful, and declared APC the winner in 33 out of the 34 Local Government Areas.
This is even as the election was marred by irregularities, uncertainties, breach of security and voter apathy, especially in Kankara Local Government Area, where the electoral officer publicly cancelled the election, and in Bakori where some youths burnt the electoral materials.
The Secretary of the electoral umpire, Lawal Faskari, while announcing the result in a prepared speech, rather than election results said, the ruling All Progressives Congress won all the Chairmanship and Councillorship seats in the 33 out of the 34 Local Government Areas, describing the election as peaceful.
According to Faskari, the exercise was peaceful, and no fewer than 12 registered political parties participated, except in Dustin-Ma, where challenges forced the commission to use Section 60 of the Katsina State Local Government Elections Law, 2002, to stop the process.
He added that the commission has so far received complete results from 33 Local Government Areas, 350 Wards while elections in Dustin-Ma have been cancelled.
Meanwhile, the major opposition Peoples Democratic Party, PDP has rejected the result, in what it called, unprecedented rigging of the process ever seen, in the history of elections in the country.
According to the acting Chairman of the Party, Salisu Uli, the party faulted the process from the title of the prepared speech, which read March 11, instead of April 11, to the announcement of the results.
He, therefore, said the party will put all evidence together and seek justice for their stolen mandate.
No date or announcement has been made for the conduct of election into the cancelled Dutsinma Local Government Area.
The ‘elected’ executives will be sworn in by Governor Aminu Masari Wednesday, April 13.
(Editor: Paul Akhagbemhe)
