Ishaku alleges plan to rig out seven PDP governors in 2019
PDP doubts INEC conducting free, fair bye-election in Katsina
Governor Darius Ishaku of Taraba State has alleged that seven governors have been marked to be rigged out of power in 2019 general elections by the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
Ishaku, who disclosed this yesterday in Jalingo while playing host to former Vice President Atiku Abubakar who was in the state for consultations ahead of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) presidential primaries, urged him to go extra miles to discourage rigging.
The governor, who commended Atiku for his bold step in returning back to PDP, said: “We are willing to be part of history to make changes that will stop Nigerians from crying on daily basis over killing of their kinsmen.
He, therefore, urged Nigerians and Tarabans, in particularly, to halt any form of rigging come next elections.
Atiku, who vowed to decentralise the security architecture of the country if given the responsibility to pilot the affairs of the country in the next political dispensation, said: “Decentralisation of the security architecture of the country is very necessary to the unity of this country.
“If I become president, a Taraban has become president.”
He said the much-needed change would be actualised if given the mandate.
In another development, the PDP has expressed doubt over the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) ability to conduct free and fair bye-election in Katsina State.
The party said external interference by government in power as well as undue influence by security operatives makes it difficult if not impossible to conduct fair elections in the state.
Chairman of the party in the state, Salisu Yusuf Majigiri, stated this yesterday during a stakeholders’ forum organised by INEC in preparation for the Katsina North Senatorial District bye-election.
Majigiri alleged that state government officials helped in snatching ballot boxes during the Dutsi/Mashi bye-election to ensure their candidate wins the poll and also that some security operatives were used during the election to advance the interest of the ruling party.
But the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC), Jibrin Ibrahim Zarewa, expressed the commission’s readiness to conduct free and fair polls in the state.
Zarewa said in the forthcoming bye-election, INEC would involve services of 7,727 ad-hoc staff, including corps members, students of tertiary institutions and members staff of federal ministries, agencies to fill the gap.
He, however, said that INEC at the national level would announce date for the poll, even as he called on political parties to ready themselves for campaigns and other related activities.
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