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Says: “You cannot force yourself on the people”
From John Adams, Minna
The governorship candidate of the People Democratic Party (PDP) in Niger State, Alhaji Isah Liman Kantigi has vowed that the party will not allow the rigging of the governorship election in the state come Saturday, March11, saying that the party will not allow the repeat of February 25th Presidential and National Assembly elections in the state believed to have been massively rigged.
The governorship candidate who made the declaration during an interactive session with newsmen in Minna on Saturday said it was cleared that the last Saturday Presidential election was rigged in favour of the candidate of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu but pointed out that governorship election will be a different ball game as Nigerians are fully prepared for the local elections.
“We will not allow any rigging of the governorship election on March 11, we will not allow the by-pass of the BIVAS Machine like they did last Saturday. We will defend our votes to the last point of collation”, adding that “you can not force the people to vote for you. What happened during the Presidential election can not repeat itself, we will checkmate them, we will march them fire for fire.
“What they did last Saturday they can not have it again, we are fully prepared for any attempt to subvert the will of the people of Niger state come Saturday March 11, 2023 because we will resist them. You can not force yourself on the people”, he submitted.
While expressing optimism of his victory at the forthcoming Saturday governorship poll, the two time local government Chairman in the state pointed out that the next Saturday governorship election is an opportunity for the people of the state to re-write the wrong of the past eight years of APC administration in the state.
According to the former Commissioner for Local Government, Community Development and Chieftaincy Affairs in the state, the APC administration in the state has reversed the hand of the clock in all aspects of human development in the state, leaving the people in misery and poverty, adding that “I have moved round the 25 local government areas of the during my campaign and I saw people suffering, no road, no water and no visible infrastructural development.
“The situation in these local government areas is as if there is no government in existence in the state. The schools and hospitals are in a state of dilapidation, and in addition to this, the people have been forced out of their farms and ancestral homes due to security challenges in parts of the state”
He therefore promised that if given the mandate, his administration will re-write these wrongs and provide what is necessary for the people in the areas of basic infrastructure, stressing that “we must do more to improve the wellbeing of the people, including improving the security challenges in the state to enable people return to their farms for the good of the economy of the state”
Alhaji Kantigi assured the people that work on the 86kilometer Minna-Bida and the 65kilometer Kontagora-Rijau roads which has been abandoned by the present administration will resume within his 100 days in office, adding that other abandoned projects that has direct bearing on the lives of the people would be looked into and given the necessary attention.
He then appealed to the people of the state to put behind them, the disappointment of the last Saturday Presidential and National Assembly elections where their votes could count, and come out enmass on Saturday to vote out the APC government that has inflicted untold hardship on Nigerians in the last eight years.
