The Kaduna chapter
chairman of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), in this interview,
alleges that the governorship election in the state was rigged.
Before the
election on April 28, some opposition parties called for the
postponement of the election because of the curfew. Was the ACN part of
them?
Whether
postponement or not, what we said was that the curfew must be lifted.
There is no way you can conduct election when there is curfew; when
people are still under siege. How do you expect people to come out and
vote under such condition? You can interpret it to mean postponement
even if it means indefinitely. Because there is no way you can conduct
election under a curfew. What we are saying is that election conducted
under a curfew cannot be transparent, free and fair. These are some of
the reasons that necessitated our rejection of that previous exercise.
Don’t you think postponing the election would have contravened the Electoral Act?
Then why didn’t the
government lift the curfew as well? If INEC knew they were limited by
the Electoral Act, the government should have lifted the curfew.
Otherwise, we don’t bother conducting this election at any given time.
What we said was to lift the curfew and conduct the election. A
situation where a large number of people would be disenfranchised
because of the curfew is not acceptable. I cannot accept the result
because of the process and INEC and government had a choice to put
things in order. The choice was simple; lift the curfew and conduct the
election.
Was there not enough security provided by government during the election?
The security was
meant to harass the eligible voters of Kaduna State. The security was
meant to provide cover for the PDP rigging machinery. It was not meant
to protect the voters, rather, it was used to rig elections by PDP. It
was biased towards the PDP. That was a dubious process.
Do you think ACN would have performed better had the curfew been relaxed?
Whether ACN
performed better or not, it is all about a credible process; its for
the people to be free to come out and cast their votes. What we are
saying is for the right thing to be done. Election is not about
winning; it is all about a credible process; it is about helping the
people to arrive at what they really want; it is about sustaining our
democracy. Whoever knows what democracy means, it’s not about winning
election. So if we lose in a free and fair process, so be it. So we
cannot be hoodwinked or deceived into the fraud called election and
they expect me to go and congratulate the supposed winner. That cannot
happen.
Many people have said the election was transparent going by the way both the CPC and PDP won in their strong bases.
It was not
transparent. Look at the voting pattern; you will see how people voted.
I did not look at it from the point of predominantly PDP south or CPC
north. Because from 1999 till date, zones one and two have never voted
for PDP; it is only the south that had always voted for the PDP.They
were allowed to do their things in the south without molestation. In
the south, they were allowed to move around during the election without
any molestation, but in zone one and two, we were restricted and
intimidated. Most of them in the north were harassed not to cast their
vote. That was what accounted for the low voter turnout during the
election in the northern part.
So what is your next action?
We are going to do
everything legal and lawful to reject this purported election. We will
do everything possible to resist this imposition of leaders on us.
Everything legal is not limited to going to court. We have an option
that is constitutional; we can resist unwanted leaders through
constitutional means and that’s exactly what we are going to do.
How are you going to check your members and supporters so that they don’t take law into their hands?
That is why I said
we are going to use anything lawful to pursue our case; it does not
mean violence. So if you go violent that is then unlawful. Our
supporters should await our reaction. but we will mobilise them in such
a way that we will resist this day-light robbery through legal means.
Are you satisfied with the conduct of INEC in all the elections?
We are not
satisfied with both INEC and Police. The government, INEC and security
agencies were so much biased in favour of the PDP. They were doing
everything possible to ensure the victory of PDP at all costs. This is
what is preventing the existence of harmonious relationship in Kaduna
State. Because of certain interest groups, they refused to allow the
people to elect their preferred leaders. Under a free and fair
election, there is no way PDP can form government at the centre. And
there is no way PDP can form a government in Kaduna State under free
and fair election.
