From Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Several weeks after the conduct of local government area election in Kaduna State, the Kaduna Coalition of Political Parties (KCPP) has called for the prosecution of some ad-hoc and permanent staff of the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIECOM) for alleged carting away of some Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) to unknown destinations by thugs in some wards.
The KCPP also said that the staff should face the wrath of the law for alleged disappearance of some ward and local government returning officers from their respective Coalition centers, “only to appear hours later to announce fake results which in some cases were accepted by the Commission and have now become subject of litigation in courts”.
Addressing a press conference on Thursday, Chairman of the KCPP, Comrade Shehu Abubakar added that there was deliberate compromise and connivance by some security agencies in some local government areas election results.
According to Abubakar, “In view of these challenges, we call on the Commission to prosecute those permanent and ad-hoc staff who in one way or the other sabotaged the process, and also address these challenges in future election, so as to enhance the delivery of free, fair and credible election in the State.
“Taking into account the role of some of the security agencies in the elections conducted so far, we urge them to remain neutral and unbiased in the conduct of their duty in any election henceforth.
“In view of the cases in court arising from the elections, we appeal to the judiciary, which is the last hope of the common man to ensure speedy dispensation of Justice to all parties involved concern”.
The Coalition further noted that there was substitution of trained ad-hoc staff with untrained ones, and, “deliberate set up of wrong time of commencement of voting, deliberate refusal install result sheets and ink for printing of results, as well as malfunctioning of some EVM in all local government area where election was conducted”.
However, the KCPP commended the State governor, Nasir El-rufai for allowing the use of EVM for the elections.
Recalled that SIECOM had rescheduled the local government councils election to September 4, 2021 after several postponements and another postponement for four local government area which two out of them was held on September 25th.