APC aspirant petitions against Jigawa Speaker, accuses him of manipulating primary election

By Ahmed Rufa’i, Dutse

An aspirant under the platform of All Progressive Congress (APC) Jahun state’s constituency in Jigawa state has accused the speaker Jigawa state house of Assembly, Honourable Idris Garba Kareka of illegally using his position to manipulate the conduct of the party’s primary election held lask week.

This was contained in a petition sent to the state’s assembly primary election appeals panel and to national headquarters of the party, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and all security agencies in the state were also copied.

A copy of the petition which was signed by the petitioner cited by the National Update stated, “It is with esteemed regards and humility that I write to your distinguished office to petition against Hon. Idris Garba Kareka, the current Speaker Jigawa State House of Assembly and aspirant for the position of Member Jigawa state House of Assembly, Jahun constituency, over the outright use of his position as speaker to influence and manipulate the conduct of the primary election held on Thursday, May 26, 2022, in Jahun local government area of Jigawa state.

According to the petition “A list of 55 delegates was compiled, 5 from each of the 11 political wards of the local government following their election, and was submitted to the state Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) for its perusal in accordance with the electoral law.

“However, on Thursday, May 26, 2022, the scheduled date for the APC governorship and state House of Assembly primary elections, just as arrangements were concluded to commence the accreditation of delegates, the presiding officer deployed to handle the conduct and supervision of the election, Usman Baita ‘Yalleman, started calling names from a different list; the names of which did not talky with the one earlier agreed upon and submitted to INEC”.

Danmalam added that “The delegates and other observers raised concerns, stating that the list which the presiding officer was reading from was not the one known to the elected delegates, the leadership of the party and INEC.
“As tension gathered, and with people expressing their displeasure over the alteration of the list, the Speaker Jigawa State House of Assembly, Hon. Idris Garba Kareka, sauntered into the election venue (the Duplex House of Jahun Local Government Chairman) at around 4:34pm along with security operatives and political thugs. They fired tear gas and scared off the delegates, officials and other people gathered at the election venue, tearing some of the election materials, particularly the ballot papers”.

He noted that the gathering was scared away, the presiding officer was later asked to come back to the venue, and to this he obliged. Barely minutes after that, the Divisional Police Officer (DPO) of Jahun local government, SP Musa Abubakar, mobilised thugs, queued them up, counted their number and entered it in a plain sheet of paper; a situation that typified a grave travesty of election process. The paper containing the figures grotesquely entered was then taken to Dutse, the state capital, on the pretext that it was the election result.”

The aspirant maintained that the irregularities marred the election adding that the election shiuld be cancelled outrightly and a new date for fresh election fixed, “if the party refuses to reschedule a fresh election within one week, we would drag both the party and INEC to court, for what happened was a manifest violation of the party’s cardinal principles”.

“The incidence of intimidation of delegates, use of security operatives and thugs to mar the election process and manipulate the outcome of the result to his favour, evinced the desperation of the Speaker to clinch the ticket by hook or by crook.

“We, therefore, appeal to the leadership of the party to wade into the matter and ensure that justice is served, for only through such interventions that the party would maintain its notable position and remain invincible”, he emphasis.

When contacted the speaker state assembly, Honourable Idris Garba Kareka through his mobile phone to comment failed to pick his calls.