By Abdullai Mohammed
Bauchi
All Progressive Network (APN), Bauchi State chapter, has called for the cancellation of ward congresses conducted in the state last Saturday, describing it as a democratic fraud and scandal.
The group said that the manner the ward congresses was conducted would attract the attention of the ICPC.
The APN Chairman, Shehu Barau Ningi, spoke during a press conference at the NUJ Secretariat in Bauchi.
He prayed that the congresses should be repeated by a different State Election Committee.
According to him, contrary to the declaration of the Bauchi State government and the outgoing leadership of the party in the state that the Congress was a success, “it is a known fact that no congress took place in the state.”
Ningi however accused the Bauchi State government, state leadership of APC and the state election commitee of connivance to manipulate the results of the congress to their favour.
He said, “Everybody is a living witness to the fact that no congress took place in the state. No member of the electoral committee was seen at all the venues of the congress despite the fact that voters waited from morning to evening without seeing anyone.
“In very few cases where the electoral officials appeared, they quickly sneaked away and disappeared when they realized the impossibility and danger of imposing government candidates on the electorate.
“The following questions clearly revealed this dubious arrangement. Why did the seven-member state election committee decide not to report to the state in good time to enable it make adequate arrangement for the Congress, but reported on Friday evening, just a few hours to the Congress.”
Shehu, who was a commissioner of Budget and Planning in the state further alleged that the State electoral committee members hid themselves, making their whereabouts inaccessible and faulted the rationale behind the selection of the three-member local government area election committees for the 20 LGAs without a proper stakeholder meeting.
He also alleged that the Appeal Committee has deliberately refused to report most of the complains of the congress, which according to him, was done with the intention to achieve their dubious motives.