Kaduna APC Crisis Deepens as Stakeholders Reject State Congress Results

By Lawal A. Dogara,Kaduna
Aspirants to various offices in Kaduna State Chapter of the All Progressives Congress, APC say the results of its Congress elections held recently do not in any way reflect the wishes of the voters.Therefore, they described it a sham and a monumental fraud of unimaginable proportions.
In a statement on behalf of the other aspirants, Barrister Joshua Danladi Ephraim said, “This fraud must not stand, and its perpetrators must fail. It has made what happens in the PDP a child’s play. Kaduna State APC and the whole of its admirers oppose this manipulation in the name of congress elections. We hereby reject it in its entirety. Even the PDP will not do what the Congress Committee and its agents have done.”
“We call on the National headquarters of our great party to reject the results as well, punish those who are found to have compromised their positions and dissolve the present Congress Committee and order a re-run of the entire elections for all the offices of the party in Kaduna State. It is still possible before the National convention. The ballot papers should be redesigned.
“What we saw during the congress and the elections were not free, fair, and just. The elections were a fraud, a sham. It was abracadabra of sorts, a magic of unimaginable monumental proportions. Although the delegates lined up peacefully and voted peacefully for candidates of their choice, this supposed transparent process was rigged before, during and after the voting.
“Although the state congress of Saturday 7th June 2014 had all the trappings of a peaceful and orderly congress, the elections that were held exhibited lack of proper preparations, coordination and seemed naturally designed to produce crises and confusion so that an unholy agenda would be achieved by a few selfish people who are using their positions in the National Headquarters of our dear party to achieve narrow selfish interests.
For example, the statement said some “chairmanship aspirants and other aspirants had withdrawn their candidacy and informed the Congress Committee days before the actual Congress, but their names were not deleted from the list with the result that delegates were misled.
“There were ballot swapping and ballot padding for predetermined and favoured candidates. Even the coded ballot papers that were meant for the three most important positions of Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer were found in other ballot boxes. Ballot papers were tampered with and distributed to designated people to vote in multiples for certain favoured candidates. The ballot papers were designed in such a way fraud could easily be perpetrated” it alleged.
Towards this end, the group is insisting that the entire congress election be cancelled and a fresh one conducted otherwise, they will be forced to take a legal action in the first instance.