From John Adams, Minna
Crisis was the hallmark of the All Progressives Congress (APC) House of Representatives primary elections which took place across the Federal Constituencies in Niger State on Friday with stalemates in almost nine of the 11 Federal constituencies to elect candidates that will fly the party’s flag in the 2023 general elections.
The crisis which left several party delegates injured was caused by doctored list of delegates presented by the party for the elections and this did not go down well with some aggrieved Aspirants who use thugs to disrupt proceedings or some cases, outright writing of results without voting by the delegates.
In Chanchaga federal constituency primary election for example, delegates openly kicked against the doctored list presented by the election committee and refused to allow the document to be applied for voting.
Two out of the three agents of aspirants Isah Saidu and Mohammed Ibrahim told our correspondent that they discovered that the delegates list presented completely was different from the one that was used to elect house of assembly candidate the previous day which was not meant to be so, and therefore insisted that only the presentation of the “original list” will be used.
The disagreement however forcing the electoral committee to withdraw the list and go to the party secretariat to confirm the claim of the agents.
As a result of this, the processes leading to voting was suspended and as at 9:00pm on Friday, voting did not start neither did the committee return from the party secretariat, leaving the delegates waiting.
In the Agaie / Lapai contest thugs took over the proceedings forcefully dispersing the delegates that had assembled for the election and reason was given for their action.
Some delegates that were yet to arrive the venue of the election were blocked by thugs at Kutirko village and were disallowed from entry into Lapai, the constituency headquarters where the primary was scheduled to take place with many of them attacked with matchets and other dangerous weapons.
One of the Aspirants, Mallam Mahmud Abdullahi confirmed the development to our correspondent in a telephone interview on Saturday morning saying, “I was saved by farmers who were returning from the farm who saw me in the bush, we have reported the case to the DPO”
It was however learnt that thugs compelled the election officers and INEC observers to sign the result sheets even when no election took place.
A similar scenario reportedly played out in Gbako/Bida/Katcha Federal Constituency where results were said to have being written in favour of a particular aspirant without election taking place.
In Rafi/Shiroro/Munya Federal Constituency, the situation is the same as the primary election was put on hold due to sharp disagreement over tempered list of candidates for the election, as the Aspirants insisted that the original list used for the House of Assembly must be presented.
But Hon. Idris Garba member representing Wushishi/Mashehu/Mariga/Kontagora Federal Constituency won the party ticket for the 2023 general election.
The story was not the same with Rijau/Magama Federal Constituency as the election was suspended owing to serious disagreement over list of delegates.
The State headquarters of the party could not be reached to comment on the situation as the cell phones of all the principal officers could not be reached.
Meanwhile, the Niger state Governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello has congratulated the winner of the Governorship primary election Alhaji Umar Mohammed Bago a sitting member of the House of Representatives, reorienting Chanchaga Federal Constituency.
In congratulating Mr Umar Mohammed Bago, Niger state Governor Alhaji Abubakar Sani Bello asked him (Bago) to be magnanimous in victory by carrying along all those who contested with him for the overall good of the party in particular and the state in general.