Mixed reactions trail postponment of Kaduna LGC elections

Mixed reactions from politicians and residents of Kaduna have trailed the recent postponment of the Local Government Council (LGC) election by the Kaduna State Independent Electoral Commission (KADSIECOM) earlier slated for Aug. 14.

Recall that Mrs Saratu Dikko-Audu, Chairman of KADSIECOM had announcement on Monday during a stakeholders meeting that the elections will now hold on Sept.4.

Dikko-Audu who apologised to the electorate over the postponement, said the shift in date was necessitated by the late arrival of electronic voting machine batteries.

Some of the respondents who spoke to our reporter on Wednesday in Kaduna, expressed disappointment with the electoral umpire, while others gave KADSIECOM benefit of the doubt.

Mr Philimon Kure, Kaduna State Chairman of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) told our reporter that the party did not have any problem with the postponement of the election date, so long as KADSIECOM would live up to its responsibility.

“The responsibility of conducting a free, fair and credible polls that would address the yearnings of the masses is our major concern.

“The people are weary and are looking forward to a government that would address our glaring economic woes,” Kure added.

Aliyu Usono, Kaduna State Secretary of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP),expressed concern over the recurring development and asked KADSIECOM to puts it’s acts together in order to gain the confidence of the people.

“We hope this would be the last time the election would be rescheduled; if they say something, they should stand by it,” Usono said.

Also, Umar Mairakumi, National Secretary of the Labor Party (LP), said the postponement of the election date was justified considering the practical demonstration of the electric voting machines by KADSIECOM.

“All the concerns raised during the previous elections, have been taken care of by the new machines.

“With the reasons given on the need to service the machines and train ad-hoc staff, amongst others, let us give KADSIECOM benefit of the doubt that the new date would be sacrosanct,” Mairakumi mentioned.

Ibrahim Datti, Kaduna State Chairman of Action Democratic Party (ADP), cautioned KADSIECOM against any further postponement of the election date, saying doing so could make the people loose confidence in its credibility.

“We would not even mind if the election was announced against a later date so long as it would eventually hold,” he said.

Mr Felix Habila, a civil servant resident at Sabo said the electoral body should, as much as possible, be independent and avoid interference from anyone.

“The people should have confidence enough that the exercise is not being dictated by any quarters,” he advised.