The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidates have won all the 34 local Government Chairmanship positions in Katsina state, in an election boycotted by the opposition and described as a sham by observers .
The Chairman, State Independent Electoral Commission (KTSIEC), Alhaji Abubakar Lawal, declared the result Sunday in Katsina.
He said that the candidates had satisfied the requirement of the law and returned elected in their various local government areas.
Lawal said that elections were conducted peacefully, freely and fairly in all the local government areas.
He said that six political parties – ACPN, PPA, SDP, MEGA Party, PDP and APGA – took part in the polls.
Lawal, however, did not announce the number of votes scored by each candidate during the exercise.
A Katsina-based NGO, The Community Information Project (CIP), however criticised the elections saying it is ‘’a waste of resources’’.
The Project Coordinator of the group, Mr Jacob Aaron, made the statement in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Katsina.
He said there was no election in the state as the exercise was contested by only one party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP).
‘’How can you conduct an election in which only one party is contesting; as far as we are concerned, election did not take place in Katsina State because we did not see it,’’ Aaron said.
Aaron, who is also the North-West Zonal Coordinator of the Transition Monitoring Group (TMG), said the five political parties that contested alongside the PDP did not actually show up during the poll.
He also said the election was a mere appointment, adding that there was no difference between it and local government caretaker committees.
‘’It is unfortunate that this kind of thing is happening at the grassroots where our democracy should be allowed to grow up to the national level.
‘’In as much as we do not get local government election right, we cannot get the presidential election right,’’ he said.
centres.
Six parties, the PDP, APGA, PPA, ACPN, SDP and MEGA Party had signified intention to take part in the election, but only the PDP deployed its agents at the polling centres.
The ‘elected’ chairmen will be inaugurated Monday 8 September.