The Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) Bauchi State Chapter, has rejected what it described as “electoral heist that masqueraded as local government elections” held across the state on Saturday.
In a statement by its State Secretary, Abdulazeez Haruna, the PRP said the election was a “prearranged banditry orchestrated by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and its state government, the Bauchi State Independent Electoral Commission (BASIEC), in connivance with the state chapter of the Inter-Party Advisory Council (IPAC)”.
The party added that it is outraged by the brazen manipulation of the electoral process, which it said has reduced the democratic system to an anachronistic and authoritarian practice.
“Elective positions, which should be decided by the people through their votes, were instead shared among the undemocratic syndicate,” the statement said.
The party explained that it is appalled that IPAC, a body that should be promoting ideal democratic practices, instead chose to serve the personal and self-centred interests of some unscrupulous individuals.
It alleged that the “State Chairman of IPAC, who is also the State Chairman of the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), his deputy, who is also the State Chairman of the Young Progressive Party (YPP), and their closest sidekick from the African Action Congress (AAC), were each rewarded with a councillorship seat for their roles in orchestrating, endorsing, authorising, and executing the electoral banditry”.
According to PRP, the PDP was declared the winner of all the chairmanship seats and other councillorship seats, while the people of Bauchi State were disenfranchised and denied their rights to vote for their choices.
The party described the development as a grave injustice and a mockery of democracy.
It added that the people of Bauchi State have been robbed of their rights and dignity, as history would record the incident as a dark stain on the state’s democracy and warned all direct and indirect actors involved that history has recorded them in bad books, and karma will visit them in unanticipated time and mode.
The PRP called on all stakeholders, including civil society organisations and progressive-minded individuals, to join it in condemning the “electoral heist” and ensuring that the democratic system is protected from such atrocities