Hundreds of supporters of the Kwankwasiyya Movement on Friday morning protested in Kano over the alleged omission of the National Democratic Congress, NDC, governorship candidate from the list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.
The protesters, led by the Deputy Governorship Candidate, Mustapha Kwankwaso, on behalf of the candidate Comrade Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo marched to the INEC state office and submitted a formal petition demanding the reinstatement of their candidate.
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Kwankwaso said the group had fulfilled all rules and regulations laid down by the commission regarding the nomination of candidates, describing the exclusion as unjust.
Addressing the protesters, the INEC Resident Electoral Commissioner in Kano, Abdu Zango, said the commission has noted the reason for the omission and that there is still a window for appeal until October 24th.
“Basically, what they came to do is to present a complaint about the omission of their candidates. Luckily, INEC has made the point very clear, the reason for the omission and the fact that there is a window of appeal that has been provided up to the 24th of October,” Zango said.
“We received all the complaints and assured the delegation that their petition will receive the necessary attention and we are going to forward it to our national headquarters for consideration. As far as we are concerned in Kano here, we are very neutral,” he added.
Zango commended the group for adopting a peaceful and orderly approach in presenting their grievance rather than resorting to violence.
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He also spoke on the ongoing Permanent Voter Card, PVC, collection which commenced on October 9th, expressing satisfaction with the turnout so far and assuring that collection points will be extended to Registration Areas to make it easier for citizens.
In a separate interview, the spokesperson of the Kwankwasiyya Movement, Dr. Habib Mohammed, said the petition goes beyond the omission of their candidate to include allegations of forgery and collusion by an INEC staff member.
“Another reason is a petition against a staff here, whom we believe colluded with some unauthorized people to hide a decision which led to substitution of some of our candidates. There is a regulation on activities of the party and even authorized officers that are supposed to be engaging INEC. In a situation where multiple letters were submitted, some with suspected forged signatures, that is why we feel the need to bring it to light,” Dr. Mohammed said.
He alleged that unauthorized letters were submitted to INEC headquarters, leading to the substitution of their candidates in Kano.
“This officer you are talking about, is he an officer of INEC? Yes, he is an officer of INEC, who is supposed to have dealt with authorized people. We have seen multiple letters delivered to INEC headquarters. Those things constitute part of the reason why some of our candidates were actually substituted,” he explained.
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Dr. Mohammed said the group has asked INEC to investigate the officer before taking further action, adding that they were satisfied with the assurances given by the Resident Commissioner.
“Alhamdulillah, he received us very well and has given us assurance that he is going to do the needful within his own power. We are expecting him to escalate this particular petition up to the headquarters, which he assures us he is going to do today,” he said.