…Demand Fresh Elections
Aspirants who lost in Monday’s All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primaries across Kaduna State’s three zones have rejected the outcome, alleging irregularities and demanding cancellation of the exercise.
Led by some defeated contenders, Senators Danjuma La’ah, Mike Aura and Ikara Bala, the group on Tuesday stormed the Kaduna State Council of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) secretariat with large supporters from across the 3 zones to lodge a formal protest.
According to the senators, the primaries were marred by injustice and violated both APC guidelines and the Electoral Act 2022.
Leaders of the protesters said the National Working Committee had approved direct primaries, but “local actors substituted an unauthorised and direct delegate system.
They also alleged that no INEC officials monitored the exercise and that polling centres and materials were not provided at the ward level.
“In the purported primary election, Senator Sunday Marshall was illogically stated as the winner, where he was allocated a total of 7,534 purported votes cast by delegates,” the group said. They argued the figure was inconsistent with APC’s registered membership in the zone.
Citing Section 84(2) and 84(13) of the Electoral Act 2022, Article 20 and 30.3 of the APC Constitution, and Section 83 of the Electoral Act, the aspirants said the process breached party and statutory provisions.
They urged the NWC to cancel the May 18 exercise and order fresh, transparent direct primaries across Kaduna South, North, and Central, supervised by the national leadership.
Fielding questions from newsmen, one of the aspirants said the group had submitted complaints to the appropriate party and electoral authorities and would pursue legal action if nothing was done.
“We are not against anyone. We are against a process that does not follow the law. We will remain in APC and correct this. This is our house,” he said.
The protesters said copies of their petition had been sent to the APC NWC, Appeal Committee, Deputy National Chairman, National Legal Adviser, INEC Chairman, and Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kaduna.
The APC is set to issue a response to the allegations as of the time of filing this report.
The aggrieved aspirants accused the party of violating its own constitution and demanded action to stop what they called sabotage of the process.
Rating the conduct of the primaries, the group said: “We’re abusing the constitution of our party and the president, Bola Tinubu. We’re going to have an incredible. Some people are sabotaging our efforts, and we won’t allow it.”
Speaking further during a protest, the aspirants said they were exercising their right to petition after what they described as a flawed exercise across Kaduna South, North, and Central. They said complaints had been sent to the APC National Working Committee, police, DSS, and INEC.
“This is unacceptable, and we will totally fight. We will remain in APC. We will correct this. This is our house. We will follow every legal means,” one aspirant said.
The group alleged that the primaries deviated from the NWC-approved direct format, lacked INEC monitoring, and excluded many registered members. They cited Southern Kaduna as an example, saying they recorded over 870 votes in some areas while the declared results did not reflect that.
“We’re not against anyone. We’re not against Governor Uba Sani. But we want the process to follow the procedure. Once it is done properly, nobody will have an issue,” the aspirant added.
The group said it would take further steps, including visiting the police commissioner and DSS, to formally register their grievances if the party does not address the matter.
