Noah Ebije, Kaduna
Political adviser to Kaduna State Governor Nasir el-Rufai, Alhaji Uba Sani, on Sunday boasted that the opposition Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) no longer exists in the state.
Sani, a former aide to ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, also said the people of Kaduna State would massively vote for el-Rufai in the 2019 General Elections, based on his track record and performance.
The governor’s aide, who was reacting to allegations by the PDP that he masterminded the rigging of the just concluded local government election in favour of the ruling APC in the state, said the PDP couldn’t have won a single seat if the election was not free and fair.
According to him, the ruling party is even magnanimous to have allowed the opposition party win the four local government councils declared so far by the state electoral body.
Sani, who spoke with newsmen on Sunday after a successful state congress of the party, said if the APC government was out to rig the election, the state would have adopted manual voting and manipulate the process the way other states do across the country.
He said, “Some of us are really disappointed with some of the utterances of the PDP with regards to the outcome of the Local Council election in the state.
“You and I know that when election into local governments are conducted in Nigeria, most opposition parties cannot get even a single councillor, but I think in the case of the state (Kaduna), the opposition even won some seats.
“I think the PDP is not fair to the Governor and our government because we were able to conduct the freest election in the history of not even Kaduna State, but Nigeria; because this is an electronic voting that one cannot even manipulate; you cannot rig the election.
“If we really want to rig the election, we wouldn’t have gone through the electronic voting system. We would have adopted the manual voting that every other state went through in the past.
“But I think seriously that the PDP are ungrateful with what we have done for them. In fact, I am even surprised that they won four local government areas, because for me the PDP is dead in Kaduna State.”
Sani also noted that his party would challenge the outcome of the election in southern Kaduna where the opposition won four local government councils.
“In some of the local government areas they won, we are still going to court to contest them because I don’t believe that the party existed in any local government area in the state and I have my reasons,” he added.
On the 2019 General Elections, the Governor’s performance, which he said was unprecedented in the history of the state, would speak for him.
Saying that no governor in the history of state had carried 10 per cent of what el-Rufai had done so far in the state, Sani predicted that the APC would beat the opposition even with a wide margin both in state and federal levels.
The former presidential aide added, “What our governor has done in the last three years is unprecedented in the history of the state in terms of development.
“When you look at what he has done in education, healthcare, infrastructure, you will really agree with me that no governor in the state has even done 10 per cent of what he has done so far.
“I will tell you without any fear of contradictions that the APC will win the election come 2019. I don’t believe that the PDP will even come close, because the party only exist in few local government of the state.
“They don’t even exist in Zone 1 (Northern Kaduna); they are not even strong in Zone II (Kaduna Central); they only exist in few local governments in Zone III (Southern Kaduna). So, I don’t see how they can win elections in Kaduna State.”