From Olanrewaju Lawal, Birnin Kebbi
Ahead the August 31 , 2024, local government polls in Kebbi state, the various political parties participating in the exercise have stepped up campaigns and strategies to woo voters.
The election will be held in the 2I local government areas, 225 wards and 3,743 polling units in the state.
Seventeen out of the 18 registered political parties will be taking part in the exercise. However, the main opposition party, the People’s Democratic party, PDP is boycotting the election on the grounds of alleged partisanship of the Chairman of the Kebbi state Independent Electoral Commission, KESIEC.The party is accusing the Chairman of KESIEC of being a card carrying member of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress, APC, an allegation both the Commission and the state chapter of the APC have denied.
The PDP said that though it initially declared intention to participate in the polls, it later realised that the state electoral commission would not be neutral in the August 31 election, given the alleged collusion between KESIEC and the APC to rig it.
Meanwhile, watchers of Kebbi politics posit that by boycotting the election, the PDP and its leaders in the state, including the state’s former Governor, Senator Adamu Aliero, two other Senators at the Red Chamber, four House of Representatives members and several House of Assembly members, may be missing an opportunity to consolidate and strengthen the party in the grassroots ahead the 2027 elections given the autonomy for the LGAs now enjoy in the country.
The State Chairman of the PDP, Alhaji Bello Usman Suru, while confirming his party’s withdrawal from the polls said: “You will recall that during the last PDP stakeholders meeting, we agreed to participate in the forthcoming local government council election given the circumstances of the time but as things continued to unfold and, having made a wider consultation with segments of the Party, members and prominent Elders; it has become pertinent to inform you that the PDP is no longer participating in the councils election slated for August 31st, 2024 due to the following reasons:
“The Chairman of the State Independent Electoral Commission and All the Commissioners are card carrying members of the APC in Kebbi State, therefore organizing free, fair, and credible elections will be a mirage. We voiced out our discomfort with their appointments in several communications to the Kebbi State Government and relevant agencies involved in elections management in the State.
“Secondly, the PDP therefore, doesn’t have any confidence in the leadership of the State Independent Electoral Commission to conduct free and fair election.
“The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC has been conducting elections into various offices since its establishment without charging anything (financially) from candidates or political parties, but the Kebbi State Independent Electoral Commission (KESIEC) has introduced what it called administrative fees in respect of chairmanship, vice chairmanship, and councillorship positions as prescribed in its election guidelines.
“We make bold to say that this has not only disenfranchised some candidates but also grossly violated freedom of choice of the candidates, political parties and the electorates”
Throwing more light on the reason the PDP is boycotting the election, Usman Suru said: “The released election guidelines specified that the administrative fees can be paid up to August 30th, 2024 but it was later abruptly shifted backward to August 7th, 2024. This amounts to changing the rules in the middle of the game and a clear attempt to discourage opposition parties from participating in the election.
“It is against this backdrop that PDP wishes to inform its teeming supporters statewide that our participation in the elections will only signify acceptance of an illegality, fraudulent system, and stage-managed elections as done in the previous exercise conducted in 2022 under the same leadership”.
He appealed to all PDP members across the 21 local government areas of the state to remain calm and focused as they continue to reflect “on the present and prospects of our great party at the local, state, and national levels”
The Kebbi State PDP Chairman was optimistic that “while monitoring developments at the National Assembly on local government election matters; the PDP hopes that the INEC will soon take over the conduct and management of Local government council elections to attain the desired outcome of having free, fair, credible, and acceptable elections”.
Meanwhile, while dismissing the PDP allegations, KESIEC insists it’s Chairman, Alhaji Aliyu Muhammad Mera is not a card carrying member of the APC in the state. According to the Commissioner in charge of Information and Communication, Alhaji Aliyu Muhammad Kaura D. Zagga, what matters to the Commission is how to conduct credible, free and fair election that would be generally acceptable by the electorates and parties.
His words: “Our chairman is not a card carrying member of the APC. I have told you that the same members of the Commission conducted local government elections in 2017 and 2019 and they are the same members of the Commission. I am giving you an example in Kangiwa local government. The then APC State Chairman, Bala Sani Kangiwa was from that area and in his own ward, he lost to the other parties and the winners were given certificates of return.
“ So, I am assuring you that all political parties that registered with this Commission with the intension to participate and contest in the August 31 local government election will enjoy a level playing ground and the election will be free, fair and credible. So, political parties should not be afraid or fear anything”
Zagga who explained that in 2019 LGA poll,17 candidates of the opposition political parties won various positions and they were given certificate of returns, maintained that “all I can tell you all is that they should not be afraid or fear ,we are going to conduct credible election, free and fair and whoever wins, will be declared winners and given certificate of return irrespective of their political parties”
The withdrawal of the PDP from the election have been raising lot of questions especially about the credibility of the poll and acceptability of the results. But to many stakeholders in the state, the outcome of the elections would still stand because of the participations of the 17 other political parties.
Daily Sun learnt that the PRP which had gone to the Court to challenge the fees charged by the KESIEC on the nomination forms, was told by the Court that, the Commission has the constitutional rights to charge for the nomination forms.
Commenting on the credibility of the polls, an APC chieftain who spoke to Daily Sun under the condition of anonymity, explained that, the PDP had missed another opportunity to test its influence and strength as a party with three Senators, four House of Representatives and several House of Assembly members cannot be said to be small political party. According to him, “ the issue of credibility is no more there. Out of I8 political parties, one has withdrawn, we are having 17. The rules did not state that if one political party withdraws, the local government elections should not take place. If the PDP is waiting for the time the INEC will start conducting councils polls, that shows it is not ready yet.We thought that with their Senators, Reps and House of Assembly members, they will spring surprises by winning many council areas but with their withdrawal, it means the ruling party would have a field day at the poll”.
Meanwhile some chieftains of PDP and councils executive have started decamping to the APC following the main opposition party’s withdrawal from the council election. For example, in Argungu council area, the Chairman of PDP there, Alhaji Bello Layya, women leader, youth leader and his supporters have all decamped to APC. They announced their defection during the ruling party’s campaign in the area.
The state Deputy Governor, Senator Abubakar Umar Tafida, attributed the defection of prominent PDP members and their supporters to the remarkable achievements of the administration of Governor Nasir Idris in its first year in office. The governor has often maintained that his administration is people centred and caters for the people of Kebbi irrespective of their political afflictions.