APC losing Kaduna council seat not a referendum on me – El-Rufai

Kaduna State governor Nasir El-Rufai has said the loss suffered by the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the local council election in his ward happened because the people are not happy with the candidate.

“People are laughing that I lost the polling unit in my ward – anyways, it is democracy that won. I am not on the ballot – So it is not a referendum on me,” El-Rufai said in a television interview on Monday.

“It is a referendum on the councilor and the performance of the local government chairman. I’m happy that it went well.

“People are making choices based on the performance of their elected officials.”

El-Rufai said the people voted for individuals on the ballot and not the party.

The results announced by the state Independent Electoral Commission for Unit 01 Ungwar Sarki, Kaduna North Local Government, showed the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) getting 86 out of the 159 votes for chairman.

APC polled 62 votes, while APP had 1, ZLP 5, PRP 4, and 3 abstentions.

The PDP also got 100 votes for the councillorship seat out of 162 cast while APC scored 53, ZLP 2, PRP 2, NNPP 1, and BP 4.

The results were announced by the Presiding Officer, Muhammad Sani.

Kaduna State governor El-Rufai at the weekend in an interview with journalists said that the adoption of electronic voting for the local election was to ensure that people’s votes count.

“As I said several times, we are not going to behave like other parties or other state governments, we will allow the people of Kaduna State to elect who they want,” El-Rufai said.

“The APC did not have to win everywhere. We don’t believe in cheating or rigging elections but, also, we don’t want other parties to cheat us and that was why we encouraged the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission to come up with full proof of the voting process,” El-Rufai said at the weekend.

On Monday, El-Rufai described the conduct of the election as a unifying moment for the state regardless of which party won.

“The results of the election so far are a unifying moment for our state which is what we have been working on,” El-Rufai said.

“We want to work against the narrative the PDP is a party for one part of the state and the APC is for another part – with religious affiliations.”