Bomba Dauda
The People Democratic Party (PDP) in Zangon-Kataf Local Government Area of Kaduna State, said, they are amazed at the reason given for the re-postponement of the 2021 LG elections.
“We are not unaware of the dangerous rhetoric by some APC stalwarts about imposing an APC Chairman on Zango Kataf LGC at all costs usually echoed at campaigns of the APC in the LG,” they added.
They went further, the government needs to know that the political contractors in the LG are not in a position to deliver the LG to the APC as they have been parading in order to sustain government patronage.
It is also on record that various political parties participating in the rescheduled election in Zangon Kataf LG, including the APC had carried out mass campaigns across wards and villages in the LG up to the last day of campaigns without a single incident of security breach. At what point then, did the security situation get so bad to warrant this arbitrary suspension of the election by the government?
In fact, Zangon Kataf LG has in the past few days witnessed tremendous peace which warranted the hitch-free conduct of political campaigns/rallies as stated above. The postponement of the elections citing security concerns therefore, is dumbfounding and smack of mischief.
The Northeast geo-political zone and Borno State in particular, has been the epicenter of insurgency in Nigeria since 2014, but election has never been rescheduled in that zone or state either in 2015 or 2019. Surprisingly, the APC even recorded some of its highest votes in the presidential election despite the widespread security challenges in those areas and times.
Similarly, there have been several incidences of security breach in some other parts of the state. For instance, Giwa LG where bandits attack and abduct people almost on a daily basis, Kaduna North LG where the son of Senator Bala Na’allah was gruesomely murdered in his house, and Igabi LG where the Nigerian Defence Academy had its security architecture recently compromised by bandits, in addition to the incessant kidnappings in the area, yet the government did not deem it necessary to postpone election in those local government areas.
The APC should be reminded that Zangon Kataf LG is the heritage of the PDP, therefore, any attempt to manipulate the process will be vehemently resisted.
