The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has announced its withdrawal from the forthcoming local government elections in Kano State.
The decision of the party was announced on Tuesday at a press briefing organised by the caretaker committee of the party in the state led by Dr. Danladi Abdulhameed, with the party’s governorship candidate in the 2019 general elections, Abba Kabiru Yusuf, as well as other Kwankwasiyya members present.
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Abdulhameed announced that the party believed that “The Kano State government under the leadership of Governor Abdullahi Umar Ganduje cannot conduct a free and fair election as it lacks the political morality to do so. Therefore our party, the PDP, will not participate in the sham of an election come January 16, 2021.”
On the N2.3 billion budgeted for the election, PDP said it “will not partake in an exercise which is aimed at siphoning the state’s resources. We resist any attempt to use us to assert credibility on a venture aimed at looting Kano treasury.”
The party said it believed “that free and fair elections are an integral and essential part of democratic processes as it provides a chance for citizens to choose leaders who will bring development and growth for the benefit of the people.”
“However, this is only possible where there is confidence and trust in the electoral process and its leadership. We are of the conviction that these qualities are lacking in the Kano State Independent Electoral Commission under the leadership of Governor Ganduje.”
Abdulhameed said the party decided to withdraw from the election to allow for peace in the state.
Reacting to the development, the state’s Commissioner of Information, Malam Mohammed Garba said all the allegations are “baseless.”
” They have no platform to even contest the election in the first instance as the court only recognised the Aminu Wali-led group of the party as the substantive executive of the PDP in the state,” he said.
The Chairman of KANSIEC, Prof. Garba Sheka, on his part, said the development did not come as a surprise to the commission.
“We expected that kind of reaction. Whatever reason they give is politics but the ground is plain for all participants,” he said.
Efforts to get reaction from the Aminu Wali-led group of the PDP as well as the APC in the state were not successful as at press time.
