PDP faction restates boycott of Kano LG election

But Mr. Sagagi said that the party had sued the state electoral body for contempt of court.

News Agency of Nigeria • January 13, 2021

Wadata House, PDP National Secretariat

The Kwankwasiyya faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in Kano State has renewed its resolve to boycott the January 16 local government election.

The Chairman of the faction, Shehu Sagagi, made this known while speaking with reporters on Wednesday in Kano.

The Kano State Independent Electoral Commission (KANSIEC) had announced that PDP was among political parties featuring at the Saturday poll.

But Mr. Sagagi said that the party had sued the state electoral body for contempt of court, while insisting that it should not recognise the other faction of the party as demanded by a court order.

“The KANSIEC Chairman is either ignorant of the extant laws or he is just behaving like a politician.

“The faction claiming that it will participate in the coming election, had earlier gone to court and we won the case.

“That the National Executive Committee has the power to appoint, and whoever has the power to appoint has the power to reappoint and therefore dismissed their request.

“Which means the law recognises only the leadership of the then caretaker committee under Danladi Muhammad. And our election was conducted on December 12, 2020, we were immediately sworn in.

“Put that aside, even if they disagree with that, everyone is aware that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) has the supervisory power over all the political parties in Nigeria.

“If the Chairman of KANSIEC has any doubt, let him write a letter to the INEC to seek clarification. But they are not after that. They are trying to muscle us and we are not cowards,” he said.

Mr. Sagagi cautioned the commission against recognising the other faction of the PDP, saying that his faction was ready to drag the commission to court if it does so.

“We call on the judiciary to save this situation. We have presently filed a case of contempt against the person that is parading himself as chairman, and also the chairman of KANSIEC.

“We have also filed a case at the court to know whether KANSIEC has the right to accept a candidate other than the one from the legally recognised executive of the party. This is what we want the court to determine,” he said.

(NAN)

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