The chairman of the Senate committee on Works, Senator Kabiru Gaya (APC, Kano) has said that the National Assembly would investigate the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) over the postponement of the general elections.
INEC had, at the early hours of February 16, postponed the elections by a week citing logistics challenges.
Gaya told State House Correspondents at the weekend that the postponement of the elections was responsible for the low voters’ turnout recorded across the country during the just concluded presidential and national elections.
“We will call them and we will investigate the INEC for shifting the election because it caused a poor turnout.
“We will find out the reason – if it is funding, we gave them enough funding; if it was issue of security, the security agencies were ready. So, why should INEC shift the elections? We are going to investigate that when we come back after the governorship election. But sadly, generally they did what they could do, I could say, it’s a pass mark,” he said.
Gaya, a fourth term Senator, said only between 30 and 40 percent of the voters, turned out during the just concluded elections.
“I could say that I am happy President Buhari is back and the election was peaceful and Kano State has delivered even though the turnout was very poor. INEC shifted the elections and people thought that the election would be shifted again and they couldn’t come out to vote.
“We had just about 30-40 percent turnout all over the country. But be it known that, Kano has delivered, we had the highest number of votes and I think we could say that we are part of the determining factors for President Muhammadu Buhari’s re-election because he has really done so much for us,” he said.
He said he was not surprised that Buhari won his election, “because he has done so much for this country.”
“Take for example, in term of road, I am the Chairman, Senate Committee on Works, so I know that the budget for the 2014 before President Buhari came in was N22bn.
“But when Buhari came into office the budget moved up to N220bn and you can see now the budget is between N300bn to N400bn in 2019. Therefore, the roads that were neglected for 19 years are now motorable.
“Also, agricultural, the importation of rice has dropped from 100 percent to only five percent,” he said.
He said the 9th National Assembly when inaugurated in June would cooperate and support President Buhari to fast track the country’s development.
“We from the National Assembly, I assure you, I am coming in as a senator for the fourth term – 16 years; I am one of the few ranking senators in the senate and I thank God for being in the senate. Therefore, we will give President Buhari all the cooperation that is needed so that we can have a smooth ride, a smooth process, a smooth passage of the budget, a smooth oversight and a relation between the executive and the legislature. We hope by God’s grace, we will give him that support,” he said.
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