Zamfara’s council polls a walk over for APC candidates

Only the candidates of the ruling All Progressives Congress were running as the opposition Peoples Democratic Party announced it was not taking part on Friday, because it was contesting the governor’s legitimacy in the Supreme court.

The farce about the election was underscored by the fact that Gov. Abdulaziz Yari, the three senators and seven House of Representatives members from the state were absent at the polling booth.

Residents of Gusau Local Government Area in the capital also shunned the election and most people said they were not aware about the election, organised by the state electoral commission.

Governor Abdulaziz Yari : Did not vote

Mr Tony Adah, an engineer, told NAN that although he saw campaign posters, he was not sure of the date of the election.

“I woke up this morning to prepare for work when my neighbour told me about the election.

“Initially I thought that movement will be restricted, but to my surprise, people are moving around with their vehicles doing their usual business.” he said.

Hajia Marian Ibrahim, a business woman, also said she was not aware of the election as people were busy with their normal business activities.

“I just got to my shop where I do my business and I discovered that people are not participating in the election.

“It is possible the date of the election was not properly announced unlike the previous ones.

“The election is just for the sake of formality; everybody knows that the candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC) will win so there is no need to stress people,’’ she said.

Security personnel were however seen manning various polling units early in the morning before officials of the state`s Independent Electoral Commission arrived with election materials.