The opposition party in Kaduna, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), has raised allegations of rigging ahead of the council polls in the 23 Local Government Areas (LGAs) of the state, scheduled to be held on Saturday.

In a statement on Friday night, the party said that the party’s representatives at the SIECOM office, where sensitive materials for the Local Government election are being distributed to various local governments, alerted it that result sheets are not part of the materials to be taken to the LGAs.

The statement by the PDP State Chairman, Edward Percy Masha, added: “We wish to call on SIECOM to take the path of honour and do the right thing immediately. Failure to have all sensitive materials included, which we consider the most sensitive of all, we would not allow incomplete items to be moved to our local governments, because this act is in breach of No. 5 of the peace accord we signed yesterday, which states: All the institutions of government, including SIECOM and security agencies, must act and be seen to act with impartiality and secure a level playing field for all political actors and citizens to freely exercise their voting rights’.

“In this respect, we are calling on the Commissioner of Police and other security agencies to protect our members and other actors who are at the SIECOM office to ensure that the result sheets for wards and local governments are released along with the other materials.

“To our members, the general public, and lovers of democracy, please remain calm. We are committed and resolute to ensure that the Local Government Electoral Act is followed to the letter by the umpire.”