One Feared Dead, As Violence Mars LG Polls

WITH the exception of the Kontangora Local Government Area, where election was put on hold due to violence that led to the death of, at least, one person, chairmanship election in the 24 councils of Niger State was yesterday marred with low turnout of voters.This comes as former Head of State, General Abdulsalami Abubakar, and Governor Babangida Aliyu sharply disagreed over the low turnout.While the former head of state attributed the low turnout to what he called voter apathy due to their experience in previous elections in the country, Governor Aliyu believes that there was poor mobilisation of officials and voters for the election.Abdulsalami, who spoke to journalists at his Hilltop-residence polling unit shortly after casting his vote, however said no matter what happened in previous elections, people should not shy away from the local government election because it is closest to the people.The former head of state maintained that the people should be interested on who governs them, warning that 'if they gave up, it might affect them directly. So, they should keep trying; we will get it right one day.'However, according to Governor Aliyu, Nigerians attach more importance to the federal and state elections, which are not as important as the local government elections where grassroots leaders are elected.Opposition parties in the state are already crying foul, saying the state independent electoral commission has connived the ruling people Democratic Party to rig the election.Chairman of the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) in the state, Alhaji Shuaibu Umar, told journalists that there were widespread cases of irregularity, stressing that there were reported cases of insufficient supply of ballot papers for the election.He also alleged that all the appointed electoral officers in some local councils, including Borgu, Suleja and Magama, are PDP members, a situation, which , according to him, has forced their members to withdraw in protest.But in a swift reaction, the State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC) Commissioner in charge of information, Mallam Mohammud Mohammed, said the headquarters was not aware that the electoral officers recruited were PDP members since they were recruited at the local government levels.
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