Vote buying and intimidation of voters and media by thugs marred the special election for the Kaduna State House of Assembly that took place in the Khuta Polling Unit of Kwasam Ward in Kauri/Chawai Local Government Area on Saturday.
On March 18, 2023, INEC ruled the election to be invalid.
Simon Arabo, the PDP Local Government Collation Officer, who refused to sign the outcome, contrasted it with open robbery.
According to reports, voting buying and voter intimidation by thugs who intermittently chased away voters while they were in the voting line as well as attacked some journalists who were watching the elections marred the election in the Kahuta Polling Unit, which had 995 registered voters in the two wards where the supplementary elections were conducted.
A few voters who made an attempt to flee to their houses were less fortunate because the thugs who were chasing them and beating them up with sticks, knives, and cudgels also followed and disenfranchised the majority of them. To scatter the encroaching criminals, the cops fired tear gas canisters.
According to reports , the men allegedly arrived on Friday night in two Sharon vehicles with the intention of interfering with the polling process.
Later, some of the military personnel who had been stationed there to maintain order and guarantee the poll was conducted peacefully were removed.
The moment the military personnel left the area, thugs with high-tech weapons returned to the area as the cops stood idly by.
Following Saturday’s supplemental election, Barnabas Haruna DanMaigona of the APC was named the victor of the Kauri/Chawai State House of Assembly Constituency.
According to the results announced by the State Assembly Returning Officer, Professor Muhammad Sani Salau, he received 23,687 votes to defeat his PDP opponent, Yohanna Gandu Chawai, who finished second with 23,656 votes in the hotly contested election, with the Labour Party Candidate, Adamu Bala, coming in a distant third with 6,158 votes.
Yahaya Baba Pate, the APC state party secretary who also functioned as the party agent, urged everyone to support the member-elect so that the intended democratic dividends would abound and allow for efficient representation.
Samuel Arabo, the PDP collection officer for the re-run House of Assembly election in the Karau local government area described the election as a real scandal, saying, “The eligible voters were intimidated by thugs who caused confusion in the place and did not allow the voters to exercise their franchise.
The voters were denied the opportunity to cast their votes because when the PDP was leading, the only way the APC could do was to cause confusion through their thugs and as a result of the whole confusion, the PDP did not sign the result.”
Yohana Chawai, the PDP representative for Chawai/Kauru in the House of Assembly, referred to the rerun election as the best movie of 2023, claiming that it was an action comedy in which the protagonists achieved their goals at all costs.
He thanked the party for giving him the opportunity to run on the party’s ticket for the 2023 House of Assembly in the local government and urged all party supporters to maintain their composure.
