Ganduje Intimidated Delegates to Favour My Opponent, Senator Lado Alleges

Ibrahim Shuaibu in Kano

Senator Basheer Garba Lado, a leading aspirant for the Kano Central Senatorial District has rejected the election conducted on Saturday which purportedly produced Abdulsalam Abdulkarim Zaura as the flag bearer of the All Progressives Congress(APC) for the district.

Lado accused the state Governor Abdullahi Ganduje to have manipulated the primary election process to favour Zaura.

He said what this means in the face of law is that no election took place on Saturday and as such there is no APC candidate for the district.

Lado, who issued a press release after the exercise, accused Ganduje of intimidating the delegates to vote for Zaura.

He said: “I have it on audio record where the governor was telling the local government chairmen and delegates that Zaura has been elected by him and that any one that does not vote for Zaura will be doing so at his own risk. We did not participate in the process because what we saw at the venue confirmed what we already knew. What this means is that no election took place in Kano central.”

He said he has written a petition to President Muhammadu Buhari, the National Chairman of APC, Senator Abdullahi Adamu and also the Inspector General of the Police to call their attention to the “injustice” that took place in Kano, which he said if not properly and immediately addressed can lead to break down of law and order.

In the earlier petition, Lado said the governor, who is supposed to ensure justice and fairness, is unfortunately calling key stakeholders in the APC such as chairmen, and other APC stakeholders telling them that he has already ‘elected’ A. A. Zaura as his candidate. And anyone that defies the instruction, would face the consequences. The governor himself called party stalwarts telling them this and sometimes he used Kano State APC Chairman to convey the message.”

“Nigerians and Kano people especially my supporters are known to be patient and obedient but they should not be pushed to the wall where we cannot control them or contain them.

“What the Governor did is a threat that can create conflict in Nigeria and Kano State. It’s a threat to peace, especially today, the election day,”he added.

He said it is unfortunate that this is happening in APC, a party founded on the basis of justice and fairness.

The aspirant called on the Department of State Security (DSS) to retrieve all the phone calls of Governor Ganduje and Kano APC Chairman to confirm his allegations.

“I called on SSS in Kano and Nigeria to retrieve recordings of the governor’s phone calls and that of the APC Chairman from 11:am to … this information would be generated where he was saying he had already chosen a candidate.

“I call on Mr President that is known to be fair and just to expediently consider this issue before it creates problems in Kano State and Nigeria as a whole.”

“I call on the Kano people to pray for us. I call on Nigerians to pray for us. I called security personnel to look into this matter. And like I said earlier, the SSS should retrieve the recordings of the Governor saying he has already chosen his candidate.

He further called on President Muhammadu Buhari and APC national leadership to intervene before the matter creates further problems.

“I call on the President as a Just leader to decide on this matter before it becomes a problem.”