Malam Nasir El-Rufai has thanked the people of Kaduna state, after he was announced Monday as the winner of the governorship election that took place on 9 March.
“Alhamdulillah! We campaigned vigorously on our record and continuously prayed for God to choose the best leader for Kaduna State even if that choice is someone else!! God has decided. We are grateful to over 1 million Kaduna voters through whom He made us the choice”, he wrote on his Twitter handle.
Announcing the result on Monday in Kaduna, the State Returning Officer, Prof. Muhammed Yahuza Bello said, El-Rufai, the governorship candidate of the All Progressives Congress, APC, scored 1,045,427 votes to emerge winner.
He said the candidate, Alhaji Isah Ashiru of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) scored 814,168 votes
“Bello said Malam Nasiru El-Rufai haven fulfilled all the requirements of the law, and scored the highest votes is hereby declared winner of the Kaduna State governorship election.””
Bello said the APC won in 14 LGs while the PDP won in nine LGs that make up 23 LGs in the State.
According to him, the APC won in Ikara,Kubau,Makarfi, Kudan , Giwa, Kauru and Soba local government areas.
The APC also won in Lere, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North and Sabon Gari, Igabi, Kaduna South, Zaria LGs.
While the opposition PDP won in nine local government areas, including Kajuru,Kaura, Jaba, Kachia, Zango Kataf, Sanga, Kagarko, Jema’a and Chikun LGAs.
Alhaji Isah Ashiru, Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Kaduna has rejected the outcome of the election, which favours Governor Nasir El-Rufai.
However, the PDP candidate Ashiru has said he has substantial evidence showing that the election was manipulated.
He called for outright cancellation of the results, alleging gross irregularities in some local government areas of the state.
According to him, reports obtained by his party agents across the state revealed that the elections were marred by a lot of irregularities.
“It is on the basis of these established irregularities that our party in a petition to the state Resident Electoral Commissioner of INEC rejected the results and called for its outright cancellation.
“It is important for you to note that available reports have shown that smart card readers were not used during the elections in a lot of polling units,” he said.
The PDP candidate listed areas affected by the alleged irregularities as Giwa, Birnin Gwari, Kaduna North, Igabi, Zaria, Lere and Ikara Local Government Areas.
“It is our firm belief that the non usage of the card readers which is a violation of the electoral guidelines have rendered the results from these areas invalid.
“Another issue of concern to our party was the clear militarisation of the electoral process in various part of the state,” he said.
Ashiru said the disparity between the number of votes obtained by the APC in the presidential elections and that of the governorship elections was another cause for concern.
“How could the people of Kaduna State be convinced the APC will earn more votes during the governorship elections than it got in the presidential elections,” he asked
INEC’s Resident Electoral Commissioner, Alhaji Kaugama Abdullahi has confirmed receiving a petition against the outcome of the governorship poll from the PDP.
Abdullahi told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the PDP had requested to inspect the election materials used during the poll in the state.
He said the commission had already directed its legal department to take necessary actions on the petition since the request is within the law.
