Group raises the alarm over external forces in Kano re-run

Ahead of the March 23 supplementary election in Kano State, Kano Concerned Citizens Initiative (KCCI) has cautioned security agencies against infiltration of external forces into election areas.

The group insisted that anybody found guilty of violating electoral laws during the gubernatorial re-run poll should be made to face the law.

Addressing the press in Kano, chairman of the group and former presidential candidate of the defunct National Republican Convention (NRC), Bashir Tofa, restated the need for the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to address irregularities witnessed during the March 9 gubernatorial and house of assembly elections in Kano.

“Sufficient election materials must promptly arrive at all the designated polling units where the re-run will take place. KCCI also pleads that results of election outcomes must be publicly announced without delay,” he said.

Tofa distanced the group from any political party, government or institution.

Charging INEC and the security architecture to deliver a credible election, he warned that the electoral umpire would be held responsible for any anomaly during the re-run.

The group expressed worry over ballot box snatching, destruction of election result sheets and general violence during the gubernatorial election in the state.

While cautioning the political gladiators to eschew utterances capable of escalating chaos, Tofa urged the key contenders to accept the outcome of the re-run in the spirit of sportsmanship, noting that every contest has a winner and a loser.

“KCCI calls on the political leaders to desist from unguarded utterances capable of inflaming passion, which could trigger violence. It is incumbent upon them to strictly obey the rules of engagement and the law. Open monetary and other unlawful inducements must never be condoned during the re-run elections.

“Our youths need to wake up to the reality that it is their future which KCCI and every well-meaning person in Kano is trying to nurture and secure. They should thus eschew violence.

“Parents and community leaders, therefore, have a heavy moral responsibility to caution their wards to shun any negative tendency before, during and after the re-run electoral exercise,” Tofa cautioned.