BY AMOS TAUNA, KADUNA – Emerging facts indicate that the rescheduled local government election in Kaura Local Government Council of Kaduna State was cancelled mid way on May 12th and again failed to hold June 6, 2018 due to some powerful forces seeking to hijack affairs in the area.
Forefront findings traced the fettering crisis to the razor-sharp disagreements between the State Deputy Governor, Architect Bala Bantex and the All Progressives Congress (APC) candidate, Mr Afan Joseph over his emergence as the winner at the local government primaries election as against the choice of Mrs Mathis Koboshio.
It was gathered that the emergence of Mr Afan, a core grassroots’ politician caught the Deputy Governor’s camp napping, and by extension confirmed its fading political influence in Kaura local government and Southern Kaduna in general.
Insiders hinted that Architect Bantex, not ready to accept the reality on ground, decided to deploy what his close associates described as ‘Plan B’, an option where he will use his official position to frustrate the poll’s conduct in order to install his protégé, Mrs Koboshio as the Kaura Local Government Council’s Sole administrator.
Information put together from reliable sources showed that the Deputy Governor’s camp allegedly voted over 15 million Naira to achieve its noxious plan of frustrating the Council’s election as part of efforts to actualize his desire of installing his preferred candidate to run the affairs of the Council as a Sole Administrator.
Speaking to Forefront on condition of anonymity for fear of being victimized by the powerful government forces, some concerned APC youths insisted that the Deputy Governor’s action is bound to spell doom for the party fortunes in the area.
“The Deputy Governor must call his people to order and stop his needless meddlesome that may cause APC to lose Kaura to the opposition PDP. If the current situation of things continues and Architect Bantex refuses to retrace his faltering steps, the result could be an exodus, especially as many supporters are already threatening to dump the party”, one of the youths warned
They called on the Mallam Nasir el-Rufai-led government to immediately reschedule another date of the election, stressing that all the wards and the local government returning officers must be made available for the exercise.
“The Deputy Governor should not because of his selfish interest of foisting his failed candidate on the people at all cost, make Kaura APC to lose its current support base because there are ominous signs already on the horizon surfacing,” the youth said.
The May 12, 2018 local government poll in Kaura council was cancelled mid way in some wards, even as voting was already concluded in other areas with the results collation near completion.
Unfortunately, the rescheduled election for Wednesday June 6, 2018 could not also hold because all the returning officers for the 10 wards and the local government, mandated by the electoral law to announce election result for both Councillors and the chairman, were unavailable to conduct the election.
