el-Rufai A Frustrated Politician, Kaduna Govt Hits Back At ADC/SDP Rigging Claims

By; AMOS EBUTE MATHEW, Kaduna

Kaduna State Government has lashed out at the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP) coalition, describing their allegations of a planned sabotage of Saturday’s bye-elections as “laughable lies” from “political leftovers” of former Governor Nasir el-Rufai.

The coalition, led by ADC National Vice Chairman (North-West), Jafaru Ibrahim Sani, had on Thursday, accused Governor Uba Sani’s administration of mobilising 4,000 thugs, bribing INEC officials with land allocations, and amassing billions of naira in “election sabotage funds” to rig the Chikun/Kajuru Federal Constituency and state constituency polls in Zaria and Sabon-Gari.

But in a swift rebuttal, Commissioner of Information-designate, Ahmed Maiyaki, in a press conference in Kaduna, said that the claims were baseless, mischievous, and the handiwork of desperate politicians “already staring at certain defeat.”

Flanked by Commissioner for Local Government and Chieftaincy Affairs, Hon. Sadiq Mamman-Lagos, Maiyaki said the opposition’s “poorly attended rallies” in recent weeks showed they had been rejected by the electorate, and were now resorting to “crying wolf where there is none” to discredit the polls in advance.

He insisted that the state government had no role in the conduct of elections, which is the exclusive preserve of INEC, and warned that its legal team was studying the “litany of fabrications” for possible legal action.

Maiyaki also took a direct swipe at El-Rufai, recalling how “the former governor sent thugs to the NUJ Secretariat, injuring many colleagues” — conduct he said was alien to Governor Uba Sani’s inclusive leadership style. “As we speak, the governor is in Chikun LGA flagging off Romi–Karatudu Township Roads, a community El-Rufai abandoned and demolished in eight years of his reign,” he added.

Mamman-Lagos, dismissing allegations of illegal deductions from local government accounts, described El-Rufai as a “frustrated politician who is sinking and wants to drag others along.

“He accused the former governor of disrespecting traditional rulers, sacking workers indiscriminately, and mismanaging foreign loans.

“They claimed to have spent $350 million on development, but the projects are not worth more than $100 million. Where is the rest of the money?” he queried.

The commissioners urged voters to turn out en masse on Saturday, ignore what they called the “rantings of political jobbers,” and keep faith with the APC government, which they said was delivering unity, peace, and development across the state.