The Governor of Kaduna State, Mallam, Nasiru El-rufai, has expressed dismay over the low turnout of Electorates in the ongoing local government elections in the state.
The Governor disclosed this shortly after casting his vote at the Ungwan Sarkin polling Unit 1 in the Kaduna North Local government area of the state.
He has attributed the low turnout to the late arrival of the electoral materials but assured the election has started in ernest.
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Therefore, the executive head of the state begged the people of Kaduna to come out and vote for the candidate of their choice.
Speaking on the whole process of the LG election, the Governor said there is a significant improvement in the process compared to the 2018 version of the poll.
“The improved voting machine we now have makes it nearly impossible to do multiple voting which happened a lot in the 2018 election, you activate the voting machine with your card, once you come and you are accredited, ones you are sure this is your polling unit, You go to the voting machine and place your voters’ card, it opens the machine for you and you vote. The whole process takes less than fifteen seconds. It is rapid, very efficient, and you will see your ballot paper printed so that it can be counted.
The machine also transmits the result at the end of the voting to a server, a backup on a USP, and printed copies for all the parties and security agents. So it is tough to alter anything.”
He affirmed his government is committed to the free and fair election in Kaduna State.
“We are not going to behave like other parties or other state governments of the ruling party. We will allow the people of Kaduna State to elect who they want. We do not have to win everywhere, though we have worked for the people of Kaduna State, they have seen our footprint, the govt and the local government everywhere, they have seen, and we are confident that all reasonably minded people will vote for our party, our candidate because they know we are committed to the welfare of the people”.
“We don’t believe in cheating, we don’t believe in rigging election, but also we don’t believe that other people should cheat us. And that is why we encouraged SIECOM to come up with a very improved system and am impressed with the whole thing”.
Technology is key to minimizing cheating in elections unless we have a credible election, we can never have good leaders, accountable leaders, and that is why we are committed, even if it means we are going to lose in some areas, this is a democracy, it is a gradual process”, he noted.
