Edward Masha, chairman of the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kaduna state, has faulted Saturday’s conduct of council polls in the state, describing it as charade.
Addressing journalists on Saturday in Kaduna, Masha said the exercise was a rape on democracy.
He alleged that important election materials, especially, ward and local government result sheets, were excluded from the electoral materials.
He said the election did not take place, accusing the ruling party for killing democracy by undermining the electoral process.
Masha said, “We were invited by SIECOM to receive sensitive materials from the Central Bank of Nigeria, but upon inspection, we discovered that the result sheets were missing.
“This omission compromised the integrity of the elections, and our representatives stood against the impunity.
“The APC has appointed its chairmanship candidates for the poll, knowing fully well that local government elections are the bedrock of democracy.
“But today, they said no. We will appoint chairmen for us like sole administrators by the government.
“We will not accept this charade. We will not accept the killing of democracy. We will challenge this process in court, and we will continue to seek justice for our people.”
Speaking further, the PDP chairman said the result sheets of 2022 were released instead of new ones.
He maintained that the electoral process lacked transparency as the election materials were not distributed fairly.
Masha called on lovers of democracy and security agencies to take note of the situation, stating that democracy is gone and “we need to bring this to the public attention and demand justice.”
Masha called on party members and supporters not to be discouraged, saying, “We will continue to fight for democracy and justice.”
