Danjuma Shiddi, the Chairman House Committee on Internal Security, has told Nigerians not to take the results of polls being conducted ahead of the 2023 general elections seriously, adding that “they don’t count.”
Shiddi, a senatorial candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Taraba State, disclosed this while speaking on Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily on Thursday.
The ANAP/NOI second presidential poll, which was released on Wednesday, showed the presidential candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Peter Obi, as the winner while the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, came distant second. But Shididi said the result was not a true reflection of what is on the ground.
“My analysis is that if you look at the core north which is six states in Northwest Nigeria, it has the highest population and they believe in the arrangement of the APC. They believe in Tinubu, they believe in [Kashim] Shettima.
- NIGERIA DAILY: Why Nigerians Are Eager To Collect Their PVCs Against All Odds
- NIN enrolment hits 93.5m
“When you come to the Northeast, the whole of Northeast apart from Adamawa is for APC. The masses are behind APC. Forget about what you see on social media. How many people are on social media?
“How many people in the rural aares have access to data [referring to the poll]? The majority of Nigerians don’t know about the data you are talking about.
“About 60 per cent of those in the grassroots are illiterates. From my experiences in politics, the direction is towards APC,” he argued.
The Taraba politician also said the attacks on the facilities of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are politically motivated.
While lamenting that the security agencies were not well-equipped with modern technologies to respond appropriately to the challenges, Shiddi called for more funding for the security agencies in the country.