The three aspirants, who claimed that they had earlier been declared winners of the All Progressives Congress (APC) senatorial primary elections in Niger State, has protested against the automatic tickets given to the incumbent senators from the state.
Alhaji Mohammed Sani Musa, Mohammed Bima, and Alhaji Zakari Haliru Jikantoro were protesting against the primary election conducted by the second panel sent to the state, alleging that only incumbent senators David Umaru, Mustapha Sani, and Sabe Abdullahi were cleared for the contest.
Musa and Bima, who addressed journalists in Abuja on Tuesday, said that they would resist attempt to hijack their mandate.
Musa, who said that he campaigned vigorously to win the primary, wondered how his victory could be upturned after the returning officer had declared him the winner.
He said, “If we stand for elections 10 times, we will win because we have the support of the people. We have got our result sheets that declared us the winners. Both chairman and secretary of the first election committee signed our result sheets. What we got from a meeting with National Chairman is that there are automatic tickets for the three senators.
“We called this press conference to say that the mandate given to us can’t be taken. It will be a political suicide for APC in Niger State. Is that democracy or dictatorship? We call on the national chairman and National Working Committee (NWC) to do the needful by giving us our certificates so that APC can win in Niger State.
“The three of us traversed all parts of our state. The incumbent senators can’t do that because they have lost touch with their constituencies. The change the APC came up with is that there will be peace and justice.”
When asked whether they would meet the National Appeal Committee constituted by the party, Musa said “We are not going for appeal. The Returning Officers had declared us the winners. As far as we are concerned, we are the winners. What appeal are we going for? Why should they sell forms if they would not conduct primaries?”
Bima, in his contribution, appealed to President Muhammadu Buhari to intervene.
Bima, who said the meeting of Governor Mohammed Sani Bello with APC National Chairman did not yield any fruitful results, added that the party had shown act of wickedness towards them.
He claimed that the second election team were in Niger to affirm the incumbent senators, saying the party exco were not aware until their arrival in the state.
“For our great party to make people to buy forms, campaign for the primaries and some people emerge, but you turn around and say that we will not give you. I don’t know what we can call that. Is that not corruption?
“President needs to wade into this. We should not start with chaos. Everything should be done to maintain peace in Niger State. We have been maintaining this party. We are the friends of Mr President. We want to go into the Senate so that the rights of our people are not denied.”
