Juliana Taiwo-Obalonye, Abuja
Senator Kabiru Gaya, representing Kano South senatorial district, on the platform of the All Progressive Congress (APC), has hinted that the National Assembly would investigate the Independent Electoral Commission (INEC); over postponement of the general elections.
In the wee hours of February 16, INEC rescheduled the presidential and National Assembly elections to Saturday, February 23, while the governorship, Houses of Assembly and Federal Capital Territory Area Council polls, earlier fixed for March 2, was shifted to Saturday, March 9.
Gaya, who is chairman of the Senate Committee on Works, and has just won a fourth term return to the chamber, said the postponement eventually resulted in poor voter turnout, and added that in terms of resources and security, INEC had no excuse as all necessary provisions were made to ensure smooth elections.
INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, attributed the postponement to logistics and sabotage.
“I was not happy when they shifted the elections and I said after shifting the elections, we will call them and we will investigate INEC for shifting the election because it caused poor turnout.
“We will find out the reason– if it was funding; we gave them enough funding, if it was security, the security agencies were ready. So, why should INEC shift the elections?
“We are going to investigate that when we come back after the governorship election. But, generally, they did what they could do, I would say, it’s a pass mark.”
Senator Gaya also thanked God for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election, as he would conclude all the projects he started.
“I remember when I was inspecting one of the roads here. At that time, president Buhari was abroad. I said ‘president Buhari will, Insha Allah, commission that road in his first time and also, in his second term, he will do the second part of the road. People doubted me, but, thank God! God has done it–president Buhari ran for re-election and he has won the election.
“I am not surprised he won because he has done so much for this country. For example, in terms of road, I am the chairman, senate committee on Works, so, I know that the budget for 2014, before president Buhari came in, was N22 billion. But, when he came into office, the budget moved up to N220 billion and you can see now the budget is between N300 billion to N400 billion in 2019.
“Therefore, the roads that were neglected for 19 years are now motorable. Also, agricultural, the importation of rice has dropped from 100 percent to only five percent. So, I can say that I am happy president Buhari is back and the election was peaceful and Kano State delivered; even though the turnout was very low. I believe the problem was that INEC shifted the elections and people thought that the election would be shifted, again, and they couldn’t come out to vote.”